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[quote user="Chafford1"] [quote user="Samantha"] If the Sunset were discontinued, the funds, presumably, could be used to improve existing corridors or help develop new ones. [/quote]Tha amount saved wouldn't begin to cover the cost of developing a 300mile corridor passenger railway. Keep the Sunset and the other long distance trains, make them run on time and encourage their use for vacations.[/quote]During the fiscal year that ended on 30 September 2007, the Sunset Limited lost $29.8 million before interest and depreciation.  Assuming Amtrak's annual interest and depreciation charges attributable to the long distance trains add ten per cent to the operating costs, the estimated total loss incurred by the Sunset was $32.78 million.  This would not build many miles of Tier I rail in a year.  However, the future value (FV) of the annual savings over time would.The FV of $32.78 million for 30 years, using the most recent U.S. Treasury long bond interest rate, is $2.4 billion.  Moreover, if the Texas Eagle, which is also a lightly patronized long distance train, especially south of St. Louis, was discontinued, the annual savings would be $27.8 million per year or $1.8 billion over 30 years.  The combined FV savings from these two trains would be $4.2 billion.  If all the long distance trains were discontinued, the FV of the savings would be approximately $31.8 billion.  Projecting the FV of savings over 30 years is challenging.  Hitting the targets shown above would be coincidental.  But hitting a range of plus or minus ten per cent from the target is probable.  So we can say with a reasonable degree of confidence that elimination of the long distance trains would produce FV savings of $28.6 billion to $35 billion.  High speed rail projects in France, Spain, and Taiwan, which have been built largely from scratch, have cost between $24 million and $47 million per mile.  But as I have said, one does not need to start with high speed rail.  One can get significant improvements by upgrading existing rail corridors to handle more trains, reduce or eliminate bottlenecks, improve facilities, and buy new equipment.  These improvements can make passenger rail competitive with alternative transport modes in relatively short, high density corridors.  High speed rail, which is often times as much about bragging rights as an optimum transport solution, is not necessary in most instances.  It is the SST of passenger rail.The cost to upgrade existing corridors depends on the amount of improvement required.  Amtrak estimates that it would cost $625 million to upgrade the NEC to shave 15 minutes off the Washington to New York schedule.  The distance is approximately 226 miles; the upgrade works out to $2.8 million per mile.  The cost to upgrade the Portland to Seattle line to Tier I status, including amounts already spent, is estimated at $1.1 billion or approximately $6.1 million per mile.  This includes upgrading stations, parking lots, etc. as well as the purchase of new equipment.The FV of the savings from discontinuing the Sunset Limited could build approximately 390 miles of Tier I line, assuming the costs were similar to the costs incurred to upgrade the Portland to Seattle line.    If the long distance trains were discontinued, 5,213 miles of Tier I or 895 miles of high speed rail could be built with the FV of the savings.  The high speed estimate assumes an average construction cost of $35.5 million per mile.  Most people cannot afford to pay cash for a house.  This is especially true for first time home buyers.  That's why they go to the bank for a mortgage.  They are not expected to payoff the loan in a year.  The same concept applies to upgrading rail corridors.  The financing would be paid off over time.  Thirty years is a common period.  This is why I used the U.S. Treasury long bond rate; in fact, the FV of the savings from discontinuing the long distance trains might generate a considerably higher return if the monies were invested in higher yielding albeit relatively safe investments, e.g. high grade equities, corporate bonds, etc.     Amtrak has tried a variety of marketing incentives to boost the number of riders on the Sunset and Texas Eagle as well as all of its long distance trains.  They have met with only limited success.  Most people do not want to travel long distances in a train.  They prefer to fly.  Less than one half of one per cent of the people who travel by commercial carrier in the United States choose long distance trains.  This is the major reason why the long distance trains, whilst carrying a little more than 14 per cent of the Amtrak passengers, rack up almost 48 per cent of Amtrak's losses.
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