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All the talk about long distance trains and sleeping cars appears to miss two key points.  Only 14.5 per cent of Amtrak's passengers used the long distance trains in FY 2008.  Only 13.5 per cent of the long distance passengers rode from end point to end point, whilst 10.3 per cent rode between points covered by other corridor services.  Just 14.9 per cent of the long distance passengers or 2.2 per cent of Amtrak's passengers booked a sleeper.  Thus, rebuilding or buying new sleeping cars, given the tiny market served, would be imprudent.  It would be throwing good money after bad. In FY 2008 the long distance trains required an average operating subsidy of 18.5 cents per passenger mile compared 6.6 cents for the state supported and other short distance corridor trains.  The NEC trains contributed 20.7 cents per passenger mile.  These figures are before interest and depreciation, which are included in the fully allocated costs referred to below. According to a 2005 Department of Transportation (DOT) study, sleeping car passengers require a significantly greater average subsidy than coach passengers on the same train.  In FY 2004, which is the latest data available, sleeping car passengers received an average fully allocated subsidy of $395.62, whilst coach passengers got an average subsidy of $189.76.  Translating these figures into passenger per mile figures narrows the gap somewhat because sleeping car passengers, on average, travel further than coach passengers.  Base on the DOT study, the numbers are 39.6 cents per mile for sleeping car passengers vs. 29.2 cents per mile for coach passengers.  Thus, no matter how the data is sliced and diced, sleeping car passengers, contrary to the beliefs of many, get a larger subsidy than coach passengers, who are the bread and butter of Amtrak's trains.       The typical long distance train passenger travels between 500 and 800 miles.  Relatively few are on the train for more than one night.      The best solution for the long distance trains would be to kill them.  The future for passenger rail lies in high density, relatively short corridor trains.  However, given the political environment, this is unlikely to happen.  So maybe a better way is to re-think the overnight long distance train model.  Eliminate the sleeping car.  No matter how it is configured, it is expensive to buy or refurbish, maintain, and operate.  Eliminate the dinning car.  It too is expensive to buy, maintain, and operate.  Elimination of the sleepers would knock out half of Amtrak's dinning car revenues, which would make them untenable, since they are generated from the all in one fares paid by sleeping car passengers.  Sleeping car passengers are captives of the dinning car for meals that are not very good and served frequently by surly waiters, whilst coach passengers tend to favor the lounge car for their eats. Include a lounge car on each long distance train to provide Enroute food service.  It is unrealistic to expect people to spend 10 to 12 hours on a train without access to food and beverages.  Price the food service to cover all the costs.        Experiment with a long distance business class service.  Business class cars could be fitted with seats similar to those found in the business class section of overseas flights and would be adequate for one night on the train.  They would be much cheaper to acquire or rebuild, maintain, and operate.  This scheme would reduce the costs of operating long distance trains.  Whilst they would still lose money, the amount of red ink could be reduced significantly.  Equally important, elimination of the sleepers and dinners would reduce significantly the capital outlays required to buy new cars or refurbish existing ones.
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