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The Boston Globe and Amtrak Long Distance

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Long distance trains are used by less than one per cent of intercity travelers. Implying that one train a day between Chicago and San Antonio or three trains a week between Los Angeles and New Orleans, as examples of the long distance train network, is a serious transport option is a bit of a stretch.  Given the paucity of riders on the long distance trains, the argument that the public wants them is not borne out by the per cent of the population that use them.  Moreover, the people that use them are not willing to pay for them through the fare box. There are heaps of activities that the federal government can cut that would have a greater impact on the deficit than cutting out Amtrak's long distance trains.  But one does not put out a grass fire, as least in Texas, by throwing a little more gasoline on it.  The question is what passenger rail operations in the United States are potentially viable.  Whatever else the government does is irrelevant to that question.   In FY10 Amtrak's long distance trains lost $575 million before interest and depreciation.  Amtrak claims that it would save approximately $300 million per year if it dropped the long distance trains.  A sharp manager, especially one in a competitive business, probably could find greater savings.  But lets go with the $300 million.  Over 40 years the amount of the savings could grow to $49.2 billion, using the U.S. Treasury's average ten year note interest rate for the last 40 years, which would pay for a lot of equipment that could be used on corridors where passengers trains make sense.   I would end the farm subsidies, as well as many middle class tax expenditures, e.g. the mortgage interest deduction, the homestead property tax deduction, etc. that are harvested by millions of Americans.   Corporations don't pay taxes.  Therefore, they don't get tax breaks.  Corporate taxes are paid first by the customers that buy their goods and services, or if they cannot be passed on to the customers, which is rare, they are paid by the shareholders and possibly  the workers.  When a corporation gets a tax break, it flows back to the customers, shareholders, or workers, depending on a variety of competitive constraints. Amtrak is not a workfare program.  It is supposedly a passenger transport company.  If the long distance trains were discontinued, many of the employees associated with them probably could find other work within Amtrak or a similar organization.  For some of them, at least, Amtrak could give them an early retirement option.  Many others could find jobs on an expanded passenger rail network where passenger trains make sense, i.e. relatively short, high density corridors.  I take back seat to no one in my support of trains where they make sense.  In August I took the train from Pittsburgh to New York, as well as New York to Hartford, and New York to Washington.  But I don't support long distance trains, although I ride them on occasion.
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