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new Viewliners -- possible sleeper route assignments ?

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According to Amtrak's Monthly Operating Reports, in FY11 the NEC accounted for 36.1 per cent of Amtrak's passengers. In FY12 the NEC recorded 11.4 million passengers whilst the system had 31.2 million passengers. The NEC accounted for 36.6 per cent of the riders in FY12. This percentage has been relatively consistent for as long as I have been analyzing the numbers. Total federal spending on Amtrak has been approximately $39.6 billion since its inception. This number is essentially correct, although it overlooks the capital expenditures that are working their way through the accounting systems. Also, it does not take into consideration the fact that Amtrak has paid no federal, state, or local taxes since its inception. Determining the value of these hidden subsidies would require a Herculean task. One would have to go through the appraisal and tax records of every tax authority where Amtrak has a footprint.    In FY11 the average federal subsidy for Amtrak was 20.54 cents per passenger mile compared to .012 cents per airline passenger mile and .009 cents per vehicle mile traveled. These numbers are just the federal subsidies that can be found in a reasonable audit trail. They are not hypothetical.   The amount of money transferred from the General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) is Amtrak smoke to hide the real issue, which is how much should the U.S. spend on passenger rail? It is irrelevant to answering the question. The cumulative amounts transferred to the trust fund since FY07 is in the neighborhood of $39 billion, since approximately 22 per cent of the monies in the HTF is transfered to the Mass Transit Fund or other HTF sponsored activities. Amtrak conveniently overlooks this fact.  Do we want to keep the national passenger rail system signed into law by Richard Nixon. No! Approximately 15 per cent of Amtrak's system passengers use the long distance trains. Killing them would leave the NEC as well as the other state supported short corridors, i.e. California, Illinois, etc., as well as others as they develop.  And 85 per cent of the current customers would still have passenger rail service.   Amtrak has had more than 40 years to get the long distance service right. It has failed!  Acquiring new long distance equipment will not change the outcomes. The company's numbers would place it amongst the Fortune 500 if it were a viable investor owned entity. If the CEO of such an enterprise continued a product line that impinges the value of the organization to the extent that the long distance trains impinge Amtrak's outcomes, he or she would be fired.
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