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[quote user="schlimm"] So let's keep it within the realm of railways, so there is no complaint about others questionable practices used to justify one's own.  What about the freight railroads' rent to use Amtrak-owned NEC?  Do they pay a contribution to fixed costs in proportion to the wear and tear their much heavier trains exert?  Does anybody actually know the answer? [/quote] That's an excellent question!   In FY 12 Amtrak earned $52.6 million from freight carriers using its rights-of-way, most of which are in the NEC.  This was up from $42.8 million in FY11 or an increase of 22.9 per cent.  It also earned $147.1 million from the commuter railroads that accessed its rights-of-way, which was up from $138.0 million in FY11. This was a 6.6 per cent increase.   Whether the rents for foreign carriers accessing Amtrak's rights-of-way reflect the full cost of the access is unknown.  And it is probably unknown to Amtrak. Amtrak is in the process of implementing SAP.  It is an enterprise wide financial management system that includes a variety of financial as well as other management modules. Amongst other things it contains a robust cost accounting module. The FRA OIG issued an audit report on Amtrak's progress in implementing SAP.  I read over it lightly; I am reading it again for understanding.  In a nutshell the audit report is not pretty.  It leads me to believe that Amtrak does not know how much it should charge the foreign carriers using its rights-of-way because it does not know the fully allocated costs of them.  If it does not know, it is likely no one else knows.
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