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If the incremental fares for the Acela cover or exceed the incremental costs associated with hosting the Acela, the investors (taxpayers) are made whole.  In a competitive business, if they did not the product line would be dropped, or it would never have been implemented. The Acela has been covering its operating costs and contributing to the fixed costs, i.e. equipment, infrastructure, etc. However, without access to Amtrak's accounting records, it is not possible to know whether the Acela covers the incremental fixed costs incurred to support it.   Why was the NEC infrastructure upgraded?  Was it to support the Acela's 150+ mph speeds, or was it to support higher speeds for the NEC regional trains, and the Acela was just an after thought. If the NEC upgrades were for the Acela, it does not appear that its users are paying the full cost of their ride and, therefore, the taxpayers is worse off.  If, on the other hand, the upgrades were for the regional trains, then it is possible that the Acela is covering its proportional share of the upgrades and, therefore, the taxpayers are better off. If the Acela does not cover its fully allocated costs, i.e. variable and fixed, the investors (taxpayers) should ask why the service was implemented.  Would  the country have been better off to upgrade the NEC to 125 mph for NEC trains (coach and business class) that would cover all the costs and break even on a fully allocated cost basis or make a real profit? The regional business class car is one of eight or more cars on a NEC regional train. Most of the train's variable cost is covered by the coach passengers. Given the seemingly relatively low incremental cost of adding one business class car to a typical NEC regional train, it is possible that the incremental business class fare is covering the incremental business class cost. Again, one would need access to Amtrak's accounting records to make this determination.
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