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[quote user="CJtrainguy"] [quote user="Sam1"] As of the end of Fy12 Amtrak had accumulated losses of $29.3 billion. If the numbers are restated inn 2012 dollars, the accumulated losses would be north of $40 billion.  Amtrak should not be offering discounts or services that acerbate these losses.[/quote] One wonders then what level of annual losses would be acceptable for Amtrak? Or would it be your contention that if Amtrak can't be run at a profit, considering all possible and sundry expenses that can be charged to it, it should not be run at all? [/quote] Over the past four years Amtrak has lost approximately $1.2 to $1.3 billion per year.  Outside of a few budget hawks, most people, by their silence, appear to find this acceptable.   Most Americans don't use Amtrak.  In FY11 only .13 per cent of intercity passenger miles was by train, as per Table I-40, National Transportation Statistics. For those who use Amtrak, most of the people that I have encountered don't understand how it is funded.  In FY10 the average federal Amtrak subsidy was $ $15.50 per taxpayer. The average tax bill for a median income family was $4,828 as per IRS Table 1.1.  Needless to say, that did not register for most taxpayers and, therefore, did not raise any concern about Amtrak's federal subsidy. Amtrak requires approximately $1 dollar of federal and state subsidy for every $2 of revenue.  Could privatizing Amtrak generate a better result?  That is a key question.  Covering all of the variables associated with this issue is beyond the scope of this thread.  Or maybe even these forums. The long distance trains cannot generate enough revenue to cover their costs. Depending on how much additional capital is plowed into the NEC and how quickly it is amortized, it could cover all of its costs in time. Interestingly, as I plan to show later this year, after the FY13 numbers have come in, many of the State Supported and Other Short Corridor Trains could cover all of their expenses with some tweaking of their pricing and better cost control.
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