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[quote user="dakotafred"] <blockquote class="quote"> <div class="quote-user">Sam1</div> <div class="quote-content"> If Amtrak were run like a business, which it should be, but it is not, the Heartland Flyer would have been axed years ago. </div> </blockquote> You are always challenging other people. What, pray, is your basis for saying Amtrak should be run like a business (as opposed to other of our government programs that are, depending on your politics, more or less useful, but certainly not organized around profit)? [/quote] Amtrak is a commercial enterprise, just like Greyhound, Southwest Airlines, etc.  It carries people from one point to another and charges them a fare to do so.   When Amtrak was established, if I remember my reads correctly, the enabling legisation stipulated that Amtrak was expected to turn a profit.   Later, when it was realized that Amtrak was unlikely to be profitable, the legislative language was changed to say, in effect, that Amtrak should be run like a business.  That's different than saying it should turn a profit.  Intercity passenger rail should not be treated differently than intercity buses, airlines, cruise ships, etc.  They turn a profit or go out of business. Amtrak or intercity passenger rail should be on the same playing field. One can argue, as many have, that the others don't pay their fair share of the public facilities that they use, but this view has been and continues to be debated. Even if Amtrak got federal and state subsidies per passenger mile akin to those supposedly benefiting other commerical passenger carriers, it would not be able to compete, although it is getting close on the NEC.   Government(s) should not operate commercial enterprises, with the possible exception of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). My reason is not driven by politics; it is based on experience in the business world.    Competitive enterprises do things better, faster, cheaper, with the operative word being better, than monopolies and government agencies. They have to competete effectively, or they go out of business.  But a monopoly or government agency - Amtrak - can perpetuate inefficiency and incompetency for a long time.  They don't have any direct competition and, therefore, little incentive to adopt best practices.  I take three or four trips a year on Amtrak.  I also take six or seven cruises a year. The difference in the attitude of the cruise ship employees vs. the Amtrak employees is startling.  I have never encountered a cruise ship employee with a bad attitude.  But I have encountered quite a few Amtrak employees who seemingly don't give a damn. Why?   The cruise ship business is very competitive.  It cannot afford employees with a bad attitude because cruise ship patrons can switch to a carrier that will treat them right. Intercity rail passengers in the U.S. are locked into a government monopoly.  For the most part they don't have a choice. And many of Amtrak's employees seem to know it.  Not all of them, of course, but I have run into too many Amtrak employees that have an indifferent attitude.  Part of the reason, I think, is because of the lack of competition.
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