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[quote user="ruderunner"]charlie, the assertion was made in another thread or blog recently. It was based on speculation about what a class one can make from a train slot vs what Amtrak pays for the slot. There was quite a discrepancy though believable since Amtrak doesn't pay for infrastructure.[/quote] In a Fred Frailey blog someone calculated that Amtrak should pay $187.50 for a train mile. I still find this ridiculous. My answer in this blog: Take a corridor of 500 miles with 3 trains each way as example. The daily costs would be 3*2*500*187.50 = $562,500/day. With estimated cost for one mile of new track of $2.0 million the cost would be 1,000 million. These would be saved in 1,000,000,000/562,500 = 1778 days equals short of 5 years. Build the track, don't discuss with the hosts. I think slots are not a suitable calculation base. Make the trains ever longer and you get fewer slots. The slot is not what creates the costs but the wear caused by tonnage. In Germany an ICE high-speed train pays about $18** per train mile. This is calculated on base of infrastructure costs, new-building, maintenance, dispatching etc., i.e. costs produced by the train,not what DB might have earned with the slot. ** They pay less, but I included the governmental subsidies for infrastructure. I haven't found enough numbers on UP's website to do some calculation just 898.7 billion gross-ton-miles,and total infrastructure cash flow $3.086 billion of which about $300 million are locomotives and rolling stock. Regards, Volker
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