Hey, I'll take that. Just remember that most of the federal highway subsidy relative to user taxes goes to intercity roadways, so the denominator is much smaller than the total vehicle miles traveled. Also i believe accident costs are left out of that number and differential taxes, railroad vs road. What if you attempted to collect the difference in say 1950? Well usage would be a lot less, maybe no Amtrak to begin with.
You have to back analyze from a particular roadway segment to get a real answer, which is what I did in the paper for the interstates segments. I haven't found this type of analysis in the think tank papers, probably for a reason.
I have been thinking for a while of doing a license plate comparison on each end of the state, with a time delay for travel, on an interstate route to figure out how many travelers actually are doing over 200 mile trips.
Begging your pardon but the baggage dorm cars are neede to get crew members out of revenue space needed for revenue [assengers. Both straight baggage cars are neede to replace the present baggage cars which are very old and can't be used at speeds above, I believe, 90 miles an hour. The new ones are supposed to be operable at either 100 or 125 mph, I'm not sure which.
calzeph Begging your pardon but the baggage dorm cars are neede to get crew members out of revenue space needed for revenue [assengers. Both straight baggage cars are neede to replace the present baggage cars which are very old and can't be used at speeds above, I believe, 90 miles an hour. The new ones are supposed to be operable at either 100 or 125 mph, I'm not sure which.
And that will be useful -- where? Most places, Amtrak is restricted to 79 mph, tops. We need more REVENUE cars, cars that help pay the bills, coaches and sleepers!
Your point that Amtrak needs more REVENUE cars is well taken, Fred. These are not the old days when trains had library cars and motion picture cars and similar things but the treatment of crew members has also changed. Dining car workers do not pull the tables together and put mattresses on top of them to sleep on at night. Amtrak treats its people a little better than the private railroads treated them.
Of course in this world you get nothing for nothing. Treating crew members as human beings costs something. But we are not going to turn back.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
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