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Amtrak receives well more than $1 billion a year in federal subsidies and still loses millions of dollars per year. It is private only in the broadest sense of
by gwbrooks 5y ago
Amtrak receives well more than $1 billion a year in federal subsidies and still loses millions of dollars per year. It is private only in the broadest sense of the word.
- hakfoo 5y agoAmtrak doesn't own most of its rails. They have to negotiate with, e. g. BNSF and Union Pacific to use their tracks in most of the country. This often has led to limits on services and schedules, because they don't want to repackage their profitable freight offerings, or upgrade trackage sufficient for 100kph freight trains but not 200kph+ modern passenger ones.
- brudgers 5y agoAmtrak doesn't own much right of way.[1] Only about 700 miles. There are about 140,000 miles of track in the US. Nearly all of it in private hands. In France, the railroads are nationalized. A new high speed line doesn't incur the similar costs for right of way acquisitions. [1]: http://blog.amtrak.com/2019/05/why-are-amtrak-trains-delayed-by-freight-trains/ http://blog.amtrak.com/2019/05/why-are-amtrak-trains-delayed...
- mbreese 5y agoBut the point above is that it doesn’t get any of the “benefits” of being public, even if it is a de-facto public entity.