If we shut down the losers and actually invested the profits from the Northeast Corridor back into that line, Yglesias wrote up this exact argument this week [

If we shut down the losers and actually invested the profits from the Northeast Corridor back into that line, Yglesias wrote up this exact argument this week [1]. The Northeast Corridor profit he dug up [2] amounts to all of $136 million/year for the Northeast Corridor; a proposed upgrade is estimated at $151 billion [3]. (And the profit figure only includes operating costs -- the actually relevant figures aren't available). [1] http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/03/01/amtrak_profits_in_the_northeast_where_people_use_it_they_make_money.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/03/01/amtrak_profit... [2] http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Reports/2013/03/01%20passenger%20rail%20puentes%20tomer/passenger%20rail%20puentes%20tomer.pdf http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Reports/2013... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Corridor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Corridor