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Ask the wingnuts in France why they banned domestic air travel. On the very same day the ban took effect, SNCF raised train fares substantially.
Every time the government gets involved in anything it only ends one way. Bankrupt, and forced to use whatever the government feels like providing at an exorbitant price because they banned the competition.
We're talking about the US. That's where Amtrak operates. In case you're confused.
Whatever results in them offering a competitive product and turning a profit or at least breaking even, and stop being a liability for taxpayers.
And if it can't offer a competitive product after this round of funding, it needs to go bankrupt and be liquidated, and any of its assets with any kind of value sold off to whoever's willing to take them.
If Amtrak is designed to fail as alluded to earlier in this thread, then it should be shut down. Giving them any kind of money would be setting money on fire.
Maybe you're under the impression that cars and related taxes pay for road infrastructure, our oil supply, etc. That's incorrect by hundreds of billions per year in public dollars. Again, we're talking about the US here.
We're talking about the US. That's where Amtrak operates. In case you're confused.
They said the same thing about vaccine mandates....until they rolled out a vaccine mandate.
Since the same far left wingnuts who want to set billions of dollars on fire propping up a failed government bureaucracy that adds nothing of value import every stupid failed policy the Europeans implement, what they do there is relevant here. They're also part of the same climate cult that want to manage France back to the Stone Age.
NEVER trust the government.
Last edited by albert648; 08-08-2023 at 10:33 PM..
Maybe you're under the impression that cars and related taxes pay for road infrastructure, our oil supply, etc. That's incorrect by hundreds of billions per year in public dollars. Again, we're talking about the US here.
Since we're talking about the US here, Amtrak doesn't get remotely the heavy traffic and use that our roads do. Roads are used to transport everything from airplane parts to avocados to Amazon packages to people.
Amtrak transports empty train cars and employees and adds nothing of value to our economy. Comparing roads with Amtrak is ludicrous. Amtrak is a failure and has been a failure for 50 years. Get over it.
Last edited by albert648; 08-08-2023 at 10:34 PM..
We're talking about the US. That's where Amtrak operates. In case you're confused.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mhays25
Maybe you're under the impression that cars and related taxes pay for road infrastructure, our oil supply, etc. That's incorrect by hundreds of billions per year in public dollars. Again, we're talking about the US here.
I think it's pretty clear there's no point in responding. I don't even see these as I put him on the ignore list a while ago. He's unfortunately spending his last days spiraling out.
One of the biggest obstacles Amtrak faces is that it can't expand or respond to short-term fluctuations in demand. At the high-water mark of rail passenger service in the late 1920's. the New York Central had enough well-maintained equipment to operate its prestigious 20th Century Limited in as many as seven sections[/i] -- that is, seven identical trains, technically on the same schedule but actually following each other, 3-5 minutes apart. with one or two exceptions, mostly, in its formative years, Amtrak has never been able to expand its frequency of service during the summer season.
But the outlying counties within the service area of Philadelphia's SEPTA have a population density sufficient to expand their services further into the exurbs. At one time SEPTA offered service to Allentown, Bethlehem, Reading and West Chester; (Harrisburg already has similar service courtesy of Amtrak) These services were cut back in 1981 after the outlying counties refused to contribute funding, and it wouldn't suprise me to learn of similar disputes (and opportunities) in Metro New York and/or Boston. And within those regions, the amount of land suitable for highway expansion is finite, and will continue to diminish, just as is currently thw case in Metro Los Angeles.
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 08-08-2023 at 11:13 PM..
One of the biggest obstacles Amtrak faces is that it can't expand or respond to short-term fluctuations in demand. At the high-water mark of rail passenger service, the late 1920's. the New York Central had enough well-maintained equipment to operate its prestigious 20th Century Limited in as many as seven sections[/i] -- that is, seven identical trains, technically on the same schedule but actually following each other, 3-5 minutes apart. with one or two exceptions, mostly, in its formative years, Amtrak has never been able to expand its frequency of service during the summer season.
but the outlying counties in Philadelphia's SEPTA have a population density sufficient to expand their services further into the exurbs. At one time SEPTA offered service to Allentown, Bethlehem, Reading and West Chester; these were cut back
in 1981 after the outlying counties refused to contribute funding, and it wouldn't suprise me to learn of similar disputes in Metro New York or Boston.
Admittedly we would be talking very big bucks and longer time horizons here; the eight- to ten-fold increase in the price of fuel isn't much when overall inflation is factored in. But the supply of land suitable for highway expansion is finite, and continues to diminish, This region might be a suitable laboratory for an expansion of higher-speed [u]exurban[/U rail services. similar to what has emerged in Metro Los Angeles over the past twenty years,
The SEPTA cutbacks also have to do with the Center City Commuter Connection to a degree as it meant getting rid of city terminals for a through-running tunneled operation in Center City. Those tunnels made operations much more efficient, but they could not safely have diesel operations run through them so the diesel services were all cut. I do think the advent of battery electric multiple units that can charge at parts of track that are electrified can be a promising way to re-expand out services for SEPTA Regional Rail.
These services were cut back in 1981 after the outlying counties refused to contribute funding, and it wouldn't suprise me to learn of similar disputes (and opportunities) in Metro New York and/or Boston. And within those regions, the amount of land suitable for highway expansion is finite, and will continue to diminish, just as is currently thw case in Metro Los Angeles.
In the New York area, much service was washed out by the remnants of Hurricane Agnes in late June 1972. There has been some restarting of service in the New York metro area to the northern limits of Dutchess County, where the Harlem Line stations of Tenmile River and Wassaic (and I think one other one) has been successfully reopened. Columbia County, just to the north, refuses to join the MTA tax district though they do get AMTRAK service to Hudson. That isn't Metro North and the frequency leaves something to be desired.
Since we're talking about the US here, Amtrak doesn't get remotely the heavy traffic and use that our roads do. Roads are used to transport everything from airplane parts to avocados to Amazon packages to people.
Amtrak transports empty train cars and employees and adds nothing of value to our economy. Comparing roads with Amtrak is ludicrous. Amtrak is a failure and has been a failure for 50 years. Get over it.
Amtrak has very high mode shares in the Northeast Corridor, especially between Philadelphia and New York. An argument could be made that its nationwide service is underutilized (though I think it would be better utilized if certain modest improvements were made), but there is a huge demand for its regional service in the Northeast.
Page 9 gives mode shares for various sub-markets within the Northeast Corridor.
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