Thursday, May 19, 2011
Trains In Vain - Investors.com
One would assume that Amtrak's management is trying.
Then again, they are government; and what would be the incentive if they keep getting subsidies?...
Then again, they are government; and what would be the incentive if they keep getting subsidies?...
Investors.com explains:
"To say that Amtrak is a failed business is to be unkind to failure. Consider:
• A Pew study found that all but three of Amtrak's 44 lines lost money in 2008, with an average loss of $32 per passenger. Even the heavily used Northeast Regional line was a money-loser.
• Each year, Amtrak relies on more than $1.5 billion in taxpayer subsidies — totaling about $40 billion over the past 40 years. And it's by far the most heavily subsidized mode of transportation, getting $210 per thousand passenger miles, according to a 2004 Department of Transportation report."
