Amtrak Is a Tax-Sucking Behemoth That Deserves to Die

[shelzp]

Yawn...

 

[jis]

I chose long distance trains because that is what the discussion is about and the California Zephyr because it's performance improvement plan listed its fuel costs. And pounds of CO2 per pax in electric territory would generally require knowing how many kWh and Amtrak's electricity mix. As a rule of thumb though, 12.5 kWh per gallon of diesel. I'd be rather surprised if CO2 went up rather than down however.

In electric territory you'd also have to consider the effect of regenerative braking.

 

[montana mike]

Yawn...

LOL. I guess $134 million isn't what it used to be!!

)

 

[tonys96]

Any "study" that quotes the Cato Institute is, on the face of it. biased.

Therefore this article, being one opinion, is also biased.

 

[Paulus]

I chose long distance trains because that is what the discussion is about and the California Zephyr because it's performance improvement plan listed its fuel costs. And pounds of CO2 per pax in electric territory would generally require knowing how many kWh and Amtrak's electricity mix. As a rule of thumb though, 12.5 kWh per gallon of diesel. I'd be rather surprised if CO2 went up rather than down however.

In electric territory you'd also have to consider the effect of regenerative braking.

Included in said rule of thumb. It's probably not the best of ideas for Amtrak though since iirc the AEM-7 is something absurd, 50-60 kWh per mile and no regeneration.

 

[NW cannonball]

Any "study" that quotes the Cato Institute is, on the face of it. biased.

Therefore this article, being one opinion, is also biased.

The Cato that the institute was named for was famous for saying, at the end of every speech "Carthage must be destroyed"

Now, the Cato Institute's hobbyhorse "Amtrak must be destroyed" seems a trivial and laughable echo of old Cato's obsession.

Sheesh.

Amtrak - use it, complain, make something better - but comparing Amtrak to some evil empire? -- ridiculous.

 

[CHamilton]

NARP has a sense of humor.

Pay no attention to the tax-sucking behemoths behind the curtain

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

NARP has a sense of humor.

Pay no attention to the tax-sucking behemoths behind the curtain

Any "study" that quotes the Cato Institute is, on the face of it. biased.

Therefore this article, being one opinion, is also biased.

The Cato that the institute was named for was famous for saying, at the end of every speech "Carthage must be destroyed"

Ancient Rome joke--love it!

Funny thing about the Cato Institute’s namesake... he ran a private toll bridge (the only bridge in his locality) and overcharged people to cross it because of his monopoly. Not that all that money helped the bridge any, it went into disrepair and was torn down, replaced by a pair of modern public bridges.

 

[CoachSlumber]

At least it is on the Daily Beast, which no one reads.

 

[Bob Dylan]

At least it is on the Daily Beast, which no one reads.

Is that like Yogi Berra's Famous Comment: "That Place is Too Popular So No-One Goes There Anymore!" :lol:

 

[buddy559]

NARP has a sense of humor.

Pay no attention to the tax-sucking behemoths behind the curtain

This article brings to light the real point. Why are we worrying about food, when there is real money to be made. Because of the nail the shoe was lost, because of the shoe the horse was lost, because....

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

At least it is on the Daily Beast, which no one reads.

"Nobody" may read it but the DB gets quoted and reposted quite a lot.

 

[Acela150]

This story makes Amtrak seem like Amtrak doesn't move people. I tried to find a way to contact the writer. No dice on that. I would love to hear his side of things.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

This story makes Amtrak seem like Amtrak doesn't move people. I tried to find a way to contact the writer. No dice on that. I would love to hear his side of things.

Enjoy..

http://reason.com/people/jim-epstein/all

 

[Sam31452]

Just think of this: Every time you park your car somewhere on public grounds (a thing that happens mostly in cities), you get a subsidy by the city. The city could also rent out these grounds for things such as new buildings, food stalls or even parking lots you 'd have to pay for.

Local authorities then have to tax other (train riding) people, because they lack income from land they could and should technically rent out.

If we talk about subsidies, we have to talk about cars & planes (and possibly even bikes) first!

Infrastructure (like roads, even bridges) for cars is usually funded by the public, while most railroad infrastructure depends on private funding and is generating profits.

 

[Ryan]

It's even more awesome when seemingly-reasonable aviation bloggers read it and write about how awful Amtrak is.

http://boardingarea.com/viewfromthewing/2013/11/24/amtraks-losses-abuse-customers/

The comments section is somewhat entertaining...

 

[NW cannonball]

The comment section is barely rational. The disoriented blogger at -- whatever - is obviously, another blogger spewing nonsense. There's a few zillion of those - so what.

 

[zepherdude]

Wow, that blog, The Boarding Area, total nonsense, you are right. Have no idea who he is, maybe just learning how to blog as his stuff means nothing to me.

 

[Shawn Ryu]

It's even more awesome when seemingly-reasonable aviation bloggers read it and write about how awful Amtrak is.

http://boardingarea.com/viewfromthewing/2013/11/24/amtraks-losses-abuse-customers/

The comments section is somewhat entertaining...

You pay peanuts you get monkey.

Want better rail service? Ask your local politician to support more funding for Amtrak.

Even private passenger rail companies in Europe cant make it work withut substantial tax funding for tracks and stations.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

I noticed that most of the comments were Against the article itself & For the support of Amtrak!

One of the comments, toward the end I believe, said something about -- sometimes the government needs to support things that contribute to 'quality of life' -- such as the opportunity to travel by train.

Or, on a more local level, cities providing facilities such as pools & other infrastructure (when I swim on my own in Aurora [Colorado] it's at a city pool that most likely would not be built to that level by, for example, a private health club). But of course, my city pool is also used by swim teams -- high school & age group, so there is some cost-sharing. Same concept that some cities are doing -- intermodal stations used not only by Amtrak but also by local rail & buses.

Or Amtrak itself, when they used to pull 'material handling cars' especially on the SWC -- I presume that that service didn't make enough revenue for them?

Years ago, the number (I heard) of Americans "afraid to fly" was over 20 million. Also, apparently there has recently been several new Intercity bus lines being established, sometimes even in Amtrak's market -- but a bus is so different than a train amenities-wise that I'm not sure that if "Amtrak was to disappear, that all those former riders would ride the bus".

There's also debate about whether many of the heritage passenger railroads dining car services 'made money' -- many times they 'spared no expense' to provide the passengers good food, who then told their friends, who then traveled on That railroad vs the competitor (often because of the food aboard & other services).

My memories of the preAmtrak service agrees with your last paragraph