Green Maned Lion
Engineer
Lets talk history. When Amtrak started in 1971, there were only a few Corridors included. The Penn Central system (Washington/Philly/Harrisburg/New York/Albany/Boston/Springfield/Buffalo) had huge ridership and as such was maintained. Same with the San Diegans. Detroit's political power as result of it being an economic engine got it two daily trains to Chicago. The Milwaukee corridor was profitable, and so operation continued. A pair of trains ran from Milwaukee to St. Louis, but there were no direct Chicago-St. Louis trains.
Otherwise, the rest of the system consisted of long distance trains. The ONLY St. Louis - Kansas city train ran all the way to New York, the Spirit of St. Louis, later renamed the National Limited. That was what Amtrak was supposed to run. Most of the rest of it was considered to not be Inter-City rail and as such continued to be operated by the freight roads.
Included in the bill was a provision to operate trains at the funding and request of states, as well as power for Amtrak to experiment with trains to see if they could be operated profitably and sensibly. For a system signed into law with the intention of failure, it was really a very sensible layout.
I only saw one glaring problem, and that was the systems operating within a state for that state. They should have always been, from day one, state funded. The Empire corridor, Keystone Corridor, Detroit corridor, Milwaukee corridor, and San Diegan corridor should have all been state funded. They are not national routes. They are state routes. Amtrak was supposed to be a system to benefit national connectivity. State infrastructure on all levels should be state directed.
I feel that way for all kinds of things, not just trains. I think that state taxes should be higher, Federal taxes lower, and the concept of federal "booster" funding for state projects should be thrown on to a scrap heap labeled "bad ideas". National taxes should be paid for national benefit. State taxes for state benefit. Federal funding of state trains made no sense in 1971, and it makes no sense now.
In the years that followed, though, as should be expected, Politics has been a double edged sword for Amtrak. It has kept it alive. And on life support. Given a dedicated funding source and no congressional intervention, Amtrak may well have been able to flourish and build a nice national system. But it wasn't to be so. Look at all the garbage that grew on the Amtrak system like Kudzo throughout the 70s. I mean, dear god. The Shenandoah, the Mountaineer, the James Whitcomb Riley, the Hilltopper, the Beacon Hill, the Michigan Executive, Praire Marksman, and the North Star. None of them had good ridership, yet all ran daily. Of them, only the James Whitcomb Riley survives as the Cardinal.
Amtrak should be allowed to have the Federal government fund long-distance routes as makes sense. I don't like that the feds are unwilling to fund them, although I keep hearing very solid discussion of a restored Broadway Limited coming out of Mass. Avenue. But all of those state trains? They benefit the state, and only the state. And the state can bloody pay for them.
Otherwise, the rest of the system consisted of long distance trains. The ONLY St. Louis - Kansas city train ran all the way to New York, the Spirit of St. Louis, later renamed the National Limited. That was what Amtrak was supposed to run. Most of the rest of it was considered to not be Inter-City rail and as such continued to be operated by the freight roads.
Included in the bill was a provision to operate trains at the funding and request of states, as well as power for Amtrak to experiment with trains to see if they could be operated profitably and sensibly. For a system signed into law with the intention of failure, it was really a very sensible layout.
I only saw one glaring problem, and that was the systems operating within a state for that state. They should have always been, from day one, state funded. The Empire corridor, Keystone Corridor, Detroit corridor, Milwaukee corridor, and San Diegan corridor should have all been state funded. They are not national routes. They are state routes. Amtrak was supposed to be a system to benefit national connectivity. State infrastructure on all levels should be state directed.
I feel that way for all kinds of things, not just trains. I think that state taxes should be higher, Federal taxes lower, and the concept of federal "booster" funding for state projects should be thrown on to a scrap heap labeled "bad ideas". National taxes should be paid for national benefit. State taxes for state benefit. Federal funding of state trains made no sense in 1971, and it makes no sense now.
In the years that followed, though, as should be expected, Politics has been a double edged sword for Amtrak. It has kept it alive. And on life support. Given a dedicated funding source and no congressional intervention, Amtrak may well have been able to flourish and build a nice national system. But it wasn't to be so. Look at all the garbage that grew on the Amtrak system like Kudzo throughout the 70s. I mean, dear god. The Shenandoah, the Mountaineer, the James Whitcomb Riley, the Hilltopper, the Beacon Hill, the Michigan Executive, Praire Marksman, and the North Star. None of them had good ridership, yet all ran daily. Of them, only the James Whitcomb Riley survives as the Cardinal.
Amtrak should be allowed to have the Federal government fund long-distance routes as makes sense. I don't like that the feds are unwilling to fund them, although I keep hearing very solid discussion of a restored Broadway Limited coming out of Mass. Avenue. But all of those state trains? They benefit the state, and only the state. And the state can bloody pay for them.