At this time there is still no budget for the State of Michigan and the Blue water and Pere Marquette Amtrak trains are running on the $900,000 left over from FY 2007.
I'm finding the arguments that are flying around out there quite amusing. It all boils down to this, with regards to trains, planes and automobiles: If government needs to get involved with their cash book, then the people don't want it bad enough to pay the real cost of having it. Trailways & Greyhound aren't subsidized like Amtrak. Sure, they drive on roads that are maintained by the State and the Feds, but unless we want to turn our highways into 100% toll roads, let's leave it at that. The railroads privately own their infrastructure. There is no inherent "right" to demand that these private entities provide transit for the public.
The railroads own their own infrastructure, but much of it was a giveaway from the taxpayers.
In the 1800's when most of the rights-of-way were acquired and the first tracks built, the government massively subsidized the railroads with land grants. This was more palatable than giving them money directly I guess, but the railroads then turned around and sold that land to citizens to finance the construction. And the land increased many times in value once there was a railroad or the promise of a railroad running right next to it, compared to it being in the middle of nowhere! Comparatively small railroads of the day were regularly given millions of acres to develop a route.
The transcontinental railroad was one of the most heavily-subsidized, with loans of up to $48,000 (1800's dollars) per mile of track direct from the federal goverment, in addition to ten square miles of land per mile of track laid! Some of this land from the grant out in the Plains is still owned by the railroad.
So these are *our* rails. It is absolutely true that the private companies now, at great expense, make the capital improvements necessary to keep Amtrak and all other rail traffic moving along safely and at high speeds. And this entitles them to first crack at the rails. But these railway right-of-ways, running uninterrupted for thousands of miles across the country, through very valuable real-estate right through city centers, are priceless, and are a gift from the American people. It was with this in mind, I think, that Congress originally required that freight carriers on major routes also offer passenger service. And, when they were relieved of this responsibility in 1971, why Congress thought it perfectly reasonable that they ought to be *required* to carry Amtrak trains. I feel perfectly comfortable demanding that the private railroads allow my Amtrak train to pass.
Also, don't discount the cost of the roads that buses drive on. Supposedly the cost of a new four-lane road where one has never been before is $3.5M to $4M per mile. So, the reason the government doesn't have to get involved with its cash book on bus fares is because it pays for virtually everything on the infrastructure side.
