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Government Rail
By Kate Burch
It will be months, most likely, before we know the cause of the deadly
Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia. It does not have the markings
of a terrorist attack, and the reports of projectiles possibly hitting
the wrecked train, and at least one other, do not seem to be panning
out. The engineer, who I hear was well-liked, a real “train
guy,” may have been inexplicably deranged or temporarily
dysfunctional. Time will tell.
What I hope will happen as a result of this terrible event is that
light will again be cast on the inherent wastefulness and injustice of
government-run and taxpayer-funded transportation systems.
Amtrak has been around since 1971, and it has never been out of the
red. The system’s accumulated costs to taxpayers are well north
of $50 billion, and it spends about $1.70 for every dollar it receives
in revenue. Food service alone was responsible for losses
of $72 million in 2013. The burger that a rider buys for
about $10 costs Amtrak more than $16 to produce and serve. Free
meals and wine-and-cheese parties for special customers and various
freebies for employees and their kin pile up costs.
Two-thirds of Amtrak’s customers live in the ten largest metro areas,
and 83% of the trips are 400 miles or less. Despite heavy
taxpayer subsidies, passengers must pay $54 to $136 per ticket to take
the Amtrak train from New York to Philadelphia. Compare this to
the $15 to $20 charged by private commuter lines for trips of similar
distance. And then there are the routes outside of the northeast
corridor, such as the Chicago-to-San Francisco Zephyr and others, that
are subsidized by the taxpayers at a rate of $150 or more per passenger
per trip.
Amtrak, the plaything of the statists and of the elitists who want to
take a romantic train ride cross-country, is clearly a loser. It
also steals money from the taxpayers and takes unfair advantage, via
protectionist legislation, of other providers of transportation.
Private carriers do not need to demonstrate that they can do the job
better and cheaper; they already have shown that. Our new
elites, including public unions, media people, and the political class,
will fight to the death to keep Amtrak as it is, hiding the real costs
with dubious statistics. The taxpayers deserve better.
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