PrintJune 18, 2011
Trains to Nowhere
Two recent reports remind us of how ridiculous the Department of Transportation is when it comes to passenger rail service and offer additional insight into why this nation is heading towards bankruptcy.
The first story is that Amtrak, our socialized passenger rail service, racked up an operating loss of $506 million this calendar year. The bad news is that this is a considerable increase from last year's loss of $420 million. The worse news is that next year's loss is projected to hit $618 million.
Amtrak ran these deficits despite an increase of nearly 10% in ridership over the last year, putting it on track to exceed last year's record of 28.7 million passengers.
The taxpayers are on the hook for all these losses, of course. We subsidize Amtrak to the tune of a whopping $3.94 billion a year, or about 16% of its operating expenses. Here is your paradigm case of a socialized company: it has a nearly 10% increase in customer traffic, is a legal monopoly, and...(Read Full Article)
