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Critical Thinking Paper (Hunter Walterman)
Critical Thinking Paper (Hunter Walterman)
service in the continental United States. It was created in 1971 under the Rail Passenger
Service Act signed by President Richard Nixon. It came about as a response to the dire
situation that railroad companies faced in the United States during the middle of the
After World War Two the federal government invested heavily in infrastructure.
Government investment in seaports, airports, and highways led to the advent of relatively
inexpensive and efficient travel on interstate highways and by air travel. The number of
registered vehicles per person more than doubled between 1948 and 1971 (Kliesen &
government intervention however, the railroads declined to receive funding from the
federal government. State regulation, tough labor laws, and the suburbanization of
America (many passenger rail stations are located in the heart of cities) all led to the
passenger rail lines, but Congress forbade it. Many railroads were on the verge of
passed the Rail Passenger Service Act. The act mandated that railroads join a semi-
private rail corporation, provide money and equipment or, if they did not join, continue
running current passenger rail lines until 1975. America’s 20 companies that operated
passenger rail service all joined (How Amtrak Started in 1971). Today Amtrak is off the
rails. Once the worldwide leader in rail transport, America’s passenger rail system is
unprofitable and undesirable. Congress must relinquish control of Amtrak and allow it to
become a totally commercial corporation because Congress’ control has created chronic
unprofitability, mismanagement, and safety issues that have resulted in loss of life.
Amtrak is horrendously unprofitable. In its more than 45-year history, Amtrak has
never made money. Its net losses from 2010 to 2016 have been more than $1 billion
dollars per year (Beene). This does not mean that Amtrak is not used. Since its creation
Amtrak ridership has doubled. More people are riding the rails than ever before.
Additionally, Amtrak is more reliable than passenger airlines and safer than driving in a
Why then, does Amtrak lose so much money every year? The answer can be
found in its long-distance, cross-country routes. Amtrak provides two different services.
It has routes that are more than 400 miles and routes that are less than 400 miles. Amtrak
has 26 routes that travel under 400 miles. These services like the Acela in the Northeast
Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor routes are successful for the same reason that all of
Amtrak’s short distance routes are successful. They travel through densely populated
areas. The metropolitan areas that the Acela services (Washington D.C., Philadelphia,
New York, Boston) are occupied by about the same number of people that live in Spain
(Yglesias). In 2012 the profits from the Acela and Northeast Regional lines alone were
The under-400 mile routes that Amtrak operates are its most popular. In 2012,
83% of all Amtrak riders rode on these trains. Additionally, all of these short lines serve
at least one major metropolitan area. Servicing major metropolitan areas is a key part of
Amtrak’s under-400 mile route success. Outside of the Northeast Corridor Amtrak’s most
popular routes are the Pacific Surfliner (Los Angeles-San Diego), the Capitol Corridor
popular short distance routes service major cities that are the economic centers of their
region, and have heavily congested automobile and air traffic (Puentes).
Amtrak’s 400-mile plus trains are not as popular. They service long distance
routes between metropolitan centers and stop at many small, sparsely populated towns.
One such example is Amtrak’s Empire Builder. The Empire Builder travels 2,230 miles
from Chicago to Seattle in a grueling 46-hours (it’s only 30 hours by car; 4 and a half
hours by plane). Every time the train departs it loses money. From October of 2015 to
March of 2016 the Empire Builder lost more than $30 million dollars (Scheyder).
These long distance trains have low ridership and high operating cost. In 2012
Amtrak’s long distance routes accounted for 17% of Amtrak’s ridership, but made-up
43% of Amtrak’s ‘route-associated’ operating cost (Puentes). These long distance trains
are unpopular because they service sparsely populated areas and are incredibly slow. For
example, a car ride from Washington D.C. to Pittsburgh is 5 hours while a trip on the
Amtrak Capitol Limited from D.C. to Pittsburgh is 7 hours and 43 minutes. (Yglesias).
This time difference is attributable to the fact that outside of the Northeast Corridor,
Amtrak does not own the tracks on which it operates. Amtrak takes a back seat to freight
traffic on its long distance routes causing monumental delays (Halsey). Many of these
long distance routes remain part of the Amtrak system in order to appease members of
There is currently a move to change this. President Trump has proposed cutting
funding for Amtrak’s long distance routes in his 2019 budget. If passed, Amtrak would
be unable to operate routes like the Empire Builder because they are so heavily
subsidized (Ivanova). This has been proposed before and it’s unlikely to get much
support as powerful Congressmen from rural districts want Amtrak to continue servicing
their constituency. If Congress allowed Amtrak to drop these long distance routes or
charge for tickets what it actually costs to run them, Amtrak would be a profitable
organization (Plumer).
analyses, discussions, and testimony about Amtrak and its operations fail to recognize the
sharp differences in the network” between the profitability of popular short distance
routes and the failure of trains like the Empire Builder (Puentes).
Republicans who don’t want to spend money on the company. Republicans view Amtrak
as an unnecessary expenditure and push to either cut funding entirely for the company or
loosely worded mandates. A 2014 audit found that Amtrak management thought “so
many legislatively mandated tasks and responsibilities had accumulated over time that it
was unclear what to focus on. That view was evident in the company’s 2011 strategic
plan, which had five strategic themes, seven strategies, numerous initiatives and dozens
Congress needs to find a better way of providing Amtrak with subsidies. Amtrak
has never received a permanent line in the federal budget meaning the company is unable
to know how much money it can or should spend. If Amtrak needs money from Congress
they have to ask for it. This makes it almost impossible for Amtrak to create a plan to
projects are often mismanaged, become delayed and are overly expensive. One example
is the New Jersey High Speed Rail Improvement Program. Since 2009 Amtrak had a plan
to make a 23 mile stretch of track between New Brunswick, New Jersey and Trenton,
New Jersey faster by installing high speed overhead wires. The project was estimated to
cost $450 million federal tax dollars and be finished by June 2017. A report in July 2017
by NBC 4 New York found that the project was largely uncompleted and $64 million
dollars over budget. They also found that the project was delayed with a new completion
date of November 2018 (NBC 4). In 2015 an Amtrak Inspector General’s report found
that the primary manager on the project had committed “gross mismanagement of funds
and resources”. Amtrak’s CEO admitted that the project had been hastily conceived and
was “not well managed” (Acquisition and Procurement: New Jersey High Speed Rail
mismanagement. From 2001 to 2011 Amtrak has lost $833 million dollars selling
foodstuff. Amtrak looses money on every item of food it sells. A 2011 Transportation and
Infrastructure committee hearing found that every cheeseburger sold on an Amtrak train
costs taxpayers $6.65 (A Review of Amtrak Operations). The same hearing also
uncovered more than 900 instances of theft, dishonesty, and policy/procedure violations
in Amtrak’s food and beverage service. However, Amtrak’s powerful union makes it
freight rail companies. Amtrak does not own the tracks it operates on. 70% of the miles
traveled by Amtrak trains are on rail lines owned and operated by freight rail companies
(Isidore). The only rail lines that Amtrak owns entirely are those in the Northeast
Corridor. When Amtrak was created in the early 70’s Congress took steps to ensure that
Amtrak trains got priority over freight trains on freight-owned lines so that passenger
trains could run on time. However this mandate was overruled in 2016 after the
Association of American Railroads filed suit complaining that Amtrak didn’t have the
Freight rail companies that view Amtrak as a nuisance to their service don’t take the
necessary steps to keep their tracks safe or accommodate rail passenger service. This
would slow down trains going too fast, prevent collisions, and alert the engineer when
they are approaching a switch set the wrong way. This technology is called positive train
crossing, or curve PTC automatically slows down the train. PTC is in place across Asia,
Europe, and Africa. It’s even in third world countries like Mozambique (Ross). PTC was
system when major freight railroad companies said that they needed more time (“Owner
of Track Asked for Extension to Install Technology ‘Designed to Prevent’ S.C. Train
Wreck”). The extended deadline called for positive train control to be installed by the end
of this year. However the Federal Railroad Administration recently said that "few, if any,
of the 41 railroads" subject to the law will implement PTC in time for the new deadline
(Beene).
One such company was freight rail company CSX. CSX owns the rail lines that
were used in the deadly February 4th train crash involving a stationary CSX locomotive
and a southbound Amtrak train. A track switch was in the wrong directions sending the
Amtrak train onto a sidetrack. CSX was responsible for operating that switch. The crash
could have been prevented with positive train control. This accident caused roughly $25
million in damage, making it more expensive than all of the rail accidents in the state of
South Carolina combined during this decade (“Fatal Amtrak Crash Caused More Damage
than the past Decade of S.C. Rail Accidents Combined”). Federal records show that only
Positive train control could have prevented a number of deadly crashes. This past
year an Amtrak train was running on newly built tracks that allowed for higher speeds in
Washington state. The train conductor was unaware that as he approached a 30 mph
curve he was traveling at 80 mph. The train derailed onto an interstate, killing three
people (Ross). The company that operates the rail lines, Sound Transit, had failed to fully
implement PTC before opening up the tracks (Gelinas). Although PTC was installed on
the track, it had not yet been switched on. Even so, Sound Transit is far ahead of most
Many Amtrak crashes aren’t only due to a lack of PTC but by the negligence of
freight railroad employees. One of the deadliest Amtrak crashes occurred in 1987 when a
Conrail freight locomotive collided head on with an Amtrak train heading northbound
outside of Baltimore. Conrail engineer Ricky Gates and some of his crew had smoked
marijuana before operating their train. They had also failed to fix a warning whistle that
had been tampered with and drove through multiple stop signals. Their train collided
head on with an Amtrak train, causing the deaths of 16 people (VHS Newsreel – Chase
Maryland Amtrak/Conrail Crash 1987). Amtrak was in no way responsible for that
accident. Even so Amtrak was supposed to pay negligence fees until a federal judge
ordered that Conrail pay for its “reckless, wanton, willful, or grossly negligent acts…”
(Horwitz). This accident occurred on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor highlighting that even
on it’s own tracks Amtrak trains aren’t necessarily safe. Additionally, if PTC were
In many instances Amtrak has to pay for the negligence of major freight
companies like CSX. Amtrak often pays for the millions of dollars in damage caused by
these wrecks, even if it’s the fault of someone else. It happens time and time again. Poor
maintenance of rail lines by companies like CSX cause deadly crashes involving Amtrak
trains and Amtrak is forced to pay the settlement claims (“Owner of Track Asked for
The New York Times found that since 1984 Amtrak has had to pay more than
$186 million “for accidents blamed entirely or mostly on others”. Amtrak has to pay
these fees because of their agreement with freight companies (Bogandich). In order to
provide national rail service Amtrak has had to negotiate secretive agreements with over
25 different rail companies that own the tracks on which passenger service operates. The
one constant among all of the agreements is that the freight companies are at “no fault.”
Associated Press writer Jeff Horwitz explains ‘no fault’ means that Amtrak “… takes full
responsibility for its property and passengers and the injuries of anyone hit by a train. The
"host railroad" that operates the tracks must only be responsible for its property and
railroads negligence, Amtrak has to pay. Although the Surface Transportation Board gave
Amtrak the right to try and get freight companies to pay negligence fees, Amtrak often
Congress has taken no action to hold rail companies accountable for installing
safety equipment or accommodating Amtrak. Even since the 1930’s it has been
recommended that PTC be installed on tracks. In 1990 the National Transportation Safety
Board added PTC to its list of most wanted transport safety improvements. Yet PTC has
still not been installed across most of the country. The freight rail industry has spent tens
Instead of protecting Amtrak and the American people who ride it, Congress has listened
Congress must to relinquish its control of Amtrak. It has failed to take the
necessary steps to make the railroad profitable by not allowing it to get rid of unprofitable
routes, failed to keep the railroad safe and protect it from being exploited by freight rail
companies, and allow rampant mismanagement throughout the company. If Amtrak were
privatized it could become profitable by focusing on short train routes that connect major
metropolitan areas, negotiate better rail contracts with freight train companies, and hire