Talk about destroying fond memories. Everything I'm reading today is bad news for Amtrak. A country that once had the greatest rail system in the world is about to collapse--or will do so if the present administration has its way. A Passenger Rail Investment Reform Act was introduced in Congress on April 14 that is supposed to "breathe new life into the nation's inter-city rail service" and "improve Amtrak's operations nation-wide". So much is overlooked in the administration's determination to make these so-called improvements: the subsidies to roads and highways, to aviation--that to call the miniscule (by comparison) subsidy of Amtrak some kind of drain on the budget boggles the mind.
Not that this is a new notion for the Office of Management and Budget: they've been trying for 25 years to cut off funding but now the president has some congressional conservatives who believe the government shouldn't be subsidizing a corporations. BUT Amtrak was never created as a private enterprise business. It was founded by Congress to take over passenger travel service that the freight railroads had been operating at a great loss. And transportation needs have always been subsidized by government: building lighthouses, dredging harbors, and even, believe it or not, laying out the national highways. Subsidies for roads have doubled, for aviation nearly tripled. And for Amtrak--virtually flat.
For my part, I'm convinced the railroad traveling public has little idea as to what is happening. If things go from the present bad to worse, I'm going to distribute flyers on my next Amtrak trip explaining to the passengers what they are about to lose (if it's not already lost by then).
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