tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2289595359432630118.post7840875643130596335..comments2024-03-18T04:36:26.547-04:00Comments on Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress: McCain Inane on Trains, Barack Backs AmtrakPaul Levinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609987407926836519noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2289595359432630118.post-50100392832740937422008-08-08T13:36:00.000-04:002008-08-08T13:36:00.000-04:00Excellent news that Amtrak is out of the freight m...Excellent news that Amtrak is out of the freight market. Does this mean that passenger trains will no longer have to give right of way to freight trains?Paul Levinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07609987407926836519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2289595359432630118.post-39297630984492117602008-08-08T10:32:00.000-04:002008-08-08T10:32:00.000-04:00Amtrak is out of the freight (aka mail/express) ma...Amtrak is out of the freight (aka mail/express) market. Delayed the trains too much.<BR/><BR/>Back to the post. McCain and other privatization advocate need to look at how privatization worked in Europe. Government subsidies to railroads increased, not decreased, after privatization. The accounting shell game lets them hide this fact -- train services are split into operations and infrastructure: operations companies make a "profit," and infrastructure companies get subsidies vastly exceeding that "profit." Absent such shell games, they make a loss, just as any common-carrier transportation system does (including airlines, which collectively have lost money ever since the Wright brothers -- see Warren Buffet, who after all is a capitalist).<BR/><BR/>Privatization doesn't magically change the economics. In fact, it further handicaps the financials, because the companies now need to make a profit instead of just breaking even.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2289595359432630118.post-10758768974431961912008-07-09T15:33:00.000-04:002008-07-09T15:33:00.000-04:00The quality of passenger services at the present t...The quality of passenger services at the present time is rather important. The company should necessarily operate across the whole country to be able to stay on the market. At www.pissedconsumer.com I found out that <A HREF="http://amtrak.pissedconsumer.com" REL="nofollow">Amtrak</A> is the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. The company operates passenger service on routes across the continental United States of America connecting hundreds of destinations in 48 states; routes to Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. In addition to the passenger service, Amtrak expanded into freight transportation market and now operates a captive bus service. I think the company is worth trusting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com