There are a number of state-run and regional commuter lines, such as those around New York, DC, Chicago, Boston, etc. They certainly aren't a national rail network of high-speed trains in the European sense.
Amtrak is federally financed (about half their total budget, IIRC), but only owns the tracks in the Northeast Corridor--elsewhere they lease freight tracks (and guess which trains get priority). Conrail was cobbled together from failing eastern railroads in the mid-1970s, with a Federal subsidy. It became a stockholder-owned profit-making corporation a few years later, paid back the Feds, and then in 1998 was torn apart in a corporate street fight between Norfolk Southern and CSX. It now exists as a tiny entity that manages local deliveries and switching yards in areas where N-S and CSX couldn't find a way to divide the spoils. Rick --- On Wed, 12/3/08, P. J. Alling <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Connecticut has a state "run" railroad, from Old > Saybrook to New Haven, (runs on Conrail tracks though). New > York, Connecticut and New Jersey jointly sponsor Metro > North, I can't remember if it's fully owned or a > "private" company simply subsidized by those three > states... Then there's Amtrack which completely > mystifies me, and I'm still not sure how Conrail works. > Some private passenger rail service used to make money, > however what really killed it was inflation. > An example from light rail. In 1900 you paid a nickel, (5 > cents), for a trolley ride and the wages on average were 22 > cents an hour. The average daily wage through inflation in > 1920 was 4.75, the price to travel on a trolley was still > about 5 cents. Most of these services were regulated and > people want something for nothing, so one by one they went > bust. Sic transit light rail. > > The same analysis works for regular rail as well, I just > can't find any numbers on line and I don't have my > research notes from 30 years ago. > > John Sessoms wrote: > > From: "Ken Waller" > >>> The only places passenger rail is in > half-decent shape in the US (which is > only > quarter-decent, by European >standards) is in the > "Northeast > Corridor" from Boston to > Washington DC, around Chicago, and on the > California > >coast. > >> > >> Oh, I don't know about that. > >> Have you ever ridden on the Alaksa Railroad? > >> I've been on it numerous times and have > appreciated their on time running and the well maintained, > clean stock. I've been told its the only state run RR. > > > > North Carolina has a state railroad, along with 2 > daily trains between Raleigh and Charlotte supported by the > NCDOT. > > > > http://www.ncrr.com/ > > > > http://www.bytrain.org/passenger/ > > > > OURS have bike racks BTW ... > > > > http://www.bytrain.org/bikesonboard.html > > > > And we're supposed to be getting a third daily run > ... > > > > > http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2008/06/02/daily28.html > > > > > > > > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > > [email protected] > > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link > directly above and follow the directions. > > > > > -- You get further with a kind word and a gun, than with a > kind word alone. > --Al Capone. > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link > directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
