The Amtrak wobble

From: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee, WI) | Date: July 19, 2002| Author: | Copyright information

The Amtrak wobble

By BILL WITHUHN

Friday, July 19, 2002

American history and economics go hand in hand. But so do history, politics and American culture. This is how we can make sense of the country's ambivalence about Amtrak.

First, the economics. It's a plain fact: Passenger trains can't operate for long without public support. For long-distance or short- distance trains, for high-speed trains in Europe and Japan, or for start-and-stop commuter trains everywhere: If both operating costs and capital costs are honestly accounted for over time, all such trains can be packed to the gills with ...

Read all of this article with a FREE trial to HighBeam Research

Related newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles from HighBeam Research

(Including press releases, facts, information, and biographies)

Sentimental Journey to Standard Time; Passenger Trains Will Stop While the Nation `Falls Back' an Hour
; At 2 a.m. Sunday, U.S. passenger trains will repeat a ritual that has been going on for more than 70...result: the one-hour stop to get everything back in sync. And passenger trains everywhere have been marking time each October ever since...
More trains lined up for Forth Bridge in bid to cut road traffic
; MORE passenger trains are to run across the Firth of Forth...Bridge. This will allow two extra passenger trains to run on the bridge every hour...the 115-year-old bridge, because passenger trains are lighter than heavy freight trains...
Guangzhou Railway Group To Open Twelve High-Speed Passenger Trains
; ...operation of 12 high- speed passenger trains and 11 trains for transporting...group will handle 138 pairs of passenger trains, an increase over the present...4,770. The speed of the new passenger trains, which boast evening departure...
Chinese Passenger Trains to Run Faster
; China will raise the speed of passenger trains again as of October 1, without...line with it, the number of passenger trains will increase to 1,108 pairs...The ministry will operate more passenger trains running between large cities...
PASSENGER TRAINS SHOULD BE PLACED ON ENDANGERED LIST
; ...used to be up to six passenger trains a day that stopped...railroad, and when passenger trains quit plying the rails...funding for the rail passenger carrier. The White...subsidies to keep the trains running, was forced...
Return trip: Passenger trains between Baton Rouge and New Orleans could become a part of everyday life once again
; Passenger trains spark shrieks of joy among youngsters...order. In some parts of the country, passenger trains are returning as an alternative to...be left out, is studying inter-city passenger trains between Baton Rouge and New Orleans...
Major attacks on passenger trains and subways around the world
; Some of the major attacks on passenger trains and subways around the world...Eight coordinated bombs explode on trains in Bombay, India, killing 147 and...backpack bombs rip through four trains in Madrid, killing 191 people and...
Passenger trains collide
; ...crash between two Wellington- bound passenger trains could have killed or injured many...driver running a red light. The two trains, coming from Johnsonville and Upper...angle. About 50 people were on the trains. No-one was seriously hurt in the...
Rail bosses turn down extra passenger trains.(News)
; RAIL bosses have turned down a bid to increase passenger services on a North Wales line. First North Western and Conwy Council wanted to double the number of trains between Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog. The proposed...the additional services and will allow heavy freight trains to run on the line ...
CSX Proposing to Keep Trains' Speed Up in Floods
; ...commuters by slowing or halting passenger trains during extreme weather, has...critical of CSX for forcing passenger trains to a crawl or stop during extreme...line to Martinsburg, W.Va. Some passenger trains were stopped to allow freight...