Chuck brings up a valid point: There are lots of things the Federal Government subsidizes which I never use and I think are a complete waste of money. I think we can all fill 10,000 reems of paper writing them down! The point is, you can't expect something subsidized to perform as well as its neighbor if the subsidies are unbalanced. It's about equal time and money if you're going to do it at all- otherwise it's a hypocritical conflict of interest. I don't like getting stuck behind slow trucks on the highway- but I need the things they bring. And they are taxed, to some degree, for federal highway use- and the highways are also subsidized. I can't recall anyone ever saying the Interstate Highway sytem was supposed to be self-supported after X-number of years. Does Amtrak's charter REALLY say they're supposed to be a profitable, self-supporting entity? Finally, where I work, Amtrak, via CalTrans, pays for a great deal of track improvements- I can't think of how many Form A's that'd be out there if they didn't. And it's better to deadhead on Amtrak than to crowd into some van with an ex-con idiot driver!