The problem with Amtrak is that the government is running it the way they run everything - just enough to say they are doing something but not well enough for it to have good service or to be profitable. Can they realistically say that they are putting a good product out there for people to use?

If the one train a day comes through your town in the middle of the night does it make it desirable to use (as is the case for Redding and Chico)? If you are traveling anywhere are you comfortable knowing that if you miss your connection that you will have to wait a whole day for the next opportunity to travel (this applies to all forms of travel)? Most Amtrak routes only have one train a day.

If trains are booked solid (as it seems every time I try to book a trip) why don't they add extra cars? They are running a train after all. The argument is always they don't have enough reserve equipment. When the railroads tried to operate passenger trains for profit they made sure they matched train length to demand and had extra equipment available.

We are a very time orientated society. We are upset if our flights are delayed. Amtrak has a reputation for always being late. How much does that drive away demand? The response is always that they don't have control over the dispatching of the tracks they are on. Well...a solution would be to threaten to dissolve Amtrak and require the railroads to provide passenger service again. I'm sure that would encourage the railroads to give priority to Amtrak trains again.

In the big scheme of things if the government is not going to run a passenger train system well then maybe they shouldn't do it at all. How about requiring that the railroads provide service but give them tax breaks to cover the losses. The problem back before Amtrak was formed was that the railroads were taking losses on passenger service and still being taxed to death while the government supported competing forms of transportation. It wasn't until the railroads were on the ropes (specifically the eastern ones) that the government scrambled to make Amtrak. How about giving them a tax incentive to operate passenger trains then stay out of their way.