Interesting. Also kind of makes you wonder about the off-the-cuff comments heard from time to time about private railroads getting back into the passenger business. As I recall, BNSF was one of the ones rumored to have expressed at least a passing interest, but this was construed by some as just a toe in the water to see if maybe some kind of deal could be struck to get federal assistance with physical plant upgrades. All the BNSF predeccessor roads were very pro-passenger and I think that even after nearly 40 years of Amtrak there are some at BNSF who would welcome the chance to operate their own trains again, given the right set of circumstances. Passenger traffic actually held up pretty well on Santa Fe (and presumably CB & Q, GN, and NP) right up to the formation of Amtrak -- what did them in was the cost to maintain (and eventually replace0 the 1940/1950 era equipment and the costs associated with the union contracts.