"Unless there is a change of hrart (sic) in the republicaian (sic) Party you might as well forget bringing backthe pieoner (sic) as they are bound and determined to privatize Amtrak".

We Republicans are "bound and determined" to make Amtrak, or its successors, less addicted to taxpayer money, and if privatizing it does that, so be it. Commercial operators have been known to do some things better than the Gummint Sponsored Entities they've replaced, and Amtrak is a Cadillac outfit running Chevrolet trains at Schwinn levels.

As to the Pioneer, I'd like to see if a new one could attract ridership that would make it worth the investment. You can blame the Republicans all you want, but the last long-distance route cutbacks occured under a Democrat administration. Pioneer was one of them. And Amtrak, despite having basked in the glow of a two year Democrat executive and legislative fiat gummint, could not even attact investment to replace their worn out rolling stock. Amtrak neglect has been a bipartisan scourge aided and abetted by the GSE itself.