Don't get me wrong, I like trains. I would love to see passenger traffic return to the rails. I just think that the Amtrak idea is severely flawed in that it relies on privately owned and maintained infrastructure. The railroads wanted out of the passenger business, So they are. Then the government says we are going to run trains on your track and you have to let us. o=The northeast corridor if I understand is owned and maintained by Amtrak. Trains there run on time and are competitive with the airlines. The San Diegans run on track that is owned by Metrolink. Passenger traffic is primary with freight traffic limited to off-hours and overnight.

The Railroads,in an effort to improve things by getting rid of the passenger trains and all that goes with them , find themselves still dealing with passengers and a government entity that is poorly funded and managed. The railroads are experiencing a substantial surge in freight traffic.The infrastructure needs to be improved. In some cases the work is underway, to help handle the extra traffic. Seeing several Money making trains stopped on sidings, sometimes for hours, so a partially patronized Amtrak train can pass is not good business. The person that wrote the Sardine express, in good faith , rode the train for some valid reasons. I would have done the same thing. When you factor in the fact that the train arrived 5 hours late, the stress avoided was negated by having to deal with the people that waited at the destination. Then to make matters worse on the return trip nothing was done to alleviate the "Standing room only " condition at LAUT. There is an amtrak car maintainence facility there. Why didn't they add a couple cars to the train ? The train is equipped with more than one form of communication that would have let someone know the conditions on that train. There is no incentive or provision for thinking outside the box. The "We don't care, we don't have to " mentality is one of the problems.

It is not going to be an easy fix. Something has to be done. Being a committee run endeavor is going to be the biggest stumbling block.