Abolish Amtrak
Who can resist the romance of the rails? The glorious train halls of old; the art deco travel posters; the hourslong stoppage between towns while the train has dysfunctional Wi-Fi, the cafe car is closed, and the stink of the bathroom by your seat is inescapable.
Such is often the reality on Amtrak these days. One January 2023 trip from the Washington, D.C., area to the Orlando area, scheduled for 17 hours, turned into a hellish ordeal: “Passengers had been cooped up in their seats or compartments for 37 hours, complaining of stale air, dwindling food supplies, trash piling up in the aisles and a lack of timely information from the crew,” read the New York Times report.
Overall, one in four Amtrak trains is delayed, or one in two on routes over 750 miles. Amtrak blames freight train interference for most of its delays, complaining that when Amtrak trains operate on rails owned by other railroads, dispatchers ignore federal laws that require Amtrak get preference. Even so, Amtrak admitted to 21,654 hours of self-caused delays in 2023—a far cry from the 1990s, when that number never surpassed 10,000 hours a year.
It’s no wonder Amtrak can’t manage to make a profit—it was never expected to. The late Jim McClellan was on the Federal Railroad Administration’s policy team during the legislative debate over Amtrak’s creation. “Most (including a number of us on the planning team) were dubious of the ‘for profit’ claim, but the reality was that neither the White House nor the more conservative members of Congress were going to sign off on an entity that was set up to be a perpetual ward of the state,” he later wrote in his memoir My Life with Trains. “The ‘for profit’ mandate haunts Amtrak to this day.”
The only routes where Amtrak can make a (questionable) claim of making profit (in addition to the D.C. to Florida Auto Train) are in the Northeast Corridor, where regional p
Article from Latest
The Reason Magazine website is a go-to destination for libertarians seeking cogent analysis, investigative reporting, and thought-provoking commentary. Championing the principles of individual freedom, limited government, and free markets, the site offers a diverse range of articles, videos, and podcasts that challenge conventional wisdom and advocate for libertarian solutions. Whether you’re interested in politics, culture, or technology, Reason provides a unique lens that prioritizes liberty and rational discourse. It’s an essential resource for those who value critical thinking and nuanced debate in the pursuit of a freer society.
