Within the next year, possibly two, the Supreme Court will almost certainly be asked to decide a case that will impact anyone who travels by Amtrak … in particular on the long-distance trains. It’s complicated, but I’ll do my best to explain it in as few words as possible. In 2008, Congress made an…
The chairman of Amtrak’s board of directors, Anthony Coscia, appeared before a congressional committee earlier this month and said what needs to be said, often and loud: passenger rail needs a constant and predictable source of funding—in other words, a trust fund. Almost every year, for some 40 years, Amtrak has had to go before…
The fright railroads own the track over which most of Amtrak’s long-distance trains operate and if they had the choice, they would refuse to accommodate any passenger trains. The thing is, they don’t have a choice. Back around 1970, when the government permitted the privately-owned railroads to get out of the passenger business, they agreed…