Trucks Collide Head On

Sounds like you were giving someone a hard time.

 

Private freight rail is more than capable of maintaining rail infrastructure, and they've done so despite almost being bankrupted by govt regulation. If something is not economically viable and cannot be supported through voluntary means, it should be abolished. You are trying to make the claim that after so much time, one person finally ran the company someone decent. Amtrak has a horrid track record, as does every other government owned corporation. Any other business subjected to the voices and choices of the consumer would have gone bankrupt for engaging in a 1/4 of the waste that Amtrak has. Amtrak should be defunded altogether. If you believe you can make it work, put up your own capital and solicit investor capital. Or is it just easier to rob taxpayers?

You know what's funny, museum passenger rail steam locomotives are more profitable than Amtrak.

 

Actually there was one exception to that rule:Conrail
(And it made a tidy profit).
Also,bear in mind that people depend on Amtrak for essential services where some other modes of transportation aren’t viable or available outright.
Amtrak was created for that purpose-because the private railroad companies didn’t want to do it anymore.
Also,museum passenger steam locomotives are more profitable because they for the most part rely on donations from the general public and/or other benefactors-big difference.
While you’re at it,read up on David L. Gunn-he was president of Amtrak from 2002 to 2005. He tried to make the company self-sufficient while also making safety improvements to the company’s infrastructure and equipment.
While you’re talking about defunding, let’s defund the airlines,freight railroads and any other transportation services that gets subsidized by the government and see what happens. If you think the prices of goods and services is high now,wait until they’re all cut off from the government subsidies and then those companies will have to increase shipping prices to offset their expenses!

 

Because your thinking process was impaired!!
Blood went from one head to another!!LMFAO

 

Sorry, but your supposition regarding an industry not surviving without subsidies is a fallacy. People like Hill were successful in keeping prices low without subsidies compared to even subsidized railroads. If private individuals don’t wish to invest in rail, people shouldn’t be robbed to fund it. Just like you wouldn’t rob your neighbor to pay for your car payment, healthcare, education, etc., so shouldn’t the govt rob people to pay for products or services that can’t survive on their own.

You can’t claim contrail was a success because govt decimated railroad companies, which continued to lose money due to extensive government regulations. That’s like claiming the government is a hero for opening a business they were responsible for shuttering in the first place.

Countless entrepreneurs have created successful businesses without subsidies. In fact, capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty than anything other economic system period.

The idea that giving businesses subsidies is as old as politicians with insidious desires. All it does is distort the market and rewards mismanagement and failure. Freight rail isn’t directly subsidized, nor should it be. It is capable of surviving on it’s own without them.

There isn’t a difference between Amtrak and Steam locomotives. One survives through voluntarism and the other survives by extortion.

 

Well there are people who choose to take Amtrak instead of flying or taking other methods of transportation,they’re not crying about extortion! Especially along the Northeast Corridor.

 

On the contrary in 1981 Conrail became profitable under L. Stanley Crane’s leadership. The Staggers Act allowed all railroads to abandon unprofitable rail lines and set their own rates. However when he took office he shed 4,400 miles from the company’s network,which only accounted for 1% of the company’s overall traffic and 2% of its profits while saving millions in maintenance costs. NERSA relieved the company of its requirement to provide commuter service on the Northeast Corridor,which in turn improved its balance sheet. The government put up its 85% share for sale in 1984(obviously to prepare the company for privatization)in which Norfolk Southern Railway was eventually the successful bidder in 1985. But in 1986 Norfolk Southern withdrew its bid due to Congressional delays and taxation changes.
At that point it was decided that the government’s interest in Conrail would be sold in what was (at that time) the largest IPO in the country’s history. Conrail’s stock was sold in March of 1987 to private investors to the tune of $1.65 billion.
Doesn’t sound like a failure to me.

 

Let's see how you would feel if your neighbors came to your home and forced you to pay for their car insurance and fuel so they can get where they wanted to go.

 

So government eliminating their regulations which resulted in disaster and a private company acquiring a failing GOC known as conrail is somehow a govt success story? Conrail as a GOC was a failure. That's the point.

 

Very poor analogy at best. Nice try.