Ready for More Subsidies

Amtrak has kicked off a “ready-to-build” campaign, making it clear that the money-losing company faces close to $30 billion in major infrastructure projects in the Northeast Corridor on top of the corridor’s $11 billion “basic infrastructure backlog,” meaning tracks, signals, and power facilities. In addition to the $20 billion Hudson River tunnels project, Amtrak wants to spend $5 billion on a new tunnel under Baltimore, $1.7 billion on a new Susquehanna River bridge, $1.5 billion on another new bridge in New Jersey, and unspecified billions more for building or rebuilding train stations in New York (which alone is costing more than $2 billion), Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington.

In short, taxpayers are looking at a bill of well over $40 billion just to keep the supposedly profitable Northeast Corridor running. Amtrak must believe that “ready to build” sounds like a more positive message than “we need at least $40 billion just to keep the wheels turning.” No doubt Amtrak is relying on the image it has create that its Northeast Corridor trains make money, when in fact they merely cover operating costs, not the costs of maintenance or depreciation. Adding maintenance and depreciation not only eliminates profits, it brings subsidies to at least 10 cents per passenger mile–and that’s before counting the $40 billion or so needed to bring the corridor up to a state of good repair.

Amtrak divides its operations into three categories: the Northeast Corridor, state-supported day trains, and overnight long-distance trains. In addition to claiming that the Northeast Corridor makes money, Amtrak strongly implies that subsidies to the day trains are entirely covered by the states, leaving only the long-distance trains requiring federal subsidies. In fact, before adding depreciation and maintenance, federal taxpayers fund more than 20 percent of the subsidies to the day trains, and after depreciation and maintenance, it is more than half.

Perhaps because it believed Amtrak’s hype about Northeast Corridor and state-supported trains, the Trump administration proposed to end funding to Amtrak’s overnight trains. This was a mistake, but not for the reasons presented by the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP). Operating those long-distance trains cost taxpayers close to half a billion dollars a year (see p. C-1), and this doesn’t count depreciation on capital costs or maintenance.

NARP argues that, if the trains stopped running, “144 million American taxpayers — that’s 45% of our population — living in 220 communities would lose access to passenger rail service.” Transportation Today interprets this to mean that “cutting Amtrak would negatively affect nearly half of all Americans.” But how can people be negatively affected by cutting a service they don’t use? In Amtrak’s fiscal year 2016, long-distance trains carried fewer than 4.7 million trips (p. A-3.4). Assuming the average rider rode at least two legs (either a round trip or a one-way trip on two trains), that’s much less than 1 percent of all Americans, not “nearly half.”

NARP claims that Amtrak’s overnight trains produce all sorts of benefits that, in fact, are largely imaginary. Supposedly, employers and Millennials are more likely to locate in cities with Amtrak service. Yet Havre, Montana has had Amtrak service since the company began in 1971, yet its population has declined in every census since 1980. Meanwhile, Missoula and Bozeman, both of which lost Amtrak service in 1979, have seen their populations double since then. Their populations didn’t double because they lost Amtrak service, but the loss of service didn’t hurt them any.

NARP also points out that Amtrak provides jobs, employing more than 20,000 people. But jobs are a cost, not a benefit: the benefit is the income produced by those jobs. If nearly half of that income is the result of subsidies, as in Amtrak’s case, then it is a transfer payment, not a net social benefit.

ZRT Laboratories tested humans viagra uk with the express purpose of determining the sexual effect of the extract on the patients. Decreased libido in women is often accompanied by several other generic levitra 40mg websites. People, who have had supportive partners, were able to manage ED due to anxiety faster cheapest tadalafil than otherwise. Reinstall USB controllers This is another method which helps resolve problems with Continue Shopping generic cialis in australia USB. NARP insists that all transportation is subsidized, so we should ignore the subsidies to Amtrak. “There is no transportation system in the world of any kind that pays for itself out of the fare box,” NARP quotes the former Amtrak board chair as saying. Tell that to America’s freight railroads, which get very little subsidy from anyone. For passenger service, consider the Atlantic City Jitneys, New York Waterway, Puerto Rico’s Carros Públicos (which returned to service before the public transit after Hurricane Maria), all of which are private, unsubsidized operations in the United States.

Japan’s JR Central is unsubsidized in any way, as fares cover both operating and capital costs. Hong Kong’s transit system is also profitable.

In the United States, NARP correctly points out that highways and airlines are subsidized, but measured per passenger mile those subsidies are tiny compared with Amtrak’s. Federal, state, and local highway and airline subsidies average between 1 to 2 cents per passenger mile, while Amtrak’s state and federal subsidies average around 25 cents. Moreover, most highway and airline subsidies go to local roads and smaller airports; people driving on interstate highways or flying between major cities actually pay more highway or air travel taxes than the systems they use cost.

The Trump administration’s mistake was in targeting the long-distance trains to the exclusion of Amtrak’s other money-losing trains, which is all of them. By focusing on the overnight trains, the administration was as much engaged in as much central planning as those who propose to build high-speed rail in selected corridors at everyone else’s expense.

What the administration should have done, as the Antiplanner has suggested before, is to simply offer to pay Amtrak a fixed amount for every passenger mile it carries. Federal subsidies to Amtrak currently average more than 20 cents per passenger mile. Trump should propose to pay Amtrak 10 cents for each passenger mile it carries, which Amtrak could spend on capital and operating costs of any route. This would give Amtrak incentives to cut costs and emphasize trains that carry the most passenger miles, while giving states incentives to increase their subsidies if they believe Amtrak service is so vital to their economies. After taking those steps, it should be up to Amtrak, not politicians, to decide what routes to keep and which ones were not viable.

Politically, offering Amtrak a fixed subsidy per passenger mile also changes the debate. The proposal to cut long-distance trains would eliminate service from about half the states that have Amtrak service, potentially raising the ire of 46 senators and 180 representatives. A proposal to offer a specific subsidy turns the debate from “where should Amtrak trains go?” to “how big a subsidy should Amtrak riders get?” That could potentially expand the debate to subsidies to other forms of travel as well.

Ultimately, the federal government should phase out subsidies to all forms of transportation. As the most heavily subsidized, transit is the place to start, followed by Amtrak. For fiscal year 2019, Trump should propose a fixed subsidy to both kinds of transportation. If passed, that subsidy could be gradually reduced over time along with subsidies to roads and airports.

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About The Antiplanner

The Antiplanner is a forester and economist with more than fifty years of experience critiquing government land-use and transportation plans.

28 Responses to Ready for More Subsidies

  1. Frank says:

    inb4 highways are there regardless of economic conditions.

  2. the highwayman says:

    Well Frank, I have to go to work to pay bills. You and Mr.O’Toole don’t have to work for a living :$

  3. Frank says:

    “Well Frank, I have to go to work to pay bills. You and Mr.O’Toole don’t have to work for a living :$”

    And at your place, they hang black people.

  4. LazyReader says:

    As the Antiplanner pointed out. Freeway lanes can move about 1,800 cars per hour at speed, or one every two seconds. Exclusive bus lanes can move about 360 buses per hour, or one every ten seconds. A bus with capacity for 50 people costs about half a million dollars. A Billion dollars could buy 2,000 buses, that’s over 360 buses for 5 US cities moving over 18,000 people an hour. More than sufficient to accommodate a moderate sized city like Baltimore, Norfolk, DC.
    Buses have another advantage: individual buses can easily serve numerous neighborhoods or districts, then get on the bus lanes and head for downtown or other major centers or send a few buses to the outskirts. Why spend millions to extend train lines out to the fringes.

    Trump Admin should pass a law, NO NEW INFRASTRUCTURE UNTIL YOU FIX WHAT YOU’VE GOT.
    So the NorthEast is gonna accumulate $30 Billion worth of New infrastructure while still retaining over 100 billion dollars in deficit of the infrastructure currently failing they desperately need to fix. Since DC’s Redline will never be repaired we can safely say no new boondoggles will ever be built.

  5. the highwayman says:

    You also have to consider that the USA has had 100,000+ miles of rail line stolen since WWI.

    Again things such as streets and sidewalks are not expected to be profitable to survive :$

  6. LazyReader says:

    USA has had 100,000 miles of rail stolen? They weren’t stolen, they were rendered obsolete and removed accordingly. Second, the US has more rail than any other country.
    USA 155,000 Miles Privately owned
    China 77,000 miles All nationalized
    Russia 53,000 nationalized
    India 41,000 miles nationalized
    12th place, Japan 16,700 miles some nationalized since the 90’s some private

  7. the highwayman says:

    Legalized theft, is still theft. Roads are not expected to be profitable to survive :$

  8. prk166 says:

    Highwayman, you never have and never will produce proof of theft. You damn well know nothing was stolen.

  9. the highwayman says:

    Under German law of the 1930’s, the Holocaust was totally legal.

    Denying the proof doesn’t resolve anything :$

  10. prk166 says:

    Come on, you’re making the moon landing was faked people look sane. I’ve never once read a rail history book that talked about rail being stolen.

    What you are doing is redefining “stolen”. It doesn’t mean stolen anymore in the way you’re using it. But you’re a big enough of a childish, drooling numpty to egotistically run around misusing and abusing words like this.

    I’m bumblefucked as to what you’re trying to accomplish. No rational human being is influenced by that perversion of language you spew. It’s not rational. And it takes away time you could be doing something else that you enjoy.

    Have you been to a medical professional to be evaluated for a mental disorder? I’m not smack talking. I’m quite sincere when I say this sort of behavior is a symptom of a couple. You may have some things that you could use some help with and that addressing them will lead to a better, more enriching life for yourself.

  11. the highwayman says:

    Teahadi logic; take a sledgehammer to a toilet, then later on complain that it doesn’t work :$

  12. prk166 says:


    In short, taxpayers are looking at a bill of well over $40 billion just to keep the supposedly profitable Northeast Corridor running.
    ” ~anti-planner

    Would privatizing operations like the UK do anything to help address this sort of issue? It would see that separating the track ownership from the train operations ownership would ensure that each entity has more incentive to focus on what they’re responsible for and make it run more efficiently.

  13. the highwayman says:

    Open access would be good, but even the UK has had 10,000+ miles of rail line stolen too :$

  14. the highwayman says:

    prk166; I’m bumblefucked as to what you’re trying to accomplish. No rational human being is influenced by that perversion of language you spew. It’s not rational. And it takes away time you could be doing something else that you enjoy.

    Have you been to a medical professional to be evaluated for a mental disorder? I’m not smack talking. I’m quite sincere when I say this sort of behavior is a symptom of a couple. You may have some things that you could use some help with and that addressing them will lead to a better, more enriching life for yourself.

    THWM; Actually that’s rather bizarrely ironic since you teahadi’s are pretty much sheeple. I want to red pill people, while you teahadi’s want to blue pill people :$

  15. Henry Porter says:

    Highways, some of which include sidewalks (gasp!), make so much “profit”, state and federal governments can afford to squander a lot of it subsidizing transit.

  16. prk166 says:


    In short, taxpayers are looking at a bill of well over $40 billion just to keep the supposedly profitable Northeast Corridor running. Amtrak must believe that “ready to build” sounds like a more positive message than “we need at least $40 billion just to keep the wheels turning.” No doubt Amtrak is relying on the image it has create that its Northeast Corridor trains make money, when in fact they merely cover operating costs, not the costs of maintenance or depreciation. Adding maintenance and depreciation not only eliminates profits, it brings subsidies to at least 10 cents per passenger mile–and that’s before counting the $40 billion or so needed to bring the corridor up to a state of good repair.
    ” ~anti-planner

  17. Frank says:

    “Have you been to a medical professional to be evaluated for a mental disorder?”

    Andrew Dawson of Montreal (thehighwayman) has Asperger’s syndrome.

  18. the highwayman says:

    Come on Frank, I don’t have “Asperger’s Syndrome”.

    You can’t have the cake, without the flour mill, that mills the flour for the cake.

    I don’t look at things in a bubble.

    Yet you teahadi’s have something that is more in line with some type of Autism.

    You say that you hate Big Government, but you benefit from it more than I do! :$

  19. the highwayman says:

    Henry Porter; Highways, some of which include sidewalks (gasp!), make so much “profit”, state and federal governments can afford to squander a lot of it subsidizing transit.

    THWM; Comparison of streams that feed into rivers? Roads would still be there even if there were no automobiles :$

  20. Frank says:

    “THWM; Comparison of streams that feed into rivers? Roads would still be there even if there were no automobiles :$”

    And you are lynching Negroes.

  21. the highwayman says:

    Frank, you stand on the toilet if want, but just wipe the seat when you’re done. Also don’t break the bathroom sink, other people need to use it later too :$

  22. Frank says:

    “Frank, you stand on the toilet if want, but just wipe the seat when you’re done. Also don’t break the bathroom sink, other people need to use it later too :$”

    And you are lynching blacks.

  23. CapitalistRoader says:

    Under German law of the 1930’s, the Holocaust was totally legal.

    Under Soviet law of the 1930s, the Holodomor and the mass execution of Soviet citizens was illegal but it still happened. That’s what happens when one blindly worships government like the Highwayman does: 59 million dead.

  24. the highwayman says:

    Nope, I don’t blindly worship government or the private sector. Liberals and conservatives are both corrupt! :$

  25. prk166 says:


    In short, taxpayers are looking at a bill of well over $40 billion just to keep the supposedly profitable Northeast Corridor running. Amtrak must believe that “ready to build” sounds like a more positive message than “we need at least $40 billion just to keep the wheels turning.” No doubt Amtrak is relying on the image it has create that its Northeast Corridor trains make money, when in fact they merely cover operating costs, not the costs of maintenance or depreciation. Adding maintenance and depreciation not only eliminates profits, it brings subsidies to at least 10 cents per passenger mile–and that’s before counting the $40 billion or so needed to bring the corridor up to a state of good repair.
    ” ~anti-planner

  26. the highwayman says:

    Some one has to pay for the side walk snow plowing too :$

  27. metrosucks says:

    Don’t forget the assburgers meds.

  28. prk166 says:


    In short, taxpayers are looking at a bill of well over $40 billion just to keep the supposedly profitable Northeast Corridor running.
    ” ~anti-planner

    Would privatizing operations like the UK do anything to help address this sort of issue? It would see that separating the track ownership from the train operations ownership would ensure that each entity has more incentive to focus on what they’re responsible for and make it run more efficiently.

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