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From: mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate)
Newsgroups: net.railroad
Subject: Re: AMTRAK funding.
Message-ID: <3262@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 18-Feb-86 23:03:58 EST
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.3262
Posted: Tue Feb 18 23:03:58 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 20-Feb-86 08:15:55 EST
References: <991@brl-smoke.ARPA>
Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
Lines: 19

I had understood that the Corridor traffic actually shows a profit, and that
the long-haul trains are the real money-losers.  There is certainly demand
for corridor traffic; I just came back from Boston on a train that was
nearly as crowded as the Eastern Shuttle.

Buses would not take up the slack if Amtrak collapsed, and they would
certainly not do so in the Corridor.  Having been sentenced at one time to
riding the Greyhound home from school, I can attest that it is considerably
slower than the train.  Moreover, bus travel at the moment is at the very
bottom of the heap; Amtrak is trying to soak up airplane passengers, and in
the corridor they do succeed at that.  People riding Metroliners are not
going to switch to buses; they are going to sigh and start booking Eastern
and NY Air.

Air traffic in the NE is getting dangerously crowded in the least.  I would
not be abdverse to having ALL Wash. to Boston traffic replaced by high-speed
trains.  As it is, I think that the subsidy should stay.

C. Wingate