The rail lines servicing Washington, D.C.'s Union Station are carrying as little as a quarter of their pre-pandemic ridership. Officials still want to triple the station's capacity.
Railroads spent a decade and billions of dollars fulfilling a costly federal mandate, at the expense of addressing less eye-catching causes of rail-related deaths.
Under Biden, Trump, and Obama, government federal spending almost doubled.
Corporate welfare hurts the people who actually need help.
How spending got out of control and words lost their meaning.
Amtrak's funding will double under the bipartisan infrastructure bill, while Amtrak passengers will have to put up with more rules.
A bill approved by the Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation would give the money-losing rail company $19 billion over 5 years.
The company's 15-year "Corridor Vision" also asks Congress for the power to sue private railroads that don't prioritize its passenger trains.
The Miami Intermodal Center opened five years ago, but is still unable to service Amtrak trains.
One informant lied in court and still worked for the DEA, pocketing over $469,000 in a five-year span.
If Acela is such a great business, why does the federal government need to loan it money?
The big purchase is a good metaphor for the state of high speed rail in America right now, where politically driven promises can't overcome hard reality.
D.C. Circuit strikes down federal law that "grants Amtrak, a self-interested entity, power to regulate its competitors."
The railroad's problems are political, not operational.
Trains were cutting-edge technology. In 1825.
The train service sells out its customers to the DEA.
Congress's decision to mandate an expensive and complicated safety system made American travelers less safe.
The federal government should not be in the railroad business.
Trains are in Illinois, can't move because of snow
207 passengers, no reports of serious injury
Big gains in the Northeast and ridership up 55 percent since 1997 but still a money loser
President Richard Nixon promised Amtrak would only last two years when he established it in 1971.
"It's a whopper of an idea, trading good-paying jobs for cheaper hamburgers," is the defense.
"It costs passengers $9.50 to buy a cheeseburger on Amtrak, but the cost to taxpayers is $16.15."