>>50357

A post-Amtrak rail system would look rather different. Depending on the politics and subsidization involved, we could be seeing regional railroads (such as, say, a Phoenix-Vegas-Los Angeles line, or a Northeast Corridor system, or a Florida quaggle) with tourist trains "bridging the gaps" (and having scenic "cruises" into the Northeast, South, and especially the American West). Such systems would probably be luxury trains with a pretty hefty per person fare, judging from the current tourist train companies.

A great number of Americans would likely have an uproar over any impending shutdown, making a shutdown unlikely, even as far as the long distance trains are concerned.

I support passenger rail service. However if the governmet is going to be in the Railroad business it needs to be in it all the way not half assed like AMTRAK.

On the issues that matter to me McCain is close than Obama ever will be.

>>50359

Yeah, Amtrak needs improvement. Problems include infrequent long distance trains, late long distance trains, slow conductors, bungling of communications during delays, not keeping food concessions open on some late trains (I remember the "Adriondack" and how it got stuck at the border), and poor siting of new lines and poor decisions re: service keeping and service elimination. Amtrak fails to serve Las Vegas or Phoenix adequately, and it fails to reopen a stretch of the "Sunset Limited" (or to get rid of the "Sunset Limited", for that matter, which has very few riders). Amtrak ought to serve more of Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, and perhaps Indiana (all of which have numerous underserved population centers).

What the fuck would we have without Amtrak? Shutting it down doesn't make any sense.

>>50362

tell that to McPalin

>>50362
What the fuck do we have WITH AMTRAK? In California the State government has to subsidize the hell out of it to keep it going and the same government refuses to make the RR companies give primacy to Passenger trains. Passenger trains have to take to the siding and wait for Freight trains. (See Metrolink wreck.) Hell they don't even have enough outlets to run laptops on the trains. AMTRAK has no idea WTF it's doing. Nigger Bus service to connect the San Joaquin Valley to the LA Basin = FAIL. AMTRAK = fail in California at least.

>>50357

>-Greyhound suddenly experiences rise in bus demand

And it's a demand they wouldn't be able to meet unless they had new buses built, expanded terminals, more employees (drivers and otherwise), and enough justification to serve every little outhouse farmhouse and chicken house that'll demand service. Never mind that diesel fuel for the buses is very expensive.

Plus the pro-America anti-globalization fags will have a fit when they find out that Greyhound is owned by foreign interests (First Group plc out of Scotland).

Get rid of one problem, bring about another.

>-Tourist railroads, however, might spring up to fill the gap. Grandluxe and other companies might take full advantage of this.

Sadly, Grandluxe just went out of business. It was pretty bad for Amtrak because Grandluxe was their largest charter client.

Unless tourist train operators ran on their own lines, they'd have to put up with the same railroad business faggotry that Amtrak did over rights and dispatch priorities and being put on a siding so a three-mile intermodal going 15 mph can go by.

>-Some wags pointing out that the Interstate system is also a boondoggle in some ways (it's heavily spent on)

And there'd be some who'd remember a certain dark day in the history of the City of Minneapolis and say that not enough is being spent. There are no winners in politics.

Send certain segments of Amtrak to local carriers. NJ Transit, Metra, MTA/LIRR, MARC, Metrolink.....wait, wut?

They'd need to smash together CSX, Amtrak out of NYC, and Metro-North so that THE CENTRAL RISES AGAIN

Neither Amtrak nor the airlines can possibly make any money. But air travel is essential to wide swaths of the country, while passenger rail is only used by elitist East Coast liberals. Therefore, bail out the airlines and let Amtrak die!

>>50377
I'd bet Grandluxe could've survived had it not been competed against by Amtrak (which is cheaper to its passengers).

>>50388
Well, if Amtrak railfare was lower then we wouldn't have so many elitists among the riders!