Even this figure doesn't adequately express how hugely inefficient some long-distance routes are today. It would be cheaper for taxpayers to shut down routes like these and purchase discount round-trip airfare for all Amtrak riders. Most Americans do not want to see rail passenger service disappear in the United States. Taking a train trip is fun, exciting and often memorable. Many routes go through breathtaking scenery, such as those running through Glacier National Park.
Trains are a wonderful way to see America.
For hopelessly unprofitable routes, service should be canceled, just as cruise line service from Florida to the Caribbean would be canceled if it were unable to operate in The black. Services that lose money routinely fail. There is no more reason for taxpayers to subsidize Amtrak than to subsidize United Airlines, Greyhound Bus Company or Carnival Cruise Lines. Amtrak can be profitable. But only if Congress puts it back on track by weaning the railroad from federal subsidies.