Posted by Dan Ewert : 1/31/2003 03:18:00 PM (Archive Link)
I like to complain about Amtrak because it’s a gigantic government boondoggle that hemorrhages money. The big problem with creating a government bureaucracy is that the agency will make its primary mission its own perpetuation.

Anyway, I was looking around the Amtrak site and came across this page in which Amtrak president David Gunn discusses how the company will need a government cash infusion of at least $1.2 billion for fiscal year 2003 in order to keep running. If it doesn’t receive this much, “Amtrak will have no other choice but an orderly shutdown of all service this spring or sooner.” For the uninitiated, this is the phrasing Amtrak uses for its annual shakedown of congress. What was really surprising, though, was Gunn’s last line, “Again, I appreciate Senator Murray's (the senator helping to make sure he got his money) support for our efforts to run a better, more cost-efficient passenger railroad, as well as the support of others in the Senate, and look forward to the outcome of this afternoon's vote." “Cost-efficient?!” Here the man is saying Amtrak needs a huge $1.2 billion aid package in order to continue providing basic service and he thinks it’s cost-efficient? Or taken another way, he thinks free money will help it become more cost-efficient? There is absolutely no logic to this.

Speaking of cost-efficiency, how about this page. Amtrak was providing licensed massage therapists on one of its trains. Apparently, the passenger paid a one dollar per minute fee to use the service, but you know the company itself was paying out some money to get them there. Can anybody imagine Southwest Airlines doing something like this? Nope. And they’re making money.