From: 866013149e@interpring.com   
      
   "Adam H. Kerman"  writes:   
      
   >Denis McMahon  wrote:   
   >>On Mon, 06 Apr 2015 17:52:14 +0000, Adam H. Kerman wrote:   
      
   >>>In other news ... certain third-world countries have better intercity   
   >>>passenger rail service than Amtrak provides.   
      
   >>That may be a legacy of the fact that in the USA, it seems most long   
   >>distance lines are owned by freight companies, and passenger transport   
   >>outside of metropolitan areas isn't seen as a priority.   
      
   >One doesn't preclude the other.   
      
   It does if you only maintain just enough infrastructure to meet your   
   freight customers' needs. To carry passengers, track has to be maintained   
   to higher standards, and there has to be enough of it that scheduled   
   passenger trains can meet their timetables without interfering with   
   freight traffic.   
      
   When American railroads got out of the passenger business in the 1960's   
   and early '70's, they tore up a lot of track. In some cases, states   
   charged property taxes per mile of track, and that gave railroads   
   an added incentive to tear up anything they didn't need. If I remember   
   right, over 100,000 miles of track has been removed since 1950, including   
   entire routes, such as that of the Erie (-Lackawanna) west of Youngstown.   
      
   What's left isn't enough to carry more than a token passenger train   
   on most routes, particularly given the massive increase in freight   
   traffic in recent years.   
      
      
   umar   
      
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