From: ahk@chinet.com   
      
   866013149e <866013149e@interpring.com> wrote:   
   >"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. . . .   
      
   It was a statement about priorities. If having adequate intercity passenger   
   rail was domestic policy in this country at both federal and state level,   
   it certainly doesn't preclude either freight service nor un-nationalized   
   railroads. It just requires a commitment of all parties to using railroads   
   for all appropriate forms of transportation and adequate access to capital,   
   even to the extent that additional capital would have to come from the   
   taxpayers.   
      
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