EuroStar wrote:
Don't forget that we subsidize all drivers at least the same amount, but the same fiscal conservatives rarely if ever complain about that. Overall for the US gas taxes (federal and state) and tolls cover only about half of all expenditure on roads (and of course the number varies from state to state). Toll all roads, so that everyone pays the true cost of driving (the same way as railroads pay the true cost of their tracks) and you would be amazed how the balance between rail and road travel will change.
I think you missed my point entirely! Sure, the government has money to spend on roads. They would also have more money to spend on railroads too - if they were not paying the majority of the costs for running the trains.
When's the last time the government subsidized buying your car, subsidizng your auto insurance payments, subsidizing the costs of the fuel, or subsiding the costs of maintaining your car?
It's not how much the government subsidizes as much as what they are subsidizing. Instead of subsiding rail fares the government should be subsiding railroad infrastructure - just like they do for seaways, highways, and airways.
What condition do you believe the railroad infrastructure would be if the $50 Billion used in the last 50 years to subsidize Amtrak services had instead been spent on railroad infrastructure, Penn Station and the tunnels approaching it and the various bridges needing replacing, instead of subsiding rail fares?