Even if such massive operating losses were true, the economic benefit to the communities served by these LD trains is several times the losses incurred by operating the trains. That's why passenger rail advocates always say, "It's not the trains that make money, it's the communities served by these trains that make the money."
Anthony wrote: ↑Fri Apr 16, 2021 6:20 pm Even if such massive operating losses were true, the economic benefit to the communities served by these LD trains is several times the losses incurred by operating the trains. That's why passenger rail advocates always say, "It's not the trains that make money, it's the communities served by these trains that make the money."And most of the money communities gain off the back of the long distance trains are not necessarily in the boondocks between the terminating cities, I suggest it is the terminating cities that gain the most tourist dollars from the trains. The tracks through Raton Pass are not carrying Colorado and New Mexico bound passengers, but Illinois to California bound passengers. Just look at the ridership data for the Chief more closely.
https://railpassengers.org/site/assets/ ... 439/28.pdf
Chicago 143,461
Los Angeles 86,103
Kansas City 79,812
Albuquerque 67,356
Flagstaff 43,463
Galesburg 23,293
Fullerton 20,985
Raton 18,062
While Raton itself ranks within the top 10 cities for ridership on this train, it still small compared to the totals of the terminating cities of Chicago and Los Angeles.
Math = 18k / (143k + 96k) x 100 = 7.8%
Small cities along the 2000+ mile long linear rail corridor are being served by Amtrak, sometimes at the most inconvenient time after midnight, but that is only because the train must go through them to get to their final destinations. The trains exists to served the final destinations rather than the small towns between them. The railroad was not built to serve Raton, it was built to connect the midwest with the west coast. So is the train. Remove Raton from the station listing for this train, the train would still exist. Remove either Chicago or Los Angeles from the station listing for this train, the train would not exist.
