PSR and Amtrak

Things like fuel and emergency maintenance would be billed on an actuals basis.

They also have to pay a prorated portion of track/signal/crossing maintenance on the subdivisions they operate, probably a higher percentage of station maintenance (since they're the sole users), and some portion of dispatching and other overhead. That's a more complex formula, and one that you're not likely to see released because it's proprietary information from the host road being fed in as variables.

When Nixon proposed Amtrak, did he have input from the freight RR's on what Amtrak would be paying them for using their infrastructure? Or were they just thankful to have the $$$ draining passenger train headache out of their ownership domain and were fine with Amtrak running on their tracks on the cheap without protest with the understanding that "the varnish" would now be on the siding and not their freights? But now it appears some of those sidings seem to be going the way of the caboose with PSR...
Of course RMN believed Amtrak "wouldn't last" apparently and perhaps that had something to do with Nixon's, Congress and the freight railroads thinking re: low payments to freight RR's?

Mr. Geep, you are roundly on mark with your immediate. The roads simply wanted out, and away from the Corridor, it was simply "five years and they're gone". Sure, passenger trains weren't about to "bust" the "strongs", but they had become a burden to the "weaks" like "my" MILW (which went under even with Amtrak).

The roads still had not dismantled their passenger train infrastructure, including management expertise in how to run 'em, as is the case today. That is why resurrections such as the North Coast Limited and The Mountaineer were accomplished with little disruption.

But since those days, traffic has increased along with demands from such as JBH, UPS, and FEDEX, as well as a no longer moribund Automobile Industry, to "tailor" their operations around their needs. Further the operational efficiencies "parabled" within "The Gospel According to Saint Elwood" have clearly enhanced shareholder value, and, all told, the "once part of the flow" passenger trains have now become an impediment to efficient operations.

Amtrak is confronted with the dilemma that the Superliner and A-II fleets are at the end of their service llves. If the LD's are to continue, they need be replaced. The V-2's, in addition to being a contractual fiasco, were a total waste burdening Amtrak with equipment totally incompatible with 21st Century rail passenger needs. Just think, those 130 units could have been directed to services needed rather than one that was "done for" when I joined the industry during '70.

Not really directly related to Amtrak unless you count the delays Amtrak is getting due to problems caused by PSR -

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