>>1808861Amtrak. It's a stupid organization that was created as a graveyard. Their charter should have been revoked when it became clear we weren't actually going to get rid of passenger service.
1. The Northeast Corridor is its own thing and should be managed independently by the states and localities involved instead of being put in the care of a retarded, national quasi-company that has no idea what the fuck it's doing.
2. There is very little reason for the state supported routes to be managed by a national organization that wants to be an airline instead of local agency that can better respond to local interests.
3. Congress needs to have an honest debate about the value of long-distance routes, which are a unique entity and should be managed by Amtrak, and whether we should pay to have them. If they continue to exist Congress should have them be Amtrak's only responsibility and fund them with the understanding that they don't need to make money.
There is no reason for Amtrak to be begging for federal money to improve the NEC when Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts could be managing and funding it themselves instead of having to depend on a random organization, and they are also ironically in a better position to seek federal funding with their combined 12 senators.
