>>2001989Conductors exist because low platforms still exist.
Ignoring Amtrak's funding problems, which are equally valid for most regional operators in shares tracks with, building high level boarding on stations from the 1900s costs money and time.
Closing stations increases the chance that people will drive instead, because the parking situation at most stations is shit anyway, so a podunk Amshack or gutted building for a regional line is better than not having it. But paying a contracting firm to build an ADA compliant concrete base 4 feet high costs 10s of thousands per station, and almost always comes with environmental impact surveys and pork barrel requests that spike the price into the cool low millions range. And if the station isn't ADA, you need a person available to unlock and operator the wheel chair lift.
Paying a wagie 200K over 5 years is less than the cost of upgrading the station, and so conductors remain.
