A Stitch in Haste

If you've been following the current debate over libertarians' favorite poster child, Amtrak, then be sure to review Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta's defense of the Administration's proposal to scarp its billion-dollar annual subsidy in today's New York Times:

If we wanted to kill Amtrak, we wouldn't have to lift a finger.
...
Today, trains carry as many passengers between New York and Washington as the airlines do. In the Northeast, on the West Coast and in the Midwest, train ridership is growing. The problem is not that Americans don't use trains, it is that Amtrak has failed to keep up with times, stubbornly sticking to routes and services, even as they lose money and attract few users.

Exactly right -- By definition those routes that can be run successfully can, and should, be run privately. A profitable business, or a segment thereof, can hardly be called a "public good."

More:

Unfortunately, the federal government can do little to support such projects directly, because all of its money goes to Amtrak. Amtrak then decides how to invest those federal dollars, and in the past it has starved new initiatives to cover its operating losses. Even worse, the company has over the years shifted money away from much-needed repairs, maintenance and upgrades for tunnels, bridges and tracks to cover those losses.

Still exactly right -- The annual subsidy is to cover operating losses and not for capital improvements. Routes that operate at a loss should not be operating. Remember, the reason a train route loses money is because people aren't using it -- so why keep it running in the first place?

Rounding third and headed for home:

The only way to improve our passenger rail is to put it on the same footing as other types of transportation -- a federal-state partnership to plan, build and maintain the physical aspects of the system while allowing Amtrak and other train operators to do what they do best: operate trains.
...
This proposal does not call for an end to Amtrak. Instead, it allows us to work with states and local entities to add federal support for the investments they are already making in tracks, tunnels, bridges and stations.

Oops. So we're not going to see the billion-dollar subsidy eliminated? We're just going to see it "redeployed" into a "federal-state partnership"? "Don't think of it as 'losing a subsidy,' think of it as gaining 'federal support for investments'."

When will I ever learn -- we are in the era of the tax-and-spend Republicans. Even a no-brainer like scrapping or privatizing the last worst socialist eyesore in this country derails in the hands of this fiscally feckless administration.

We've just been railroaded.

The Amtrak Archive:
"Give In, Give Out, Give Up, It's Over..."
Amtrak Update
Two Quick Amtrak Updates
Bush Budget Eliminates Amtrak Subsidy