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Amtrak

*** Shopping-Tip: Amtrak
{{otheruses}} {{infobox SG rail| railroad_name=Amtrak| logo_filename=Amtrak_logo.png| logo_size=150| marks=AMTK| locale=Continental United States, as well as routes to Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal| start_year=1971| end_year=present| old_gauge=| hq_city=Washington, D.C. }} Image:Amtrak 139 south across Central.jpg Orlando, Florida.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|300px|Amtrak train in downtown [[Orlando, Florida.html" title="Meaning of 300px|Amtrak train in downtown [[Orlando, Florida">thumb|300px|Amtrak train in downtown [[Orlando, Florida">300px|Amtrak train in downtown [[Orlando, Florida">thumb|300px|Amtrak train in downtown [[Orlando, Florida Image: Acela_express_copyright_Cian_Ginty.JPG Acela Express.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|300px|Amtrakâ€™s high-speed [[Acela Express at Penn Station New York, NY.html" title="Meaning of 300px|Amtrakâ€™s high-speed [[Acela Express">thumb|300px|Amtrakâ€™s high-speed [[Acela Express at Penn Station New York, NY">300px|Amtrakâ€™s high-speed [[Acela Express">thumb|300px|Amtrakâ€™s high-speed [[Acela Express at Penn Station New York, NY '''Amtrak''', is the brand name of the intercity passenger train system created on May 1, 1971 in the United States. Officially known as the '''National Railroad Passenger Corporation''', the name "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "American" and "track." Nominally, Amtrak is an independent for-profit corporation, but all of its preferred stock is owned by the federal government. The members of Amtrak's board of directors are appointed by the President of the United States, and are subject to confirmation by the United States Senate. Some common stock is held by the private railroads that transferred their passenger service to Amtrak in 1971. Though Amtrak stock does not pay dividends and is not routinely traded, a small number of private investors have purchased Amtrak stock from its original owners. Amtrak employs over 19,000 people. The nationwide network of 22,000 miles of routes serves 500 communities in 46 of the United States, with some of the routes serving communities in Canada. In fiscal year 2004, Amtrak routes served over 25 million passengers, a company record.

History
Image:AmtrakLogo.gif July 6.html" title="Meaning of frame frame|Amtrak's old logo from 1971 to 2000, often called the "pointless arrow" or, less often but officially by Amtrak, the "inverted arrow." On [[July 6, 2000 Amtrak unveiled "''...a new logo whose shape and suggestion of movement convey the comfort and uniqueness of the rail experience.''" {{ref|www.trainweb.org.881}} .html" title="Meaning of Amtrak's old logo from 1971 to 2000, often called the "pointless arrow" or, less often but officially by Amtrak, the "inverted arrow." On [[July 6">frame|Amtrak's old logo from 1971 to 2000, often called the "pointless arrow" or, less often but officially by Amtrak, the "inverted arrow." On [[July 6, 2000 Amtrak unveiled "''...a new logo whose shape and suggestion of movement convey the comfort and uniqueness of the rail experience.''" {{ref|www.trainweb.org.881}} ">Amtrak's old logo from 1971 to 2000, often called the "pointless arrow" or, less often but officially by Amtrak, the "inverted arrow." On [[July 6">frame|Amtrak's old logo from 1971 to 2000, often called the "pointless arrow" or, less often but officially by Amtrak, the "inverted arrow." On [[July 6, 2000 Amtrak unveiled "''...a new logo whose shape and suggestion of movement convey the comfort and uniqueness of the rail experience.''" {{ref|www.trainweb.org.881}}

Background: pre-1971
Historically, on routes where a single railroad has had an undisputed monopoly, passenger service was as spartan and as expensive as the market and Interstate Commerce Commission regulation would bear, since such railroads had no need to advertise their freight services. But on routes where two or three railroads were in direct competition with each other for freight business, such railroads would spare no expense to make their passenger trains as fast, luxurious, and affordable as possible, because it was considered to be the most effective way of advertising their profitable freight services. As early as the 1930s, automobile travel had begun to cut into the rail passenger market, somewhat reducing economies of scale, but it was the development of the Interstate Highway System and of commercial aviation in the 1950s and 1960s that dealt the most damaging blows to rail transportation, both passenger and freight. There was little point in operating passenger trains to advertise freight service when those who made decisions about freight shipping traveled by car and by air, and when the railroads' chief competitors for that market were interstate trucking companies. Soon, the only things keeping most passenger trains running were legal obligations. Meanwhile, companies who were interested in using railroads for profitable freight traffic were looking for ways to get out of those legal obligations, and it looked like intercity passenger rail service would soon become extinct in the United States outside a few highly-populated corridors. The final blow came with the loss of railway post offices in the 1960s. The National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) was formed in 1967 to lobby for the continuation of passenger trains. Its lobbying efforts were hampered somewhat by Democratic opposition to any sort of subsidies to the privately-owned railroads, and Republican opposition to nationalization of the railroad industry. The proponents were aided by the fact that few in the federal government wanted to be held responsible for the seemingly-inevitable extinction of the passenger train, which most regarded as tantamount to political suicide. The urgency of the need to solve the passenger train problem was heightened by the bankruptcy filing of the Penn Central Transportation Penn Central, the dominant railroad in the Northeast U.S., on June 21, 1970. Under the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970, Congress created the '''National Railroad Passenger Corporation''' (NRPC) to subsidize and oversee the operation of intercity passenger trains. The Act provided that * Any railroad operating intercity passenger service could contract with the NRPC, thereby joining the national system. * Participating railroads bought into the new corporation using a formula based on their recent intercity passenger losses. The purchase price could be satisfied either by cash or rolling stock; in exchange, the railroads received Amtrak common stock. * Any participating railroad was freed of the obligation to operate intercity passenger service after May 1, 1971, except for those services chosen by the Department of Transportation as part of a "basic system" of service and paid for by NRPC using its federal funds. * Railroads who chose not to join the Amtrak system were required to continue operating their existing passenger service until 1975 and thenceforth had to pursue the customary Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) approval process for any discontinuance or alteration to the service. While it appeared for some time that President Nixon would veto the legislation, ultimately it was signed into law on October 30, 1970. The original working brand name for NRPC was ''Railpax'', but shortly prior to the company's assumption of intercity rail passenger operations, the name was changed to ''Amtrak''. At the time, many Washington insiders, including President Nixon and his aides, viewed the corporation as a face-saving way for the President and Congress to give passenger trains the one "last hurrah" demanded by the public, but expected that the NRPC would quietly disappear in a few years as public interest waned. However, while Amtrak's political and financial support have often been shaky, popular and political support for Amtrak has allowed it to survive long past its expected lifetime.

Early days
At Amtrak's startup, 20 out of the 26 eligible railroads had elected to join the Amtrak system: #Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway #Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (no service until the ''West Virginian (Amtrak) West Virginian'' began September 8, 1971) #Burlington Northern Railroad #Central of Georgia Railway (has never hosted Amtrak service) #Chesapeake and Ohio Railway #Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad #Chicago and North Western Railway (never had any service) #Delaware and Hudson Railway (no Amtrak service until the ''Adirondack (Amtrak) Adirondack'' began August 6, 1974) #Grand Trunk Western Railroad (no Amtrak service until the ''Blue Water Limited (Amtrak) Blue Water Limited'' began September 15, 1974) #Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad #Illinois Central Railroad #Louisville and Nashville Railroad #Missouri Pacific Railroad #Norfolk and Western Railway (no Amtrak service until the ''Mountaineer (Amtrak) Mountaineer'' began March 25, 1975) #Northwestern Pacific Railroad (has never hosted Amtrak service) #Penn Central Transportation #Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad #Seaboard Coast Line Railroad #Southern Pacific Railroad #Union Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, Georgia Railroad, Reading Company and Southern Railway (US) Southern Railway continued to run their own intercity trains after the Amtrak startup date. The Alaska Railroad provided long-distance service, but was already owned by the federal government. In addition, the Canadian Pacific Railway's ''Atlantic (VIA) Atlantic'', taken over by VIA Rail in 1978, crossed northern Maine until 1994. Amtrak began operations May 1, 1971 on a system of about half the size of that operated the previous day. Several major corridors, including the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route across Ohio and the Grand Trunk Western Railroad's Chicago (IL) Chicago-Detroit (MI) Detroit line, became freight-only in favor of parallel lines. A 19-hour layover at Cincinnati (OH) Cincinnati was necessary for eastbound Chicago (IL) Chicago-Newport News (VA) Newport News travelers on the ''James Whitcomb Riley (Amtrak) James Whitcomb Riley'' and ''George Washington (Amtrak) George Washington''. On the other hand, Amtrak's ''Coast Starlight'' (named November 14) was a first, running along the west coast from San Diego (CA) San Diego to Seattle (WA) Seattle, combining three separate trains operated by three railroads into one. The first timetable was compiled from former ''Official Guide of the Railways'' schedules with only minor changes. Former names were kept, and some trains were unnamed at first. By the July 12 timetable, service had returned to the Water Level Route with the ''Lake Shore (Amtrak) Lake Shore'' (named November 14), and the Northeast Corridor received an ''Inland Route'' via Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield, Massachusetts, thanks to money from New York, Ohio and Massachusetts. Due to pressure from Senator Mike Mansfield of Montana, the ''North Coast Hiawatha'' was implemented as a second route to the Pacific Northwest. The first all-new timetable was dated November 14, 1971, and included several name changes and names for most of the formerly unnamed trains. New numbers were also assigned to all trains. Another barrier, at Chicago (IL) Chicago, was broken with the Milwaukee (WI) Milwaukee-St. Louis (MO) St. Louis ''Abraham Lincoln (Amtrak) Abraham Lincoln'' and ''Prairie State (Amtrak) Prairie State''. Image:Amtrak No 928.jpg PRR GG1.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|300px|left|Amtrak #928, a former [[PRR GG1, speeds through North Elizabeth, New Jersey in December, 1975..html" title="Meaning of 300px|left|Amtrak #928, a former [[PRR GG1">thumb|300px|left|Amtrak #928, a former [[PRR GG1, speeds through North Elizabeth, New Jersey in December, 1975.">300px|left|Amtrak #928, a former [[PRR GG1">thumb|300px|left|Amtrak #928, a former [[PRR GG1, speeds through North Elizabeth, New Jersey in December, 1975. The Southern joined on February 1, 1979, when its ''Southern Crescent'' became Amtrak's ''Crescent (Amtrak) Crescent''. The D&RGW last operated its ''Rio Grande Zephyr'' April 25, 1983, and Amtrak's ''San Francisco Zephyr'' was renamed the ''California Zephyr''. The ''Zephyr'''s rerouting onto the scenic D&RGW was delayed by a mudslide at Thistle, Utah and did not take place until July 15, 1983. The bankrupt CRI&P ran its last intercity passenger trains (the Chicago (IL) Chicago-Peoria (IL) Peoria ''Peoria Rocket (passenger train) Peoria Rocket'' and the Chicago (IL) Chicago-Rock Island (IL) Rock Island ''Quad Cities Rocket (passenger train) Quad Cities Rocket'') on December 31, 1978. The last Georgia Railroad mixed train was operated May 6, 1983 by the Seaboard System Railroad. The Reading Philadelphia-Newark Penn Station service stayed around into Conrail and was discontinued in 1983. CSS&SB trains still operate, now by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District. Both the Reading and CSS&SB operations qualified as intercity passenger service, but were fundamentally longer-than-average distance commuter train operations. Except for the joining of routes through Oakland, California Oakland, California to create the continuous ''Coast Starlight'', all Amtrak services on day one were continued from pre-Amtrak operations. The first all-new Amtrak route, in other words a route that had not been operated immediately prior to Amtrak, was the ''Montrealer (Amtrak) Montrealer''/''Washingtonian (Amtrak) Washingtonian''. That route was inaugurated September 29, 1972 along Boston and Maine Railroad and Canadian National Railway track that had last seen passenger service in 1966. In its original conception, Amtrak did not own any track and thus was not a true railroad. Following the bankruptcy declaration of several northeastern railroads in the early 1970s — particularly that of Penn Central, which owned and operated the Northeast Corridor, Congress passed the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 to create a consolidated, federally-subsidized freight network called Conrail. As part of this legislation, the vital Northeast Corridor passenger route was transferred to Amtrak, and the corporation became a true railroad for the first time. In subsequent years, various short route segments needed for passenger operations but not for freight were transferred to Amtrak ownership. However, the majority of Amtrak's routes are hosted by private railroads, to which Amtrak pays the costs of adding its passenger trains to the freight trains of the host railroad. At the beginning in 1971, the host railroads supplied the rolling stock and operating crews. Amtrak soon purchased the best of the railroad equipment and subsequently has purchased new equipment. Today, Amtrak trains are staffed by Amtrak employees but, other than on the routes that Amtrak owns outright, are dispatched by the host railroads on whose tracks these trains operate. The fuel shortages of the mid-1970s on the nation's highways and increased air fares which also resulted in creating a renewed interest in passenger rail travel. Given that railroads use fuel very efficiently, passenger rail travel no longer seemed quite so outmoded. Consequently, Amtrak's ridership began to increase. Another rebound occurred after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Conflicting goals
Image:Amtrak_train.jpg Brattleboro, Vermont.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|275px|Amtrak Train at the [[Brattleboro, Vermont, station, 18 March 2004..html" title="Meaning of 275px|Amtrak Train at the [[Brattleboro, Vermont">thumb|275px|Amtrak Train at the [[Brattleboro, Vermont, station, 18 March 2004.">275px|Amtrak Train at the [[Brattleboro, Vermont">thumb|275px|Amtrak Train at the [[Brattleboro, Vermont, station, 18 March 2004. Amtrak was established to relieve railroads of their federally-mandated responsibility to transport passengers as a priority over freight. This was causing increasingly large financial losses for the railroads as the networks of federally-funded highways and airports expanded. From the outset, Amtrak was expected to pursue conflicting goals: Amtrak was supposed to continue providing a national rail passenger service in the face of significantly diminished demand while simultaneously operating as a commercial enterprise. There have been few times in history when any intercity rail passenger operation in the world has been profitable, even with respect to only its operating costs, and passenger trains have never brought in enough revenue to pay their infrastructure costs. Even highly efficient private-sector railroads such as the Norfolk and Western Railway could not earn a profit, or even recover operating expenses for passenger service. The concept of Amtrak as a for-profit business was fatally flawed before the first passenger boarded. Amtrak is in many ways dependent on freight railroads. As it owns little track, it must rely on maintenance done by the freight owners, and sometimes has to cancel service over routes taken out-of-service by the host freight railroad (as occurred recently with service to Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix, Arizona) or pay to maintain the tracks.

Politically-appointed leaders and congressional funding
Without a dedicated source of capital equipment and operating funding (except for competitive passenger fares and even less express income), Amtrak's continued operation has always been dependent upon the Executive and Legislative branches of the U.S. government. Both congressional funding and appointments of Amtrak's leaders are subject to political considerations, which have varied widely during its existence through seven U.S. presidencies and major shifts of power in the U.S. Congress. Because Amtrak's board and president are all political appointees, some have had little or no experience with railroads. However, Amtrak has also benefited from both highly skilled and politically-oriented leaders. For example, in 1982, former U.S. Secretary of the Navy and retired Southern Railway (US) Southern Railway head W. Graham Claytor Jr. brought his naval and railroad experience to the job. Claytor had served briefly as an acting U.S. Secretary of Transportation in the cabinet of President Jimmy Carter in 1979, and came out of retirement to lead Amtrak after the disastrous financial results during the Carter administration (1977-1981). He was recruited and strongly supported by John H. Riley, an attorney who was the highly-skilled head of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) under the Reagan Administration from 1983-1989. Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole also tacitly supported Amtrak. Claytor seemed to enjoy a good relationship with the Congress for his 11 years in the position. Of course, politics aside, that may have also been because he did a good job. According to an article in ''Fortune'' magazine, through vigorous cost cutting and aggressive marketing, within seven years under Claytor, Amtrak was generating enough cash to cover 72% of its $1.7 billion operating budget by 1989, up from 48% in 1981. {{ref|static.highbeam.com.882}}

Myth of a self-sustaining Amtrak
Two of the leaders who followed Claytor lacked freight railroad or private-sector experience. Further, they each inherited the goal of making Amtrak ''operationally self-sufficient'', an idea which began under David Stockman and his successors at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) while Claytor was Amtrak's president (circa 1986). Claytor's replacement was Thomas Downs. Downs had been city administrator of Washington DC, and oversaw the Union Station (Washington, DC) Union Station project, which had experienced both massive delays and cost overruns. Under Downs, Amtrak began to claim that it could achieve operating self-sufficiency, and its leaders seemed to be increasingly misleading as to the prospects of achieving that goal when pressed by Congress and the media. After Downs left Amtrak, George Warrington was appointed by the board as the company's next president. He had previously been in charge of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor Business Unit. When he took the helm of Amtrak in January, 1998, self-sufficiency was still officially a stated goal, although it was becoming elusive in the eyes of Congress. Under Warrington's administration, Amtrak was mandated by the Administration and Congress to become totally self-sufficient within a five-year period, and all its management efforts were directed to that goal. Passengers became "guests" and there were expansions into express freight work. Finally, at the end of the 5-year period, it became clear that self-sufficiency was an unachievable goal, no matter how much additional express revenue was gained or how many cuts were made in Amtrak services. Image:AMTK 345 IN Porter.jpg Michigan.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|250px|left|A [[Michigan-bound Amtrak train passes through Porter, Indiana Porter, Indiana, after departing from Chicago, Illinois Chicago in 1993..html" title="Meaning of 250px|left|A [[Michigan">thumb|250px|left|A [[Michigan-bound Amtrak train passes through Porter, Indiana Porter, Indiana, after departing from Chicago, Illinois Chicago in 1993.">250px|left|A [[Michigan">thumb|250px|left|A [[Michigan-bound Amtrak train passes through Porter, Indiana Porter, Indiana, after departing from Chicago, Illinois Chicago in 1993. In fairness, while both Downs and Warrington had extensive experience in government, neither had the non-governmental cost accounting or practical experience in private-sector railroading that Claytor had. Claytor also enjoyed the benefit of serving during the Reagan Administration when increases in federal spending on military items were drawing much of the political attention in Congress. The efforts to expand Amtrak's express income were unpopular with the host freight railroads, who did not want the additional Amtrak traffic it brought (or the competition). The express work also brought Amtrak new political enemies in the powerful truck trucking lobby before Congress. Warrington also had the burden of delays in implementation of the new Acela Express high-speed trainsets, which promised to be a strong source of income and favorable publicity along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington DC. When David L. Gunn was selected as Amtrak president in April 2002, Amtrak self-sufficiency had largely fallen out of favor as a realistic short-term goal. Gunn came with a reputation as a strong, straightforward and experienced operating manager, but his blunt style sometimes put him at odds with others. Years earlier, Gunn's refusal to "do politics" put him at odds with the WMATA (Metro) board, which includes representatives from the District of Columbia and suburban jurisdictions in Maryland and Virginia during his tenure from 1991-1994. His work as president of the New York City Transit Authority from 1984 to 1990 and as Chief General Manager of the Toronto Transit Commission in Canada from 1995-1999 earned him a great deal of operating credibility, despite a sometimes-rough relationship with politicians and labor unions. The two agencies were each the largest transit operations of their respective countries. Prior to 1974, Gunn also gained private-sector railroad experience with Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, the New York Central New York Central Railroad System (before their 1968 merger into Penn Central) and for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Before that, he had experience with the United States Navy U.S. Navy in the Naval Reserve. Supporters consider Gunn's credentials to be the strongest at the head of Amtrak since W. Graham Claytor came out of retirement by request in 1982. Gunn was polite but direct in response to congressional criticism. He was also seen as more credible than some of his recent predecessors by Congress, the media, and many Amtrak supporters and employees. Perhaps more than any past president of Amtrak, Gunn seemed willing to publicly confront the policy and budget positions of the President of the United States who appointed the board at whose pleasure the Amtrak president serves. In a departure from his recent predecessors' promises to make Amtrak self-sufficient in the short term, the Gunn administration took the stance that '''no''' form of mass passenger transportation in the United States is self-sufficient as the economy is currently structured, and that Amtrak should not be judged by different standards than other transport modes. Highways, airports, and air traffic control ''all'' require large government expenditures to build and operate, although some of those expenditures are not as obvious as Amtrak's direct subsidies, instead appearing as user fees and highway fuel and road taxes. Before a congressional hearing, Gunn answered a demand by leading Amtrak critic Arizona Senator John McCain to eliminate all operating subsidies by asking the Senator if he would also demand the same of the commuter airlines, upon whom the citizens of Arizona are dependent. McCain, usually not at a loss for words when debating Amtrak funding, did not reply. Some of Gunn's actions have been seen by many as politically wise. He had been very proactive in reducing layers of management overhead and has eliminated almost all of the controversial express business. He had stated that continued deferred maintenance will become a safety issue which he will not tolerate. This improved labor relations to some extent, even as Amtrak's ranks of unionized and salaried workers have been reduced. On November 9, 2005, Amtrak's board of directors asked David L. Gunn to step down as president. He refused and was terminated. David Hughes, previously the Chief Engineer of Amtrak, was named as acting president and CEO until a permanent replacement can be appointed. David Laney, Amtrak's chairman, stated "Amtrak's future now requires a different type of leader who will aggressively tackle the company's financial, management and operational challenges. The need to bring fundamental change to Amtrak is greater and more urgent than ever before." The board envisions fundamental changes for the railroad including increasing competition and shared financial responsibilities with U.S. state states.{{ref|Amtrak-2005-11-09}}

Federal funding
Amtrak's ongoing need for federal government funding leads to recurring budget crises and debates over its possible elimination. A stalemate in federal subsidization of Amtrak has led to cutbacks in services and routes for the last several years, and some deferred maintenance. In fiscal 2004 and 2005, Congress appropriated about $1.2 billion for Amtrak, $300 million more than President Bush had requested. However, the company's board has requested $1.8 billion through fiscal 2006, the majority of which, about $1.3 billion, would be used to bring infrastructure, rolling stock, and motive power back to a state of good repair. In Congressional testimony, the Department of Transportation's inspector-general confirmed that Amtrak would need at least $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion in fiscal 2006 and $2 billion in fiscal 2007 just to maintain the status quo. As has been the practice in most years, the current budget proposal from the U.S. President to the Congress does not support Amtrak's continued existence in its current form. Hoping to spur Congress to overhaul the way Amtrak does business, the budget proposed by the Bush Administration for fiscal 2006 would eliminate Amtrak's operating subsidy and set aside $360 million to run trains along the Northeast Corridor once the railroad ceases operating. Several states have entered into operating partnerships with Amtrak, notably California, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, Washington, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Vermont.

Amtrak routes and services
Image:Amtrak acela.png Acela Express.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|right|Map of [[Acela Express service on the Northeast Corridor..html" title="Meaning of right|Map of [[Acela Express">thumb|right|Map of [[Acela Express service on the Northeast Corridor.">right|Map of [[Acela Express">thumb|right|Map of [[Acela Express service on the Northeast Corridor. Image:Amtrak-map.png 300px|thumb|A map of the Amtrak system. As a general rule, even-numbered routes run north and east while odd numbered routes run south and west. However, some routes, such as the Pacific Surfliners, use the exact opposite numbering system, which they inherited from the previous operators of similar routes, such as the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Santa Fe Railroad. Amtrak gives each of its train routes a name. These names often reflect the rich and complex history of the route itself, or of the area traversed by the route. Most popular routes include those on the Northeast Corridor (Acela Express, Metroliner, and Regional (Amtrak) Regional services) that serve Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston, Massachusetts Boston. On the west coast, San Joaquins (Sacramento, California Sacramento/Oakland, California Oakland - Bakersfield, California Bakersfield, California), Pacific Surfliner (San Luis Obispo, California San Luis Obispo - San Diego, California San Diego, California, via Los Angeles, California Los Angeles), and the Capitol Corridor (Auburn, California Auburn, California - Sacramento - San Jose, California San Jose via Oakland) provide service more than once daily. Likewise, the Keystone Service, operating between Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Philadelphia (and to New York City), the Hiawatha (Amtrak) Hiawatha, with service between Chicago, Illinois Chicago and Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Empire Service between New York City and Albany, New York Albany, New York, the Downeaster (Amtrak) Downeaster between Boston and Portland, Maine Portland, Maine, and the Amtrak Cascades (Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver, British Columbia - Eugene, Oregon Eugene, Oregon via Portland, Oregon Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington Seattle) operate more than once daily. {{main|List of Amtrak routes}}

Gaps in service
The only states that are not served by Amtrak trains are Alaska (served by the Alaska Railroad), Hawaii, South Dakota, and Wyoming (lost service in the 1997 cuts; served by Amtrak's Thruway Motorcoaches). In addition, several major cities and regional business centers (including four with more than a million residents) are not directly served by Amtrak, including: *Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix, Arizona (#6, metro pop 3.3M) (see below) *Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada (#32, pop 1.6M) (lost service in the 1997 cuts) *Columbus, Ohio Columbus, Ohio (#33, pop 1.5M) *Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, Tennessee (#39, pop 1.3M) *Louisville, Kentucky Louisville, Kentucky (#50, pop 1M) (lost service with the elimination of the Kentucky Cardinal in 2003) *Dayton, Ohio Dayton, Ohio (#53, pop 950K) *Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa, Oklahoma (#59 pop 800K) *Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs, Colorado (pop 500K) *Boise, Idaho Boise, Idaho (pop 430K) (also ended in 1997) *Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay, Wisconsin (pop 230K) *Billings, Montana Billings, Montana (pop 127K) Other cities are not served directly due to inconvenient water barriers including Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk (#31) and Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach in the Hampton Roads area, and San Francisco, where trains stop across the bay in Oakland, California Oakland and Emeryville, California Emeryville. Phoenix, Arizona is served via Thruway Motorcoach thruway motorcoach from the Southwest Chief train at Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff, Arizona -- or the nearby, yet remote due to a lack of any public transportation connection, Maricopa, Arizona Maricopa, Arizona roughly thirty miles from the city. Phoenix lost service in June of 1996 when Southern Pacific (now Union Pacific) threatened to abandon the line from Phoenix to Yuma, Arizona Yuma .

Commuter services
Through various commuter services, Amtrak serves an additional 61.1 million passengers per year in conjunction with state and regional authorities in California, Washington, Maryland, Connecticut, and Virginia: * Caltrain (San Francisco and San Jose, California San Jose) * Sounder Commuter Rail (Seattle, Washington Seattle, Washington and the Puget Sound area) * San Diego Coaster (San Diego) * MARC Train MARC (Maryland) * Shore Line East (Connecticut) * Virginia Railway Express (VRE) In the past, Amtrak has operated Metrolink (Southern California) Metrolink {{ref|www.findarticles.com.883}}, and MBTA Commuter Rail.

Intermodal connections
Intermodal passenger transport Intermodal connections between Amtrak trains and other transportation are available at many stations. With few exceptions, Amtrak rail stations located in Central business district downtown areas have connections to local public transit. Amtrak also Code sharing code shares with Continental Airlines providing service between Newark Liberty International Airport (via Newark Liberty International Airport (NJT station) its Amtrak station) and 30th Street Station Philadelphia 30th St, Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington, Stamford, Connecticut Stamford, and Union Station (New Haven) New Haven. In addition, Amtrak serves airport stations at General Mitchell International Airport Milwaukee and BWI Rail Station Baltimore. Amtrak also coordinates Thruway Motorcoach service to extend many of its routes, particularly in California.

Guest Rewards
Amtrak operates a loyalty program called Guest Rewards, which is similar to the frequent flyer programs offered by many airlines. Guest Rewards members accumulate points by riding Amtrak and through other activities. Members can then redeem these points for free or discounted Amtrak tickets and other awards.

Freight services
Amtrak Express provides small package and less-than-truckload shipping services between more than 100 cities. Amtrak Express also offers station-to-station shipment of human remains to many express cities. At smaller stations, funeral directors must load and unload the shipment onto and off the train. Amtrak also hauled mail for the United States Postal Service as well as time sensitive freight shipments, but discontinued these services in October of 2004. On most parts of the few lines that Amtrak owns, it has trackage rights agreements allowing freight railroads to use its trackage.

Trains and tracks
Most tracks are owned by freight railroads. Amtrak operates over all seven Class I railroads, as well as several short lines - the Guilford Rail System, New England Central Railroad and Vermont Railway. Other sections are owned by terminal railroads jointly controlled by freight companies or by commuter rail agencies.

Tracks owned by the company
Along the NEC and in several other areas, Amtrak owns 730 route-miles of track (1175 km), including 17 tunnels consisting of 29.7 miles of track (47.8 km), and 1,186 bridges (including the famous Hell Gate Bridge) consisting of 42.5 miles (68.4 km) of track. Amtrak owns and operates the following lines. {{ref|www.trains.com.884}}

=Northeast Corridor
= {{main|Northeast Corridor}} The Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C. and Boston, Massachusetts Boston via Philadelphia and Transportation in New York City New York City is largely composed of Amtrak's own tracks. These are combined with those of several state and regional commuter agencies in what amounts to a cooperative arrangement. Amtrak's portion was acquired in 1976 as a result of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act. *Boston to the Massachusetts/Rhode Island state line (operated and maintained by Amtrak but owned by the Massachusetts Commonwealth of Massachusetts) *118.3 miles (190.4 km), Massachusetts/Rhode Island state line to New Haven, Connecticut New Haven, Connecticut *240 miles (386 km), New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle, New York to Washington, D.C.

=Keystone Corridor
= {{main|Keystone Corridor}} This line runs from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and is in the midst of a rehabilitation project that will eventually see 110 mph (about 175 km/h) service. *104 miles (167 km), Philadelphia to Harrisburg (''Pennsylvanian (Amtrak) Pennsylvanian'' and ''Keystone Service (Amtrak) Keystone Service'')

=Empire Corridor
= {{main|Empire Corridor}} *11 miles (18 km), New York Penn Station to Spuyten Duyvil, New York Spuyten Duyvil, New York *35.9 miles (57.8 km), Stuyvesant, New York Stuyvesant to Schenectady, New York Schenectady, New York (operated and maintained by Amtrak, but owned by CSX) *8.5 miles (13.8 km), Schenectady to Hoffmans, New York Hoffmans, New York

=New Haven-Springfield Line
= {{main|New Haven-Springfield Line}} *60.5 mi (97.4 km), New Haven (CT) New Haven to Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield (''Regional (Amtrak) Regional'' and ''Vermonter'')

=Other tracks
= *Chicago-Detroit Line - 98 miles (158 km), Porter, Indiana Porter, Indiana to Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo, Michigan (''Wolverine (Amtrak) Wolverine'') *Chicago-Detroit Line - 4 miles (6 km) in Detroit, Michigan Detroit, Michigan, CP Townline to CP West Detroit (''Wolverine (Amtrak) Wolverine'') *Post Road Branch - 12.42 miles (20 km), Post Road Junction to Rensselaer, New York Rensselaer, New York (''Lake Shore Limited (Amtrak) Lake Shore Limited'') Amtrak also owns station and yard tracks in: Chicago, Illinois Chicago, Hialeah, Florida Hialeah (near Miami, Florida Miami, Florida) (leased from the State of Florida), Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans, New York City, Oakland, California Oakland (Kirkham Street Yard), Orlando, Florida Orlando, Portland, Oregon Portland, Oregon, Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul, Minnesota, Seattle, Washington Seattle, Washington, DC Amtrak wholly owns the Chicago Union Station Company (Chicago Union Station) and Penn Station Leasing (New York Penn Station). It has a 99.7% interest in the Washington Terminal Company (Washington Union Station) and 99% of 30th Street Limited (Philadelphia 30th Street Station). Also owned by Amtrak is Passenger Railroad Insurance. {{ref|www.amtrak.com.885}}

Motive power and rolling stock
Image:Aboard auto train.jpg 300px|thumb|''Amtrak Auto Train dining car awaits passengers next to auto carrier which will join it at rear of train (Lorton, VA, 2000). Photo courtesy of www.trainweb.com'' Image:Abraham-Lincoln-behind-Amtrak.jpg Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad thumb|Connecting a private business car (formerly the [[Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad|D&RG 101) to the end of an Amtrak train.html" title="Meaning of D&RG.html" title="Meaning of thumb|Connecting a private business car (formerly the [[Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad|D&RG">thumb|Connecting a private business car (formerly the [[Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad|D&RG 101) to the end of an Amtrak train">D&RG.html" title="Meaning of thumb|Connecting a private business car (formerly the [[Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad|D&RG">thumb|Connecting a private business car (formerly the [[Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad|D&RG 101) to the end of an Amtrak train Amtrak operates 425 locomotives (351 diesel and 74 electric). '''Diesel Locomotives''' ''Current Diesel Locomotives'' *GE Genesis GE P42DC Amtrak's main locomotives. *GE Genesis GE P40DC Most are in storage or leased out. *GE Dash 8-32BWH GE P32-8WH (Dash 8) Used as backup or for switching. *EMD F59PHI Used for trains on the west coast. ''Former Diesel Locomotives'' *EMD F40PH F40PH Formerly Amtrak's main locomotives. *EMD GP40-2 Ex-GO Transit locomotives. *EMD F69PHAC Experimental locomotives. *GE P30CH Amtrak's second new locomotive. All have been scrapped. *EMD SDP40F Amtrak's first new locomotive. They had many problems. One survives. ''Diesel Locomotives Inherited from other Railroads in 1971'' *EMD E9 *EMD E8 *EMD FP7 *EMD F7 '''Electric Locomotives''' ''Current Electric Locomotives'' *GE Genesis GE P32ACDM *Bombardier Acela HHP-8 *EMD AEM7 AEM-7AC ''Former Electric Locomotives'' *GE E60CH *GE E60MA ''Electric Locomotives Inherited from Penn Central in 1971'' *PRR E44 *PRR GG1 Twenty Acela Express trainsets have been used to provide popular high-speed rail service along the Northeast Corridor between South Station (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) South Station in Boston and Union Station (Washington, DC) Union Station in Washington D.C. This service has been so popular, in fact, that the Acela trains even cover their "above the rail" costs (operating expenses, but not capital to maintain infrastructure). However, the innovative service has not been without problems. In April 2005, all 20 trainsets were removed from service to repair cracked brake rotors. All trainsets were returned to service by September of that year. '''Rolling Stock''' Amtrak's 2,141 railroad cars include several types of passenger cars (including 168 sleeper cars, 760 coach cars, 126 first class/business class cars, 66 dormitory/crew cars, 225 lounge/cafÃ©/dinette cars, and 92 dining cars). Many are the: *Superliner (railcar) Superliner I and II *Amfleet I and II *Comet (passenger car) Horizon Fleet *Viewliner *Heritage Fleet *California Cars *Surfliner Cars *Talgo Cars Baggage cars, autoracks for Auto Train (Amtrak) Auto Train service, and maintenance of way rolling stock make up the remainder of the fleet. Private railroad cars may also connect to Amtrak trains if suitably certified and equipped with Head_end_power Head End Power (HEP). Well organized groups such as the American Association for Private Rail Car Owners, Inc., (AAPRC) represent the interest of car owners in dealing with private and public organizations such as Amtrak. These private cars may be used by their owners or chartered by individuals for private travel behind regularly scheduled Amtrak trains.

References
*''Amtrak System Timetable, Fall 2004/Winter 2005'' *''[http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Copy/Title_Image_Copy_Page&c=am2Copy&cid=1081442674477&ssid=161 Amtrak financial reports]'' * Vranich, Joseph (2004) ''[http://www.aei.org/book798 End of the Line]'' AEI Press, Washington, D.C. * {{cite book|author=Solomon, Brian|year=2004|title=Amtrak|publisher=MBI Publishing Company, St. Paul, MN|id=ISBN 0-7603-1765-8}} * {{cite book|author=Edmonson, Harold A.|year=1972|title=Journey to Amtrak - The year history rode the passenger train|publisher=Kalmbach Books, Milwaukee, WI|id=ISBN 089024023X}} * {{cite book|author=Zimmermann, Karl R.|year=1981|title=Amtrak at Milepost 10|publisher=PTJ Publishing (Passenger Train Journal), Park Forest|id=ISBN 0-937658-06-5 }} # {{note|www.gao.gov.880}} {{cite web | title=GAO-06-145 Amtrak Management: Systemic Problems Require Actions to Improve Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Accountability | url=http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06145.pdf | accessdate=November 23 | accessyear=2005 }} # {{note|www.trainweb.org.881}} {{cite web | title=RailNews Story: New Amtrak logo | url=http://www.trainweb.org/trainteam/railnews/railnews.story2.htm | accessdate=November 23 | accessyear=2005 }} # {{note|static.highbeam.com.882}} {{cite web | title=Fortune : Still chugging. (W. Graham Claytor Jr.) (Fortune People) (column) @ HighBeam Research | url=http://static.highbeam.com/f/fortune/october231989/stillchuggingwgrahamclaytorjrfortunepeoplecolumn/ | accessdate=November 23 | accessyear=2005 }} # {{note|Amtrak-2005-11-09}} Amtrak (November 9 2005), ''[http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Copy/News_Release_Page&c=am2Copy&cid=1093554026306&ssid=180 Amtrak Board Releases Gunn]''. Retrieved November 9 2005. # {{note|www.findarticles.com.883}} {{cite web | title=Railway Age: Connex to take over Metrolink operations | url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1215/is_1_206/ai_n9505648 | accessdate=November 23 | accessyear=2005 }} # {{note|www.trains.com.884}} {{cite web | title=Trains.com - Amtrak's Track | url=http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=44882 | accessdate=November 23 | accessyear=2005 }} # {{note|www.amtrak.com.885}} {{cite web | title=Email FS - FY02.xls | url=http://www.amtrak.com/pdf/02financial.pdf | accessdate=November 23 | accessyear=2005 }}

See also
*Amtrak California - A partnership of Caltrans and Amtrak. *Amtrak Cascades - A partnership of Washington State Department of Transportation Washington State DOT, Oregon Department of Transportation, and Amtrak. *Auto-Train Corporation - Private company that pioneered car-on-train service. Service lives on as Auto Train (Amtrak) Amtrak's Auto Train (no hyphen). *List of Amtrak stations *Superliner (railcar) *Thruway Motorcoach *Amtrak Discount Codes - Amtrak offers a variety of discount codes for some routes and times. They new codes appear and expire regularly.

External links
{{commons|Category:Amtrak}}

Corporate sites

- Amtrak.com *
- Amtrak Cascades Corridor *
- Amtrak Capitol Corridor *
- Amtrak California *
- Amtrak Michigan Services
- Amtrak Guest Rewards

Passenger train advocacy

- National Association of Railroad Passengers
- Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers
- Friends of Amtrak
- Save Amtrak
- United Rail Passenger Alliance

External articles

- Amtrak's beginnings - via http://Trains.com
- All Aboard? - via http://CSMonitor.com

History

- Amtrak Historical Society
- Trains Operating on the Eve of Amtrak (1971-04-30)
- Amtrak's First Trains & Routes (1971-05-01)
- Amtrak timetable, 1971-11-14 *Mike Schafer, Amtrak's atlas, ''Trains (magazine) Trains'' June 1991 *Kevin McKinney, At the dawn of Amtrak, ''Trains (magazine) Trains'' June 1991

Miscellaneous

- Amtrak News
- Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Boards
- "This Week at Amtrak" commentary
- USA by Rail guide
- Amtrak Radio Frequencies (includes information on the owners of the tracks) {{North America class 1}} Category:Amtrak bg:Ð?Ð¼Ñ‚Ñ€Ð°Ðº de:Amtrak fr:Amtrak nl:Amtrak ja:ã‚¢ãƒ ãƒˆãƒ©ãƒƒã‚¯ pl:Amtrak fi:Amtrak sv:Amtrak see Amtrak Category:United States government corporations category:Passenger railroads in the United States Category:Rail transport in the United States category:Alabama railroads category:Arizona railroads category:Arkansas railroads category:California railroads category:Colorado railroads category:Connecticut railroads category:Delaware railroads category:District of Columbia railroads category:Florida railroads category:Georgia railroads category:Idaho railroads category:Illinois railroads category:Indiana railroads category:Iowa railroads category:Kansas railroads category:Kentucky railroads category:Louisiana railroads category:Maine railroads category:Maryland railroads category:Massachusetts railroads category:Michigan railroads category:Minnesota railroads category:Mississippi railroads category:Missouri railroads category:Montana railroads category:Nebraska railroads category:Nevada railroads category:New Hampshire railroads category:New Jersey railroads category:New Mexico railroads category:New York railroads category:North Carolina railroads category:North Dakota railroads category:Ohio railroads category:Oklahoma railroads category:Oregon railroads category:Pennsylvania railroads category:Rhode Island railroads category:South Carolina railroads category:Tennessee railroads category:Texas railroads category:Utah railroads category:Vermont railroads category:Virginia railroads category:Washington railroads category:West Virginia railroads category:Wisconsin railroads category:Wyoming railroads category:British Columbia railways category:Ontario railways category:Quebec railways category:Chicago railroads Category:1971 establishments

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