Hell on Rails

Amtrak screws up, again:

As Amtrak’s high-speed Acela Express trains sit idle on sidetracks due to faulty brakes, we need to ask ourselves what have taxpayers gotten for the $29 billion put into Amtrak thus far?

The answer: Not much.

Amtrak wants the highest subsidies ever now, in asking for $1.82 billion for 2006. Its chairman explained that without this support, the railroad would have no cash by September. Year after year Congress allocates funds to keep Amtrak from going bankrupt.

Amtrak has failed again. Last month it suspended its flagship Acela Express service because of faulty brakes. The trains are not expected back on track until “sometime this summer,” according to Amtrak officials. Amtrak keeps promising a glorious new day for train travel but has yet to deliver it.

Long before the brakes went bad, Acela Express breakdowns were plentiful and resulted in train cancellations, late arrivals, and lawsuits. But the resulting drop in ticket revenues for the trains that travel between Boston, New York, and Washington is the latest in a long list of reasons why Amtrak is heading toward bankruptcy — again.

Acela Express schedules (when the trains did run) were embarrassing when compared with trains a half-century ago. In 1954, the New Haven Railroad’s Advance Merchants Limited linked New York with Boston in 3 hours and 57 minutes. The Acela was only about 30 minutes faster.

The train was supposed to be the railroad’s crown jewel and help “save Amtrak.” In fact, the Acela shows that Amtrak lacks the distinctive competencies required to design a high-technology train to serve the consumer-travel market. Acela is a case study in poor design, excessive delivery delays, component failures, and rising costs.

Liberals' obsession with mass transit continues to yield these type of dividends. Of course, as with education, there can only be one solution: a special blue-ribbon panel comprised of retired Democrat politicians, and more money. Lots more money.