Industry Report: Passenger Rail in the United States of America

  Industry

 Report

  Intercity

 Passenger

 Rail

 Market

 in

 the

 Continental

  United

 States

1

1.

 Industry

  The

 intercity

 passenger

 rail

 market

 in

 the

 continental

 United

 States

 is

 controlled

 by

  one

  company:

  Amtrak.

  Created

  as

  a

  result

  of

  the

  Rail

  Passenger

  Service

  Act

  of

  1970

  passed

 by

 Congress

 and

 then

 signed

 into

 law

 by

 President

 Richard

 Nixon,

 the

 creation

 of

  Amtrak

  was

  the

  U.S.

  government’s

  response

  to

  the

  severe

  financial

  decline

  of

  rail

  service

  over

  the

  preceding

  20

  years.1

 Amtrak

  currently

  serves

  46

  of

  the

  states

  in

  the

  continental

  United

  States

  plus

  provides

  travel

  from

  the

  United

  States

  to

  3

  nearby

  Canadian

 cities.

  Amtrak

  has

  certain

  expectations

  and

  constraints

  that

  have

  historically

  been

  put

  upon

  it

  by

  the

  U.S.

  government,

  although

  these

  were

  relaxed

  in

  1997.

  In

  addition,

  Amtrak

 is

 sustained

 by

 the

 U.S.

 government,

 which

 typically

 gives

 over

 a

 billion

 dollars

  to

 Amtrak

 per

 year.

 Originally,

 Amtrak

 was

 organized

 to

 be

 self-­‐sufficient

 within

 a

 few

  years.2

 However,

 only

 14

 years

 later

 the

 then-­‐Director

 of

 the

 Office

 of

 Management

 of

  Budget

  called

  Amtrak

  a

  “mobile

  money-­‐burning...