Free Market Vs. Government Rail Tonight at 11

"America’s freight railways are one of the unsung transport successes of the past 30 years. They are universally recognized in the industry as the best in the world.

Their good run started with deregulation at the end of Jimmy Carter’s administration…. the freeing of rail freight, under the Staggers Rail Act of 1980, started a wave of consolidation and improvement. Staggers gave railways freedom to charge market rates, enter confidential contracts with shippers and run trains as they liked.

After government stopped setting prices and “protecting consumers”, competition drove the price to move a ton of goods down dramatically:



But politicians took a different tack with passenger rail. Foolish senators argued that a government-supported passenger rail company was “the last great hope to save rail passenger service." So they created Amtrak. How’s that working out for us?

Since it was created, there have been no productivity improvements. It now costs the government more to move one person one mile than ever before.




http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stoss ... nment-rail

Passenger rail worldwide seldom makes money. People prefer the freedom of their cars or the speed of aircraft. And high speed rail makes even less sense financially, expensive infrastructure and limited customers. So the feds are pushing to create more in the States. I like rail, but its real strength is freight.