76-10-B7

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Amtrak

Transcript Fifty years ago Benito Mussolini began his career as dictator of Italy by making the trains run on time, a feat which brought him the admiration of many Americans. It was even seen by some as evidence that state-owned railroads were more efficient than privately-owned ones. Amtrak should forever end that delusion. Although it's only six years old, America's experiment in government-owned rail passenger service has already proved that anything private enterprise can do badly the government can do worse. Amtrak was created by an Act of Congress in 1970 to provide modern, efficient intercity rail passenger service at a profit. Private railroad companies put up nearly $200 million in "seed" money to add to the original $40 million federal grant. In its first year Amtrak lost $148 million. It's losses have grown every year, and this year will exceed $400 million. Amtrak itself says that its annual deficit will reach $650 million by 1981. So much for profit. How about the modern, efficient service? Admittedly, privately-owned trains used to run late sometimes, but at least they got to their destinations. Amtrak is rapidly building a reputation for not getting there at all. Take, for example, two recent incidents involving Amtrak's California Zephyr, which makes the 2000-mile run from Chicago to San Francisco. Just before Christmas the Zephyr left Chicago four and a half hours late with 280 holiday travelers. It got as far as Galesburg, Illinois, about 150 miles from Chicago, before it stopped. The cause? Flat spots on the wheels of its diesel locomotives. New locomotives were sent for, but they broke down before they reached Galesburg. The solution? Amtrak simply abandoned the train, which by then was 12 hours late, and sent its passengers to their destinations by bus and airplane. In another incident the Zephyr ground to a halt just outside Reno, Nevada, 13 hours late and 200 miles short of its destination. There had been no mechanical failures on this trip, just a series of bureaucratically inspired delays, including the lack of a crew to replace one which had exhausted its allowable work time under federal regulations. Amtrak had to call police to keep order as it packed 200 angry passengers aboard buses bound for San Francisco. Is this any way to run a railroad? No, but it seems to be the only way, if you try to run it from Washington, D.C. Maybe we should have looked at the nationalized railroads in other countries. Canada has one privately run and one government operated. The government railroad has an annual loss of millions of dollars, the private one makes millions of dollars and pays taxes. In England, France, Japan and several other countries the railroads are government operated. In every country they lose money and, in some, charge higher rates than we do. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 76-10-B7 Production Date 03/02/1977 Book/Page Online PDF Audio Youtube? No
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