> Worse still, the Republican party has bamboozled their members into actually believing trains are not cost effective
It's even crazier than that. It turns out that Amtrak would be profitable were it not for being required to run long distance passenger rail lines through sparsely populated states, usually represented by the senators you mentioned.
(Note that regional state co-financed Amtrak lines like the Capital Corridor in California aren't part of the profitability problem)
The same senators from those low population density states who demand that Amtrak cut losses in order to become profitable also raise hackles when the obvious solution of cutting the unprofitable long-distance routes through their states routes is raised. It turns out that many of their constituents like those unprofitable routes.
It's even crazier than that. It turns out that Amtrak would be profitable were it not for being required to run long distance passenger rail lines through sparsely populated states, usually represented by the senators you mentioned.
(Note that regional state co-financed Amtrak lines like the Capital Corridor in California aren't part of the profitability problem)
The same senators from those low population density states who demand that Amtrak cut losses in order to become profitable also raise hackles when the obvious solution of cutting the unprofitable long-distance routes through their states routes is raised. It turns out that many of their constituents like those unprofitable routes.
See Wendover's YouTube video on the topic: https://youtu.be/dSw7fWCrDk0