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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 13th, 2023

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  • Amtrak is a federally chartered corporation, operated and managed as a for-profit company, but with the U.S. government as its controlling shareholder. The Amtrak Board of Directors are appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. https://www.amtrak.com/stakeholder-faqs

    I’d consider it state capitalism. A private for-profit company owns the means of production/capital but that company is government owned.

    That being said though, I don’t think its fair to blame Amtrak being a private company as the reason Amtrak has high prices. Amtrak is at the mercy of freight rail as Amtrak only owns 3% of the rails they operate on. They pretty much have to pay whatever the freight companies say and freight is given preference over passenger trains. Amtrak has never made a profit since its creation.


  • Robert7301201@slrpnk.nettotumblr@lemmy.worldWe love Amtrak
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    3 months ago

    Not 100%. Amtrak’s FY2022 fact sheet says that 72.6% of miles driven was on tracks owned by other railroads. That doesn’t tell us how much rail they own, but they do own some of their own rail.

    Not only does it mean higher prices, but worse service because they have to rely on freight companies to maintain their rails properly and preference is given to freight leading to passenger delays.

    Edit: Found a better source.

    Ninety-seven percent of the route-miles traveled by Amtrak trains are on tracks owned by other railroads.