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The Future of Amtrak

This information is excerpted from the full report and description on KUOW broadcast on November 15, 2005.

For more information about Cascadia Center For Transportation Co-Director Tom Till Click Here


Last week the Amtrak board fired its President and CEO, David Gunn. The General Accountability Office had just issued a report critical of Amtrak operations. Today there is a congressional hearing into whether the Amtrak board should have fired Gunn. The Bush administration wants to cut Amtrak’s federal subsidy. The administration believes it should be up to the states to run passenger rail service. David Gunn said that change would destroy Amtrak. Today we consider the future of Amtrak and passenger rail service in America. Is the U.S. just too big and sprawling for passenger rail to succeed? Perhaps we’re too addicted to the car. Are we putting too many tax payer dollars into subsidizing train service? Is passenger rail simply impractical for most of America?