Fun little quiz

The largets operating cost to Amtrak is:

A. Saleries, wages, benefits
B. Advertising and sales
C. Fuel power and utilities
D. Locomotives and Railcars

Ticket prices cover approxmatley what fraction of the total cost of service.

A. 1/3
B. 1/2
C. 2/3
D. 3/4


List the trains in the order of profitablilty

Regional
Acela Express
Metroliner
Auto Train
San Joaquins
Empire Builder
Lake Shore Limited

If Amtrak was forced to close down its unprofitable routes which routes would remain?

True or False

Fuel costs per available passenger seat mile are less for Amtrak than for the airlines.

Host railroads are the major cause of delays for Amtrak trains.

All answers to the multiple-choice questions available here:
http://www.amtrak.com/pdf/03financial.pdf

Answers to order of profitability and question following them are <null> and zero. The last two I will let people argue to their hearts' content.

Perhaps someone can help me out here. If I can get a 10 year mortgage at a fixed rate of 4.25% on a refinance, why can't Amtrak do better than 9.5%?

In a word, Congress.

Specifically Congress's preference for making Amtrak sweat every appropriation every year. This annual game of chicken makes any prospective lender skittish. Higher interest rates are necessary to offset the higher risk that lenders encounter. That mean higher borrowing costs to Amtrak. A longer mandate and a stable funding source would bring these costs down. Bringing these consequences to your congressional reps' attention would be a productive use of a real fan's time.

http://www.house.gov/writerep
http://www.senate.gov

This thread also warrants revisiting.

Greg Moore wrote:Perhaps someone can help me out here. If I can get a 10 year mortgage at a fixed rate of 4.25% on a refinance, why can't Amtrak do better than 9.5%?

Because your loan is secured against assets that presumably are worth more than the principle of the loan so the bank is willing to allow you to give that bank a mortgage.

Amtrak does not have lien-free capital assets against which to borrow, has insufficient revenues to pay expenses and capital costs, any assets that might be acquired with new loans have little value should Amtrak cease to operate (e.g., lose its subsidies) as there is not much demand for rail passenger related assets. The risk of a loan to Amtrak is far greater than that lenders take when they loan money in exchange for a mortgage from the borrower. 9.5% seems low to me.

Wouldn't the government be expected to pay if Amtrak wen't bust . That may explain the lower "high" interest rate if that makes sense .