Did AmTrack go Bankrupt / who replaced them ?

Question

If so, is there any passanger train service left ?

Answer 1

Amtrak is not bankrupt, although it's beginning has something to do with that.

Amtrak was formed from the passenger operations of most of the larger freight railroads in 1971.  At this time, much of the country was going through a recession, and the railroads, for a variety of factors, were hard hit.  Passenger operations, generally speaking, were losing money, something already struggling railways didn't need on their balance sheets.

Faced with the prospect of losing passenger rail service in much of the country, the federal government eventually formed Amtrak, which took over most of the passenger operations of the nation's railroads - many of whom were either bankrupt themselves, or awfully close to it.

It's no secret or mystery that passenger rail doesn't operate in the black, especially nationwide.  Public transportation - waterways, roads, airports, bus transit, passenger rail - all require some form of government support, because they provide a service that the private sector can't (or won't), but which is important to the economic, social, and cultural well-being of the country.

Government support of each form of public transportation varies greatly.  Some feel that Amtrak gets constantly short-changed, while others are given a virtual blank check.  Because of this, Amtrak has had to resort to some self-financing to continue operations and support capital improvement projects in the past few years due to dwindling government support, and the federal government often makes threats to bankrupt them as a means of "fixing" them.

Whether this would actually work or not remains to be seen.  This is probably where you've heard the information that Amtrak is, or close to, bankruptcy.  However, they're still ticking for now.  Because of the tremendous impact passenger rail has on the nation's well being, you'd hear about it if anything major happened to Amtrak - good or bad.

Answer 2

Conductor Budgie is correct with his answer.

I'd like to add that our government has neglected Amtrak for far to long.

The people on Capitol Hill forgot very quickly that right after 9/11, when all of the airplanes in the country were grounded, it was Amtrak that kept the North East Corridor open and moving.

Amtrak was the perfect solution for getting around the entire country when the airline industry could not.

While the government throws more and more money away on  failing airlines they keep taking money away from Amtrak.

Through bad budgets and bad management decisions, Amtrak has kept running despite the efforts of our government to derail it.

Answer 3

No, and no one. Go to Amtrak.com!

Answer 4

Amtrak is still alive but fights for its life with every new federal budget.  Amtrak is generally only profitable in the northeast corridor and is heavily subsidized most everywhere else.  Amtrak is sometimes called the "ugly stepchild" because the federal government spends billions of dollars on the highway and airspace system without expecting a payback but spends very little on Amtrak and many lawmakers complain that its losing money.  The days after 9-11-2001 when most aircraft were grounded showed us how important a diversified transportation system is.

Answer 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak

No, it isn't bankrupt, it doesn't look like it's been bankrupt.  It has had financial problems, and it is not fully self-supporting.  Yes, there is passenger rail service, just not everywhere.