Amtrak Faces Prospect of Private Competition. Amtrak’s losses on cross-country lines prompt legislation to let in private operators

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Amtrak’s cross-country service has long been a drain on the national passenger railroad’s finances. Now, some of the money-losing routes that link major U.S. cities and cut through rural America could be headed for private hands.

A major transportation spending package signed into law by President Obama on Friday would start a pilot program that envisions private-sector rail companies running up to three of Amtrak’s 15 long-distance lines—provided they reduce the need for taxpayer support. Though Amtrak regards itself as a private company, it is heavily subsidized and has the U.S. Transportation Department secretary on its board.

If companies such as commuter-rail operators Herzog Transit Services Inc. and Transdev North America Inc. took over some Amtrak routes, it would mark a significant shift in how America’s national passenger railroad has been run since the federal government created it in 1970. Herzog operates Caltrain in the San Francisco Bay area. Transdev runs the Tri-Rail line in South Florida.

The experiment comes amid a broader push to increase the transparency of Amtrak’s finances and how Congress subsidizes the railroad’s operations and capital projects.

Where would Amtrak be without ripping off taxpayers?