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A comment on Amtrak Could Turn a Profit for the First Time. Parent comment

Re:Amtrak Could Turn a Profit for the First Time by phlakaton on Sunday November 17, 2019 @08:28PM (#21561241)
To the contrary, regional mass transit is the only thing Amtrak does that is profitable. Depending on how you define region, of course.

As population grows, train speeds increase, and road traffic worsens, we may need to rethink what we consider a "region."

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Re:Amtrak Could Turn a Profit for the First Time by bradleyjg on Sunday November 17, 2019 @08:39PM (#21561283)
I don’t see commuter rail speeds increasing much in the US. If the LIRR, Metro North, and Jersey Transit could have effective speeds (i.e. station to station) of even 60 miles an hour it would be a game changer for the US’ largest and most economically important metro area.

Alas, that’s a pipe dream, much less bringing New Haven or Philadelphia into the reasonable commuting radius which is what I suspect you are alluding to.

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Re:Amtrak Could Turn a Profit for the First Time by phlakaton on Monday November 18, 2019 @01:14AM (#21562292)
I'm a West-Coaster so am not sure why that would be so impossible a task. What stops us in the Bay Area is heavy diesel trains and lots of stops with no passing tracks, and I understand we're working on fixing all of those issues, slowly though we may progress.
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