The Early Years of Amtrak

Government-controlled (all common stock is federally owned) and funded, Amtrak operates almost exclusively over the private freight railroads, save for the Northeast where it owns the [mostly] PRR’s former Northeast Corridor (NEC), a four-track main line operating between Washington, D.C. and Boston. In total the railroad operates roughly 21,000 miles of track.

The early years of Amtrak saw the carrier beginning operations by asking railroads to provide two things; one-time payments, which would eventually total $190 million (from 13 railroads), and/or equipment (of note not all of the major Class Is elected to turn their operations over to Amtrak because they either felt that they could provide better service themselves or were not financially capable of doing so [such as in the case of Rock Island]). In exchange for this railroads received Amtrak common stock.

Unfortunately, Amtrak was never given much of a chance right from the beginning (and, to be truthful, it was purposefully meant to fail). President Nixon, and many others, saw Amtrak as a simple ploy to satisfy the public demand but ultimately it was never meant to succeed and they hoped it would die out within a few years. Unfortunately for the critics this never happened as public support for passenger rail has continued to this day and is as strong as ever.

To begin operations, the equipment the railroad would receive included 300 locomotives and over 1,200 cars. The early years of Amtrak were probably the most fascinating, from a railfan perspective, when a train’s equipment hosted an entire assortment of liveries from railroads all over the country. On the contrary, however, it was also disappointing to see a number of famous trains discontinued or canceled with Amtrak’s upstart. Of the 364 passenger trains, which remained in operation just prior to Amtrak’s start-up, the rail carrier slashed these down to just 182.

To make matters worse for Amtrak, upon beginning operations the carrier was left with many dilapidated stations and depots with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars needed in restorations for the buildings to properly updated. In some cases Amtrak also had to vacate larger, better equipped buildings and use smaller, inefficient structures. Once grand stations located in cities like Cincinnati, Detroit, Kansas City, and Buffalo could no longer be used, mostly because these buildings simply were too rundown for use.

Also, years of neglect not only by the private railroads but also the government left passenger rail a mostly third-rate transportation service behind flying and driving. The Interstate system, built during the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s and a heavily subsidized airline industry all but shut the door on trains (which, prior to Amtrak received virtually no subsidy, even commuter rail operations).

While it was initially intended to become self-supporting (an improbable notion to begin with, passenger rail is rarely profitable) it quickly became obvious after its first year of operations this would not be the case. In its first year Amtrak earned $163 million with expenses of $310 million. By 1980 things were not much better as the carrier saw $454 million in revenues and $1.08 billion in expenses.

Regardless of all of the problems during the early years of Amtrak and the claims by critics over the years that the carrier is a waste of taxpayer money and should be eliminated, travel by train is not only a very needed transportation artery but also continues to receive public support year after year. And, even though a statute expired in 2002 guaranteeing annual funding for Amtrak, both public and Congressional support continues to ensure its survival (since 2002 Amtrak has broken yearly ridership records).

To learn more about Amtrak consider the one, or both, of the books below; Amtrak by Brian Solomon and Amtrak in the Heartland by Craig Sanders. Mr. Solomon's book gives an excellent general history of the carrier since its start up in 1971 while Mr. Sanders' book covers Amtrak mostly in Midwestern regionals. In any event, both books are filled with information and pictures so if you have an interest in Amtrak or are interested in learning more about the carrier you certainly won't be disappointed in one, or both books.

When Amtrak began operations in 1971 after its first year of service it hauled roughly 16.6 million passengers. A decade later by the early 1980s the carrier was hauling around 21 million passengers. While ridership would be relatively unchanged between the 1980s and the new millennia, after 2000 growth continued with new routes added and territories upgraded, like the Northeast Corridor (which introduced the very fast Acela trainsets during that year). Today ridership numbers have broken 25 million and 2007 saw Amtrak’s highest ever passenger numbers. While still not properly funded our nation's passenger rail system, as a whole, has come a very long way since the early years of Amtrak. For information on the current system and what the future holds please click here.