democrats waste time push fund amtrak philly crash anyone half brain know trust push big government fund facts yes real facts spread around liberal friends zip demonize republicans lie distortions tuesday night amtrak derailment philadelphia leave eight dead hundreds injure occur train hit curve twice 50 mile per hour speed limit naturally tragedy devolve political rumpus infrastructure spending.this reflexive demand public investment could benefit fact two house republicans supposedly blame retroactively crash appropriations committee pass transportation fund measure wednesday hand amtrak 289 million operations 850 million capital grant 260 million less normal annual take.never mind amtrak pump 2.6 billion 456-mile track call northeast corridor last decade eight state along route connect boston washington new york philadelphia supply another 2.4 billion plus one-time billion fillip 2009 stimulus liberals also discover signal technology call positive train control ptc might slow train claim amtrak delay installation lack fund amtrak inspector general report far back 2012 rollout dog poor internal plan budget overrun unreliable engineer add amtrak include total fund ptc financial plan congressional fund request house bill try control cost reform amtrak mismanagement above-market union salaries benefit 49 2014 expense wasteful food beverage service modest effort reach core problem political misallocation investment since richard nixon nationalize passenger rail 1971 amtrak hostage congress run deficits every year feds prefer stock pretend require amtrak operate for-profit corporation reality must behave public utility social charity.in 2014 audit amtrak ig observe management think many legislatively mandate task responsibilities accumulate time unclear focus view evident company 2011 strategic plan five strategic theme seven strategies numerous initiatives dozens performance measure hyper-politicization intensify president obama euro-style high-speed rail special fixation ryan lizza report new yorker mr. obama aggravate tell none money stimulus would spend signature project modern-day hoover dam interstate highway system get 68 billion california bullet train ever ride open 2028.despite 3.2 billion revenue 2014 good year amtrak require 227 million taxpayers operate budget depreciation expense report net loss 1.1 billion disguise one route passenger rail economically rational northeast corridor amtrak earn 496.7 million discrete service 2014 strong ridership 390.1 million prior year surplus use cross-subsidize unprofitable regional long-distance service everywhere else.the transfer support overstaffed unpopular rout serve 523 station 46 state like zephyr chicago emeryville california empire builder milwaukee seattle refuse stop line make little sense except politics 2012 late year data available transportation department report amtrak fare average 34 cents per mile versus 15 cents domestic flight quarter cars.there 987 residents every square mile along northeast corridor 98 average rest country population density high traffic business center northeast uniquely suit rail extent northeast rail could gain capital investment cities along line produce one five dollars u.s. gdp rich enough finance transportation user-pays principle especially ticket sales rise political class refuse use word infrastructure unless precede crumble truth current fund poorly target congress set priorities spin northeast corridor amtrak example build dedicate high-speed track bypass freight commuter rail might viable idea.instead infrastructure money often flow bike paths nature trail trolley cars every dollar spend connect merced bakersfield rail one use replace baltimore potomac tunnel maryland build 1873.what philadelphia disaster know taxpayers intuitively understand government long contribute public goods canal internet would will finance urgent highway rail bridge airport project reason believe money would well spent.via wsj amtrak facts americans trust call infrastructure spend