Janice Buchanan, age 11, of Austin, Texas, for her question:
WHO STARTED AMTRAK?
Amtrak is a semi public corporation that runs almost all of the intercity passenger trains in the United States. The organization was established in 1970 by Congress.
Congress believed that a corporation with control over intercity passenger trains could reverse the decline and also improve passenger service. For many years prior to 1970, the railroads had lost millions of dollars annually on their passenger trains. This loss resulted mainly from competition with the airlines and automobile travel.
In establishing Amtrak, Congress provided most of the funds necessary to run it.
Amtrak took control of the trains in 1971. Now it pays the railroads to run the trains, and it also pays them for the use of tracks and some stations.
Amtrak itself buys railroad equipment, establishes train routes, plans schedules and also handles all reservations and ticket sales.
The Amtrak corporation receives money from the sale of tickets and also for carrying mail and packages. But the government must also provide large amounts of money to subsidize Amtrak in order to keep the trains runninng.
The government gives grants to Amtrak to cover its operating losses, which total several hundred million dollars each year. It also guarantees the repayment of loans made to Amtrak.
Congress actually permits the government to guarantee up to $900 million worth of loans made to Amtrak.
Amtrak has taken its name from three words: the first two letters from "American," the first three letters from "travel" and the last letter from the word "track."
Amtrack's official name is the National Railroad Passenger Corporation.
Although Amtrak loses money each year, the number of people who ride intercity passenger trains has increased since the organization was organized.
With the establishment of Amtrak, the passenger service in the United States was greatly reduced. Now only limited areas are covered, with a majority of the rail lines being reserved strictly for freight service.
Important rail passenger terminals in the West can be found in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. Salt Lake City, Butte, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Cheyenne and Denver are leading cities in the Western Mountain states.
In Texas and the South, leading Amtrak cities include E1 Paso, Houston, Atlanta, New Orleans, Savannah, Tampa and Miami.
Important rail passenger terminals in the East and Midwest include Boston, New York City, Washington, D.C., Norfolk, Buffalo, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, Kansas City and Detroit.