Amtrak

Passenger train corporation that operates nearly all of the rail service between cities in the USA. Amtrak was created by the federal government to relieve ailing US private rail companies and officially began service in 1971.

Local rail services are paid by Amtrak to run their passenger trains and maintain their terminals and tracks. Amtrak also manages schedules, routes, and ticket sales. By 2000, Amtrak operated trains over a 35,406 km/22,000 mi rail system across the USA. Although Amtrak succeeded in preserving railway operations over most of the country, the number of US passengers using trains has generally declined since the 1950s.

Amtrak introduced a new high-speed rail service between north-eastern cities in 2000.

In 2001, Amtrak lost US$1.1 billion – US$129 million more than the previous year. The government responded by putting plans together for a major restructuring of the network. A report released in February 2002 by a panel appointed by the US Congress recommended that Amtrak be broken up, so that private operators could compete for contracts to run specific routes under franchise.