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Alaska Railroad seeks new president and CEO
Well Paul, the thing is, these passenger trains typically consist of 99% cruise ship tourists. The trains run on a much-reduced schedule in winter. Same as the Rocky Mountaineer.
The pasgr count trom cruise ships is high, but not 99%
Traditionally, The Aurora’s stops were made almost anywhere for hunters and fishers with arrangements made for pick-up days later.
South of Denali from a wild and spectacular Hurricane Gulch to Talkeetna, a sort of base camp for expeditions to the mountain, special service provides about the only access to cabins for people and supplies… you could hike in, snowshoes or snow machine, ATV…
A commute service is in the nest about to fledge between Wasilla and Anchorage.
Commuter trains…Alaska…The Yukon…The transportation of a miner…The Cremation of Sam Mcghee.
On the first colder dark and stormy night, read Robert Service’s gems…The Shooting of Dan McGrew…Men of the Far North…
Just a reminder that Alaska RR was largely built by the US Government and is currently owned by the state of Alaska. It is interesting what government can do sometimes when the issue is out of the limelight.
The sucess of the Alaska Railroad is somewhat tempered by the knowledge of the Railroad still contnuing to be subsudized by the US Congress. So you could say, the passenger traffic is being subsudized by Congress, though without the oversight.
The success of the Alaska railroad and its ability to make a profit running a universal service makes me wonder whether passenger rail in the US would be better off handed back to the railroads.
It’d probably be something they’d kick and scream about, assuming they’d be required to take back the mandate, but I’m guessing the right tax and competition (that is, immunity from monopoly law) incentives might make them grudgingly accept the responsibility.
Not an ideologue here - I don’t care whether passenger rail is provided on a governmental or private level, just as long as it’s available, and available at high quality. But it’s clear that the US political system works against public provision of passenger rail - or at least holds it back. While government owned, the Alaska system at least has the benefit of being run like a private company, not needing to run every capital investment by a hostile congress that sees every penny it spends as a handout. Something has to give.
Just another reminder that while the Alaska Railroad was built by the Federal Government, it was done with a single well defined purpose to be met, unlike Amtrak, and done in an age when there were still people in government who understood that it was government’s job to manage as little as possible and stay out of the way. Basically the Alaska Railroad builders were successful not because of government, but because of a lack of government interference. Reagan was correct. Get used to it.
As for forcing Amtrash back on the private sector railroads, I say go for it as long as they are free to do with it as they see fit. That includes completely destruction or a fire sale if they so choose. Of course that will never happen because the socialists will scream so loud that government will intervene and send the railroads right back to pre-Staggers. Which will do nothing but wreck the railroads and hand everything over to the trucking companies. Of course, socialists never think these things out to their logical conclusion. Which is part of the reason why they are socialists.
Hey Goosie, why don’t YOU apply for the positions of President and CEO since you are the expert. Knowing you, The Alaska Railroad will certainly go down the proverbial TOILET.
I do not want this posted, but I think it is about time that “Trains” stop providing a soapbox for Jeffery Guse as well as for those who are always arguing with him. I am getting real sick of it all and feel that it is time to set some rules or perhaps enforce those that you already have. It detracts from my enjoyment of this feature and it will never end as long as you are willing to publish this garbage.