Apparently Amtrak has statutory authority to carry mail and express traffic in it’s creation or founding documents. Did not know that until today.
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Why do you not cite the actual language?
Section 305.
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Back in the 90’s Amtrak was hauling extra cars that were picked up and/or dropped off a short distance from the Origin and Destination stations that were hauling Mail and Express.
The paying passengers got up in arms that their travel time was being increased so that Amtrak could handle this ‘freight’. The carriers Amtrak operated over also took legal actions against Amtrak for illegal competition.
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There were still some RPO routes when Amtrak took over. The last one ending around 1977.
Jeff
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Why would I even spend any time looking through that document? The citation was in a YouTube video and make by Amtrak President of Intercity Operations. Since that video is public and the guy was an actual railroader himself, I take the man at his word. However, the issue of railfans interpreting legal documents with no legal training is not a rabbit hole I would ever want to go down.
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He did not mention the lawsuits and it does not sound like that was even a legitimate argument. So I tend to think they were not an issue. He says he thinks some of that business is still there today. I believe it was in part II or part III of the videos below. Part 1 is where he goes over his railroad background prior to Amtrak which was mostly BN.
He was involved with the BN Powder River Basin operations, some interesting comments there in Part I. However, he kind of indicated the express traffic they hauled for the most part did not really compete with other railroads.
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The freight RRs (I don’t think they had a problem with Amtrak carrying mail, but) definitely had a problem with the express handled in Amtrak’s government subsidized material handling cars, which competed with their UPS/FedEx intermodal business. My recollection is that ATK felt the political pressure to exit that business.
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Because the claim could be substantiated there?
I am glad you saw fit to produce the source, though, which was the point of my response before I went and found the actual section.
Section 305 doesn’t appear to require much “legal expertise” to understand.
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I have stated this before in these Forums. If you can’t find something yourself and you put forward a decent effort to look. I don’t mind letting you know where I saw it. It is not my obligation to do that for you or anyone else. Your the guy with doubts, your obligation to search. I am here for casual discussion not to publish a thesis each time I choose to comment.
BTW, this is why we are where we are as a country. Too many people expecting someone else to do their dilligence.
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And I DID the dam diligence for you, and yet you were dismissive.
That is correct but not FOR ME, it was FOR YOU. You can review what I posted above more carefully. I already knew and accepted what I read was someone elses opinion which I accepted based on their industry background. Your the guy in doubt, you want to learn more search yourself that is your obligation as part of the critical thinking process. Not my job to do that for you, I accepted the source
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For God’s sake, it’s ‘you’re’.
Had you mentioned anything at all about your source, which turned out after pulling teeth for a while to be highly interesting, none of this would have come up. The issue surrounding M&E was of some interest in the railfan community when the MHCs were taken out of service, reportedly in part as the host railroads considered it ‘unlawful competition’ – something section 305 expressly contradicts.
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I thought there was Google and Gemini now?
I’m sure there are, but why anyone would go searching for some rando detail in an article that doesn’t mention it explicitly in any searchable sense, instead of going straight to the text of the enabling legislation, is something perhaps explained by generations younger than mine.
I took your word for it. If someone makes a claim that I want to know a bit more about, I raise the point in Google. It usually takes me right to the spot in a document. It is one of the benefits of AI.
OK, so I was under the presumption everyone was AI fluent by now. If you haven’t already then enable your Google Search to use Gemini enablement.
Then you only have to type: Does Amtrak have Statutory authority to ship mail and express? It would have answered:
Yes, Amtrak does have statutory authority to ship mail and express. 49 U.S. Code § 24305 explicitly grants Amtrak the authority to “acquire, operate, maintain, and make contracts for the operation and maintenance of equipment and facilities necessary for … the transportation of mail and express”. Additionally, 49 U.S. Code § 24306 reinforces this authority, stating that Amtrak shall take necessary action to increase its revenues from mail and express transportation.
While Amtrak has this authority, it’s worth noting that they are not currently actively involved in mail and express shipping. Amtrak’s Mail and Express division previously generated significant revenue, but in 2004, Amtrak announced it would let its U.S. Postal Service contracts expire, effectively ceasing mail transport. Amtrak Express shipping was also suspended, according to Amtrak’s website. However, the statutory authority to handle mail and express still exists.
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It generates source code now as well. So IT is fading out slowly.
I think my mistake above was thinking the Federal Government was slow in adopting it not realizing there might be people in the general public that have not taken advantage of it yet.
The entire Federal Government is moving to the cloud in a mega project that started 4 years ago which Biden started and forked over a ton of money for. Some chunks of the Federal Government are already using AI. Majority will be using AI in about 18 more months. They are also moving fairly fast to low code environments. You would be shocked how rapidly they can put together a complex website now. Used to take months and now it is down to a few weeks.
“Your” the guy who says he had no idea about section 305 before yesterday. Why would I search for something I’ve known perfectly well for many years? Why would you not tell the people here the context in which you had your belated epiphany?
Yes, the Cane interview is delightful to watch. It was my impression that the switching and handling costs were what wrecked the perceived profitability of the MHC operation. (As an aside, as a freshman I made something of a business out of forwarding student stuff home using Amtrak Package Express from Trenton, when much of the Amtrak M&E was still handled in baggage cars. It did not strike me as much of a real alternative to UPS, but that was still less than half a decade from Amtrak’s formation and I suspect they were still finding their way as an ongoing business…)
Ive blocked that Gemini crap on our phones.
Jeff
I don’t think much of AI either; it’s not even really an “artificial intelligence”!