-=> Quoting Ken Freeman to Lance Hillhouse <=-
 KF> Texas probably didn't loan them the money, they are no doubt doing the
 KF> same as other routes and funding the train themselves.  
       They did indeed loan Amtrak the money with some passenger
cars (former Santa Fe bilevels, I believe, as collateral).
       There has been an argument going on the RAILROAD list on
the Internet, or maybe it's the RAILSPOT list, as to what Texas
will do with the cars when Amtrak can't pay the loan back.
 KF> Doesn't make sense sometimes. My sister was saying that VRE was
 KF> talking about cutting fares to get riders back. Asked where they'd
 KF> gone, they have good service. Well, it seems they just opened up a
 KF> new commuter lane on I 95 into Washington that took some of the
 KF> riders away. Dumb. But people seem to look at the expenses in
 KF> different ways.  They view the cost of a monthly commuter ticket
 KF> as "too expensive" but then will pay for gas and parking for their
 KF> car and forget about the insurance, car payment and wear and tear.  
        Most people are going to have a car anyway, as they do more
in life than go back and forth to work, and so they will have the
car payment, and at least part of the insurance.
        Depreciation (by years) is usually a greater loser in the
trade-in value of the car than wear and tear.
--- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 
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