This is an original compilation, Copyright © 2024 by Andrew K. Dart

First, here's an infomercial for Amtrak:
Don't Railroad Amtrak.  Passenger trains offer comfortable travel the middle class can afford.  On long-distance trains, most of which use Amtrak's double-decker Superliner cars, a reasonable coach fare gets you a better seat than domestic flights offer in first class.  You have a big window and interesting things to see from it.  You can look out, read, work, or nap, all with plenty of room.  You can get up and walk around, including to a lounge car with wraparound glass and, for now, to the dining car for a meal with real food.  The train can be social if you want it to be; it is easy to meet people.  If your trip is overnight, for a somewhat steeper fare, though usually less than first class by air, you can get a private room with a bed at night and a comfortable chair or sofa during the day.

My luggage was stolen on a train — what I've learned from this experience.  Cathleen Turner was aboard an Amtrak train traveling back to the Big Apple from Roanoke, Virginia when her post-Christmas spirits were soured:  Her luggage was stolen.  The New Yorker claims that an estimated $3,000 worth of personal belongings — including her high-end athletic apparel, beauty products and Christmas presents — were swiped from the overhead compartment while she snoozed between the Newark and Pennsylvania Station stops in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.  "I understand that everyone is responsible for their own belongings, but also it was a $200 ticket," Turner, 23, told The [New York] Post.  "This is not the subway, you know?" she added.

Amtrak conductor scolds passengers who called 911 during nightmare delay.  The Amtrak Auto Train departed the station about 20 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. in Lorton, Virginia at 5 pm Monday with 563 passengers, 333 vehicles and an unreported number of animals.  The 17-hour nonstop trip to Sanford, Florida, outside Orlando, was expected to arrive Tuesday morning around 10 am but had been waylaid in South Carolina when a freight train derailed in Lake City.  As reported by ABC News, "no injuries to the crew of the train and no hazardous materials" were involved in the two locomotive, 25 car derailment, but several tracks were blocked requiring Amtrak to reroute and, thanks to the delay, for the crew to timeout.  While passengers awaited the arrival of a fresh crew to resume transport, panic began to set in as the transport which left the station with approximately one and a half meals per passenger ran out of food and travelers were prohibited from stepping off the train.  ABC reporter Sam Sweeney reported on developments and shared a video from a passenger where a conductor can be heard asking passengers to stop calling 911.

Amtrak has big increase in ridership but still [is] not back to pre-pandemic levels.  Amtrak saw a big increase in ridership in fiscal year 2022 but is still at 72% of its peak pre-pandemic levels, according to data the transit company released.  The National Railroad Passenger Corporation — Amtrak's official name — is still not close to full recovery in ticket sales and food and beverage revenue.  Amtrak released fiscal year 2022 data that shows it is slowly recovering from the pandemic that severely impacted all forms of transit in the U.S. Ridership reached 32.5 million people in fiscal year 2019.  Once the pandemic hit in 2020, ridership dropped to 16.8 million and then dropped again in 2021 to 12.2 million.  In 2022, Amtrak saw its ridership jump to 22.9 million, an 88% increase.

California's $113 Billion Bullet Train to Nowhere.  In 1959, 14 years after Japanese officials surrendered ending WWII, Japanese officials committed to building a bullet train.  The roughly 320 miles of high-speed track was to run from Toyko to Osaka and was to coincide with the 1964 Olympics.  It opened just days before the Olympics at a cost of about 80 Million dollars.  Since then, Japan has built fast rail trains running from several prefectures with another line, from Tokyo to Nogawa and then Osaka, by 2027.  This next iteration of a bullet train will run at an astonishing 300 miles an hour.  It's astounding how efficient Japan's bullet trains are, and how safe.  In the 50 years, they have been running there have been no fatalities.  The fastest train in America is an Amtrak which tops out at around 100 MPH.  In a 14-year span, Amtrak had 222 deaths.

Amtrak's 10 highest earners raked in six-figure bonuses.  The 10 highest paid Amtrak executives raked in six-figure bonuses in 2021 — in one instance nearly doubling a senior-level executive's salary — despite the rail network struggling with low ridership and plummeting revenues, The [New York] Post has learned.  The top-earning employees received "earned incentive" bonuses of more than $200,000 each — more than 50% of their base salaries — according to figures obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and a statement from an Amtrak spokesperson.  The bonuses enraged the Transportation Workers Union that represents more than 1,000 Amtrak employees, which noted in a statement that the American taxpayer is, in part, footing the bill for the six-figure rewards.

Multiple people are feared dead after Amtrak train derails near Kansas City.  Missouri officials have declared a 'large fatality event' after a passenger train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago hit a dump truck that was blocking a public crossing and completely derailed on Monday [6/27/2022].  Three people are dead — including two on the train and one in the dump truck — after the train's eight cars and its two locomotives came off the tracks, officials with the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.  At least 50 people were injured in derailment, first responders told CNN.  At least nine patients were being taken to a University of Missouri Health Care hospital in Columbia, Missouri, about 90 miles away, several of them arriving by helicopter.

Amtrak [is] trying to seize control of DC's historic Union Station.  Amtrak is looking to take control of a historic train station in the nation's capital, with plans to make multiple investments in the location.  The railroad service sought control of the property interest owned by Union Station Investco, which has subleasing rights of the Washington, D.C., Union Station through 2084, in a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday.  Amtrak said it hopes to take over operations and management of the station to pursue multibillion-dollar investments to expand and repair the station, including a tunnel "in serious need of repair or replacement," according to the Washington Post.

Amtrak Asks TSA to Start Screening Rail Passengers Against Terrorist Watchlist for the First Time.  Amtrak has asked the TSA to start screening some of its passengers against the Terrorist Screening Database watchlist maintained by the Threat Screening Center to see if known or suspected terrorists have been riding the rails, according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security privacy impact document obtained by the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit.  A DHS Privacy Impact Assessment obtained by the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit reveals a rail passenger watchlist screening program[.]  The program, part of the Amtrak Rail Passenger Threat Assessment and which has not been previously reported, would compare personal passenger information from Amtrak — which may also later include a traveler's "publicly available social media" profiles viewed by DHS personnel — to the government's terrorist screening database.

Snow stalls Amtrak in Virginia, with unbelievably long delays.  Some passengers were enduring one of the worst trips ever Tuesday as winter weather continued to wreak havoc not only with road travel but also Amtrak trains, where stranded passengers said they were dealing with overflowing toilets and a lack of food.  Amtrak's Crescent, which left New Orleans on Sunday on its way to New York, got stuck north of Lynchburg, Virginia, on Monday morning, returned to Lynchburg and remained there until finally heading northbound again late Tuesday afternoon.  Officials said downed trees had been blocking the tracks.  Earlier Tuesday, passenger Sean Thornton said in a phone interview that the railroad was providing food, but toilets were overflowing and passengers were furious.  The Richmond, Virginia, resident was in a sleeping car with a private toilet, but he said coach passengers were suffering "a wretched, wretched experience" with cars reeking of overflowing toilets.

Despite High Vaccination Rate Amtrak Suspends Vaccine Mandate, The Background Tells A Story.  Reuters is reporting on an interesting dynamic within the vaccine mandate as it pertains to Amtrak.  Reading between the lines tells us something very specific about this vaccine mandate that we have discussed here, and it's starting to show.  The article itself points to how Amtrak is suspending their vaccine mandate as a result of the federal courts blocking enforcement of any mandate pending litigation.  From their perspective as a federal contractor, Amtrak is now in a position to cease the vaccine requirement until the legal issues are resolved.  However, there's an element touched upon that needs to be considered.

Amtrak Suspends Covid vaccine mandate and no longer plans to cut service next month.  U.S. passenger railroad Amtrak says it will temporarily suspend a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees and now no longer expects to be forced to cut some service in January.  In a memo to workers on Tuesday, Amtrak said it would allow employees who were not vaccinated to get tested on a weekly basis instead, citing litigation over President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate.  Currently, fewer than 500 active Amtrak employees are not in compliance, and 97.3 percent of the service's workers have gotten at least one shot, Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn said in the memo.

Amtrak CEO confirms service cuts due to Biden's vaccine mandate.  Amtrak's president admitted to Congress Thursday that its travelers will face service cuts and delays this winter as a consequence of President Biden's national vaccine mandate.  Stephen Gardner told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that Amtrak will reduce the number of trains traveling long distances once the mandate goes into effect.  "As part of addressing the challenges presented by COVID-19, Amtrak must comply with the federal mandate effective January 4, 2022, that employees of government contractors be fully vaccinated," Mr. Gardner said.  "However ... we anticipate that we will not initially have enough employees to operate all the trains we are currently operating when the federal mandate takes effect."  The service cuts could affect hundreds of thousands of travelers.  In 2018, 31.7 million passengers used Amtrak.

The Editor says...
Also in 2018, American Airlines handled 203.75 million passengers.

Amtrak train slams into semi-truck car hauler at Oklahoma railroad crossing.  Dramatic footage has captured the moment an Amtrak train slammed into a semi-truck car hauler at a railroad crossing near the Oklahoma-Texas border, sending cars flying into the air and leaving four people injured.  Amtrak Train 822, which runs through Fort Worth, Texas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was passing through Thackerville when it slammed into a tractor trailer that got stuck on the track.  The cars on the back of the trailer are sent flying and the rig disintegrates into a cloud of debris.  [Video clip]

DEA agent killed, two other law officers shot on Amtrak train in Tucson.  One law enforcement officer was killed and two others injured during a shooting on an Amtrak train in Tucson, Arizona, on Monday [10/4/2021], cops said.  The Sunset Limited Train 2 was traveling from Los Angeles to New Orleans when it arrived in Tucson around 7:40 a.m. local time, an Amtrak spokesman told The [New York] Post.  Two DEA agents were conducting a routine inspection of the train for anything suspicious while it was stopped when a man began firing on the officers, according to the Tucson Police Department.  Police had detained one suspect for questioning when a second man began shooting at the DEA officers before barricading himself in an area of the train.

Investigators probe deadly Amtrak derailment in Montana.  A team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board was at the site of an Amtrak derailment in north-central Montana that killed three people and left seven hospitalized Sunday [9/26/2021], officials said.  The westbound Empire Builder was en route from Chicago to Seattle when it left the tracks about 4 p.m. Saturday near Joplin, a town of about 200.

Three people are dead and 'well over' 50 are injured after Amtrak train carrying 141 passengers from Chicago to Seattle derails in Montana.  Three people are dead and more than 50 are injured after an Amtrak train carrying 141 passengers and 16 crew derailed in Montana on Saturday afternoon [9/25/2021].  Eight cars out of the 10 cars on Amtrak's Empire Builder 7/27 train derailed as it carried passengers from Chicago to Seattle, according to the Liberty County Sheriff's Office.  Two train cars reportedly separated and slid down a 30 foot embankment.  Police confirmed that three passenger[s] onboard died as a result of their injuries.

Amtrak Train Derails In Montana, 3 Dead, Dozens Injured.  Three people are dead and more than 50 are injured after an Amtrak train carrying 147 passengers and 13 crew derailed in Montana on Saturday afternoon [9/25/2021].  Seven cars out of the 10 cars on Amtrak's Empire Builder 7/27 train derailed as it carried passengers from Chicago to Seattle, according to the Liberty County Sheriff's Office.  Two train cars reportedly separated and slid down a 30 foot embankment.

Railways Receiving Billions From Infrastructure Bill Are 'Dying,' Experts Say.  A shiny passenger train racing across long empty stretches of American plains may be iconic, but it's an economic anachronism, experts say.  Even so, the Senate's infrastructure bill gives $66 billion toward the repair of Amtrak lines — nearly 60 cents to Amtrak for every dollar the bill put toward highways.  This figure doesn't reflect the way Americans actually travel, said Cato Institute senior fellow Randal O'Toole.  People drive 840 times more distance than they take Amtrak.  Passenger railroad use has steadily declined overall since 1920 except during World War II, O'Toole added.  The Interstate Commerce Commission predicted that inter-city passenger trains wouldn't exist by 1970.

9 Things You Need to Know About Biden's 'Infrastructure' Spending Plan.  [#8] Wasteful $165 billion handout for transit and Amtrak.  The plan would spend nearly 50% more on trains and buses than on roads.  This is despite the fact that transit agencies received far more money from COVID-19 legislation than they lost during the pandemic, despite transit and Amtrak already being heavily subsidized, despite telework changing the way we commute and travel, and despite transit and Amtrak being dwarfed by roads when it comes to what Americans use every day.  More importantly, the latest attempt to coax people onto Amtrak and mass transit ignores fundamental facts about geography and density.  America has one especially dense metro area (New York City) and one region where city-to-city rail is financially sustainable (the Boston to Washington Acela line).  No amount of taxpayer dollars will make trains and subways practical nationwide the way they sometimes are in denser parts of the world.  Amtrak's plan to expand service focuses on areas with low demand, which will require heavy annual subsidies to operate.

The rise and fall of Amtrak, which has been losing money since 1971.  [Scroll down]  Railroads' share of the travel market began to shrink drastically as the government began to incentivize road building and airport investments.  And by 1970, the last year that America's rail network was privately controlled in its entirety, the total miles traveled on trains had fallen to less than 100,000.  That's when the federal government stepped in to create what would become known as Amtrak.  Here's the history of America's passenger railroad, which has managed to lose money in every single one of the 48 years since its inception.

Amtrak is ending daily service to hundreds of stations.  Blame the coronavirus pandemic, the railroad says.  Amtrak is ending daily service to hundreds of stations outside the Northeast, and you can blame the coronavirus pandemic, the railroad said this week.  Starting Oct. 1, most Amtrak long-distance trains will operate three times a week instead of daily, the company said in a memo to employees Monday [6/15/2020].

Amtrak train stranded for more than 36 hours arrives at Oregon station.  A scenic Amtrak train journey felt more like a torturous trip on the Oregon Trail for nearly 200 passengers when the locomotive hit a tree Sunday — stranding them for some 40 hours.  The 1,377-mile Coast Starlight heavy-rail trip, from Los Angeles to Seattle, was meant to last about 35 hours total.  But trouble struck around 6:18 p.m.  Sunday [2/24/2019].  "Conditions further deteriorated with numerous track blockages from snow and fallen trees," Amtrak said in a statement.

In secret deal, tax-backed Amtrak pays for private railroads' screwups: report.  The Amtrak passenger rail line receives more than $1 billion in annual federal subsidies, but private railroads own 97 percent of the tracks upon which Amtrak trains travel.  As part of the relationship between the publicly financed passenger rail service and the private carriers, it's the tax-supported railroad that will typically foot the legal bill when accidents happen — even when a private railroad is at fault, the Associated Press reported.  So as federal investigators look at how crews from privately owned CSX routed an Amtrak train into a parked freight train in Cayce, S.C., last weekend, tax-supported Amtrak will likely end up paying crash victims' legal claims with public money — even if CSX should bear sole responsibility for the accident, AP reported.

Even when not at fault, Amtrak can bear cost of accidents.  Federal investigators are still looking at how CSX railway crews routed an Amtrak train into a parked freight train in Cayce, South Carolina, last weekend.  But even if CSX should bear sole responsibility for the accident, Amtrak will likely end up paying crash victims' legal claims with public money.  Amtrak pays for accidents it didn't cause because of secretive agreements negotiated between the passenger rail company, which receives more than $1 billion annually in federal subsidies, and the private railroads, which own 97 percent of the tracks on which Amtrak travels.  Both Amtrak and freight railroads that own the tracks fight to keep those contracts secret in legal proceedings.

The major issue plaguing accident-prone Amtrak.  Four mishaps in four months, three fatal, would be evidence that America's national railroad is failing — except that America doesn't have a national railroad.  Amtrak runs its trains across a motley collection of fragmented tracks owned by freight railroads and commuter railroads.  That means it has no consistent control over keeping people safe when it comes to crossings and speed, the biggest causes of crashes.  The first crash killed three Amtrak passengers right before Christmas in Washington state.  There, the regional commuter railroad, Sound Transit, had built new tracks that allowed for higher speeds — but opened up the tracks before it finished installing technology that automatically governs speed when a human operator has failed to do so.  In that case, the Amtrak train was going nearly three times the legal speed limit when it derailed on an overpass, falling to a highway below.

Armed man pulled brake on Amtrak train in Nebraska, authorities say.  An alleged white supremacist who attended a deadly rally in Charlottesville, Va., last year faces federal charges after trying to wreck an Amtrak train in Nebraska, authorities said.  Taylor Michael Wilson, 26, of St. Charles, Mo., entered a secure area of an Amtrak passenger train Oct. 22, toyed with the controls and applied the emergency brake — sending passengers lunging and knocking out electrical power, according to a criminal complaint filed in a U.S. District Court in Lincoln, Neb.  The filing of terrorism charges was first published in the Lincoln Journal Star last week.  Two Amtrak conductors detained Wilson on the train until police arrived, authorities said.  One conductor said Wilson taunted them, saying, "What are you going to do, shoot me?"

The more we learn about Amtrak derailment the stranger it gets.  As a retired National Transportation Safety Board railroad and rapid transit accident investigator, the more I hear about the Dec. 18 derailment of Washington state Sound Transit Cascades Train 501, the stranger it gets.  Confirmed "facts" seem to be very few so far.  The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the accident, which killed three people and injured more than 50 others, and is still trying to determine the probable cause and prevent such accidents in the future.  People have an innate need to know, particularly with unexpected public transportation accidents as part of their own sense of security and trust.  The sooner we know, the better.

Another Accident That Could Have Been Avoided on Government-subsidized Amtrak.  The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reports that the Amtrak train that derailed on Monday [12/18/2017] on its way to Portland from Seattle was going 80 mph on a 30 mph track.  Sadly, Amtrak derailments are not particularly unusual and the transportation system has long been known for its incompetence and "weak safety culture," which brings up the question, why does the government continue to subsidize Amtrak?

Excessive Speed May Have Caused Amtrak Train Derailment.  U.S. federal investigators say a train that derailed Monday in the northwestern U.S. state of Washington was traveling at 129 kilometers per hour on a stretch of track where the speed limit was 48 kilometers per hour.  The train went off the tracks on a curve south of Seattle, sending some of its cars onto a busy interstate highway below and killing at least three passengers.

Amtrak train was traveling at 80 mph in 30 mph zone, NTSB says.  An Amtrak train that derailed Monday during its inaugural ride on a new line in Washington state was traveling at 80 mph in a 30 mph zone, the National Transportation Safety Board said, citing data recorder information.  Bella Dinh-Zarr, an NTSB board member, said at a news conference late Monday that information from the data recorder in the rear locomotive provided information about the train's speed.  At least three people were killed in the derailment, and more than 70 others were taken to a hospital for medical treatment, police said.

Amtrak forced woman to remove 'Love trumps hate' button before boarding train, passenger claims.  Amtrak has found itself in the middle of a political controversy after an employee allegedly told a passenger she had to remove her pin.  Melissa Stone was boarding a train traveling to Seattle from Chicago on Friday afternoon [10/27/2017] with her partner, Chase McClure.  The pair were making the 45-hour trip to Washington to celebrate their 10th anniversary.  But when Stone tried to board, an Amtrak employee stopped her and asked her to remove her "Love trumps hate" pin before getting on the train, she claims.

The Editor says...
The real news here is that it takes two full days to ride from Chicago to Seattle.

Two killed by Amtrak train in Washington, D.C..  Two people were struck and killed by an Amtrak train near Union Station in Washington, D.C., the city's fire department reported.  Amtrak Train 175 was approaching the train station late Tuesday as it traveled from Boston and New York.  It struck two unidentified people at 11:20 p.m. who appeared to be trespassing on the track, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said.

Brandon Bostian, Amtrak engineer, charged over fatal 2015 derailment in Philly.  Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced charges against engineer Brandon Bostian this week exactly two years to the day after Amtrak 188 derailed in Philly en route to New York City from Washington, D.C., killing eight people onboard and injuring over 200 others.  Mr. Bostian, 33, faces one count of involuntary manslaughter for each fatality as well as causing or risking a catastrophe, a second-degree felony that carries a maximum punishment of 10 years behind bars, prosecutors said Friday [5/12/2017].

Judge orders prosecutors to charge Amtrak engineer in deadly crash.  A Philadelphia judge has ordered prosecutors to charge the speeding Amtrak engineer involved in a 2015 derailment that killed eight people and injured about 200, days after they declined to do so.  Municipal Court Judge Marsha Neifield on Thursday ordered the arrest of engineer Brandon Bostian on involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges. [...] Amtrak has taken responsibility for the crash and agreed to pay $265 million to settle related claims.

Video captures Amtrak train blasting waiting passengers with snow.  An Amtrak train made a dramatic entrance when it pulled into a station this week.  While arriving in Rhinecliff, New York, the train plowed through heavy snow on the tracks next to the platform.  Dramatic video shows snow flying everywhere and hitting those waiting for the train.

Amtrak's lounge car complaints are the ██████ of the ██████.  Last June, MuckRock user Conor Skelding requested all complaints Amtrak received regarding its lounge cars over the past two years.  Last week, after nine months of processing, the responsive docs finally came in, and boy, those must have been a busy nine months. [...] But the real star here is the amazing redactions — who'd a thunk it, but Amtrak's has black highlighter game that'd make the CIA jealous.

Amtrak engineer was distracted by his radio transmissions moments before train derailed, killing eight and injuring 200.  An official briefed by investigators says an Amtrak engineer was distracted by radio transmissions before his train derailed in Philadelphia last year, killing eight people.

Engineer blamed for deadly Amtrak crash.  [Engineer Brandon] Bostian told investigators after the wreck that he remembered radio traffic from a Philadelphia commuter train operator who said a rock had shattered his windshield.  He was monitoring the radio traffic until about a minute before his Amtrak train reached 106 mph, and at one point passed the commuter train on an adjoining track, investigators said.  The engineer's acceleration would have made sense for someone who thought he had already passed the curve, NTSB investigator Steve Jenner said.  After the curve, the tracks open up into a straightaway with a speed limit of 110 mph.

Amtrak sues Kansas feed yard over train derailment.  In the suit filed Friday [4/8/2016] by Amtrak and BNSF, the plaintiffs allege Cimarron Crossing Feeders failed to notify the railroad or law enforcement after one of the company's trucks slammed into the railroad road bed and displaced the tracks by more than a foot.  The train carrying 131 passengers and 14 crew was travelling from Los Angeles to Chicago when it derailed shortly after midnight along a straight stretch of tracks in flat farmland near Cimarron, a small community about 160 miles west of Wichita.  Eight cars derailed and four of them ended up on their sides.

At least 32 reported injured after Amtrak train derails in Kansas.  An engineer noticed a significant bend in a rail ahead and hit the emergency brakes before a passenger train derailed in western Kansas, a government official told the Associated Press.  Amtrak said 32 people were taken to hospitals for treatment and that 29 had been released by late morning [3/14/2016].  The U.S. official who was briefed on the investigation into the early Monday derailment of the Amtrak train said the train appeared to have been traveling at about 75 miles [per hour] when the engineer pulled the emergency break [sic].

Feds paid Amtrak worker to spy on passengers.  The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration inappropriately paid an Amtrak employee more than $850,000 over 20 years to provide information on passengers who may be smuggling drugs, according a report from the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General.  The OIG also released a separate report saying the DEA arranged to pay a government airport screener to act as a confidential source.  The screener, however, never provided information of any value to the DEA.

Federal Fumbles 2015.  Amtrak has an expensive appetite.  Its food and beverage services operate at major losses each year, requiring taxpayers to pick up the difference.  From 2006 through 2012, Amtrak suffered $609 million in direct losses from these services alone.  While Amtrak lost $105.2 million in 2006 on these services, by 2012 losses were down to only $72 million.  While the trend is headed in the right direction, the Amtrak IG identified some areas Amtrak has yet to truly address.  For example 99 percent of revenue losses can be attributed to long distance routes.  Despite knowing this and despite a requirement that food and beverage service not be provided at a loss, the company has yet to adjust the service level on these routes to meet rider demands.  Amtrak also continues to staff at regular levels during seasons when ridership is traditionally low.  Moreover, food and beverage staff are required to report to work one to five hours before departure time despite staff not needing that amount of time to perform required duties prior to leaving.  All of this suggests that Amtrak does not fully understand its staffing needs, which leads to taxpayers unnecessarily picking up the tab for riders' meals.

Riders livid as power problems cause more Amtrak delays.  Power problems caused delays for Amtrak trains running between Washington, D.C. and Boston and for commuter lines into New York City on Friday [7/24/2015] and Saturday, leaving thousands of riders livid and transit officials apologizing for the fourth such problem in a week.  The rail power issue added to a summer that has seen delays of a half-hour or more for New Jersey Transit riders about once every three working days, according to a review of the agency's messages to commuters.

Amtrak Employees Claimed to Work 40 Hours Per Day.  Timesheets for employees of Amtrak are riddled with abuse, according to a recent audit report, with cases of workers claiming over 40 hours of work in a single day.  The audit released by Amtrak's Office of Inspector General (OIG) Thursday [6/18/2015] found examples of abuse in the overtime system, which totaled nearly $200 million in overtime pay last year.  "[Calendar Year] CY 2014 timesheet data revealed trends and patterns that indicate potential fraud, waste, and abuse in the reporting of overtime and regular time," the audit said.  "Some of these trends and patterns may be justified because of the complexity of union agreement rules, the nature of jobs, and the functions employees perform."

Does Amtrak really need more money?  According to the Congressional Budget Office, taxpayers have thrown $45 billion dollars into Amtrak since its inception in 1977.  In 2014, Amtrak's revenues totaled $3.2 billion, against expenses of $4.2 billion, for an operating loss of $1.1 billion.  Maybe thats because Amtrak loses more than 70 million dollars a year on food service alone — selling overpriced snacks to a captive audience.

It takes 12 hours to ride from Dallas to Hope, Arkansas.
An Amtrak Experience: May 22-23, 2015.  Being accustomed to air travel, I expected a moderate level of service.  We didn't get it.  If you wanted something to eat or drink, it was up to you to go to the lounge car, wherever that was — there were no signs or directions — and get it yourself.  Around midnight, I asked the steward for a blanket and pillow.  He said he didn't think there were any available.  I never saw him again. [...] As I said, the ride was essentially comfortable.  It's just that it took a long time, and there weren't any efforts made to make it more pleasant by friendly and competent personnel.

Is Amtrak America's money pit?  Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are calling for change in the wake of this week's deadly Amtrak crash in Philadelphia that claimed eight lives and injured more than 200 passengers.  They argue Amtrak has been a black hole for taxpayer money for decades — and say despite receiving federal grants every year, the U.S. taxpayer-supported passenger railroad, is hemorrhaging money.  Of its 44 routes, 41 lose money.  Fifteen routes lost $600 million in 2013.  Last year alone, Amtrak lost tens of millions of dollars on food and beverage service despite cost cutting measures.

Why Fund Amtrak? Because All Must Serve The Capitol.  As the official investigation has released actual information, it seems likely that the real cause was excessive speed:  the train was traveling at more than 100 miles per hour as it entered a tight curve where the safe limit was 50 miles per hour.  How is more government spending supposed to prevent this kind of operator error?

Obama Failed to Appoint Railroad Chief.  Government spending boosters using the Philadelphia train derailment tragedy to demand more money for Amtrak might want to ask the White House why President Obama has failed for 127 days to even nominate an administrator for the Federal Railroad Administration, instead leaving in charge as "acting" chief a 37-year-old Obama loyalist who reportedly has little substantial railroad experience.

Amtrak is a Government Failure.  Far from an example of fiscal neglect, Amtrak serves as a cautionary tale for too much government.  It constantly loses money and is heavily subsidized despite serving a tiny ridership, providing just 0.14 percent of total passenger traffic in 2012 compared to 87 percent for highways and 12 percent for airlines.  A major reason Amtrak is not more widely used is that it's very expensive.  Airfares averaged 13.8 cents per passenger mile in 2012, while Amtrak averaged 33.9 cents.  And that's despite very generous subsidies that have at certain times exceeded $100 per passenger.  Between 2010 and 2012, Amtrak received $4.4 billion in federal aid, and it has benefited from a whopping $45 billion over the last 44 years.  Not only is it still not profitable, but its expectations are so low that Amtrak bragged about a $227 million operating loss for fiscal year 2014.

Amtrak Train Crash Victims Face $200 Million Injuries Cap.  There are many questions surrounding Tuesday's Amtrak crash.  The amount of money victims could receive for injuries isn't one of them as federal law caps total rail-accident damages at $200 million.  Congress established the limit in 1997 on all rail accidents, not just Amtrak, as part of a compromise to bail out the ailing railroad.

What Amtrak Spends Its Money On.  Almost every dime of ticket revenue is spent on personnel — salaries, benefits, bonuses, etc.  Amtrak can't be bothered to finish up a safety system on time.  But did Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman ever miss a nickel of his $350,000-a-year salary?  No.  Did Amtrak fail to pay employee bonuses?  No — in fact, it paid bonuses to people who weren't even eligible for them, and then refused to rescind them once it was pointed out that they were unauthorized.  So Amtrak took care of Amtrak's priorities, just like every other government agency.  But Amtrak's priorities are not its customers' priorities.

The Train-Wreck Ghouls.  Mere hours after Train 188 from Washington to New York City jumped the rails and killed eight, the Democrat spin machine stood atop the wreckage and cranked up its familiar rant about Republican neglect of America's infrastructure.  The Washington Post's Philip Bump opened with a piece Wednesday morning [5/13/2015] assailing Republicans for Amtrak's "funding problems" (it was chartered as a for-profit agency, directed again by Congress to turn a profit in 1997, has never seen a drop of black ink and has soaked up some $45 billion in the four decades since inception) on the basis that Republicans don't ride its trains.

The rancid drive to exploit the Amtrak tragedy.  [Scroll down]  Yet some rushed to exploit the disaster.  Democrats immediately blamed the GOP for "endangering passengers" by failing to fund repairs of "crumbling infrastructure."  In fact, infrastructure now seems to be less and less a factor:  The train was going 106 mph on a curve whose speed limit is 50.

DEA paid Amtrak $854,460 for passenger lists it could have gotten for free.  The Drug Enforcement Administration paid an Amtrak secretary $854,460 over nearly 20 years to obtain confidential information about train passengers, which the DEA could have lawfully obtained for free through a law enforcement network, The Associated Press has learned.

Update:
DEA payments to Amtrak employee being investigated.  The announcement by Jay Lerner, a spokesman for the IG's office, follows the disclosure by Amtrak's inspector general that DEA paid an Amtrak secretary $854,460 over nearly 20 years to obtain confidential information about train passengers that the drug-fighting agency could have lawfully obtained for free through a law enforcement network.

Amtrak train leaves Penn Station for Washington, D.C., without its passengers.  An Amtrak train bound for Washington pulled away from Penn Station on Saturday without some pretty important cargo:  its passengers.  Scores of travelers were stranded after the Acela Express 2253 took off from one platform about 3 p.m. — while they were waiting at another and unaware the train was leaving them behind.  Several minutes passed before the passengers even got wind of what had happened, one told the [New York] Daily News.

Hundreds of Passengers Rescued After Night on Frozen Amtrak Trains.  Hundreds of Amtrak passengers were rescued today [1/7/2014] after spending a bone-chilling cold night stranded on board three Amtrak trains that were crippled by snow and ice outside of Chicago.  More than 500 passengers who were affected by the delay are expected to arrive in Chicago this afternoon, likely on charter buses nearly 20 hours after the got stuck, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari told ABC News.  The trains were halted late Monday [1/6/2014] near Mendota, about 90 miles west of Chicago.

Amtrak Food Costs are Off the Rails, Congressman Says.  Amtrak trains featuring gourmet menus in their café cars are losing more than $400 per passenger ticket, and a leading House Republican wants an investigation.  "With a $72 million food service loss in 2012, it's time for Congress to stem the financial bleeding from chef-inspired gourmet meals on Amtrak's money losing routes," said Rep. John Mica, former chairman of the House Transportation Committee.

Riding that Train.  In Washington there are two kinds of government expenditures.  Those that are too small to sweat and those that are too large to do anything about.  An example of something too large would be Medicare.  In the too small category, there is Amtrak, which gets a billion or so in subsidies every year.  In Washington, that is chump change. Not worth the trouble it would take to pry it from the clenched fingers of those who receive it.  Still, some Republicans in Congress are making the effort.  And, unsurprisingly, Democrats and Amtrak officials are resisting.

The Osprey, Indispensable for Future War Plans.  Before long, the grounded V-22 Osprey fleet may be back in the air.  Air Force Special Operations Command touched off the speculation last week, when they announced that ongoing safety reviews have identified the mechanical part failure that caused the November 29 crash of a CV-22 in route to Okinawa, Japan.  Lieutenant General Tony Bauernfeind, Commander, Air Force Special Operations Command also said "there is a strong desire to return to fly because this is a capability we want to have."  You know the story so far.  The Air Force stood down all its CV-22s in December, and the Marine Corps, Navy and Japan Self Defense Force also issued grounding bulletins.  In the case of the CV-22, the Air Force determined quickly that the cause was mechanical, and not pilot error.  The Air Force and contractor team set to work immediately to evaluate options.  In early January, divers recovered the black box of the CV-22 from the seas off Japan.

Pentagon gives green light to resume V-22 Osprey flights after deadly crash.  The Pentagon cleared the V-22 Osprey to fly again on Friday after they had been under scrutiny since a November crash near Japan that killed eight U.S. servicemembers.  A preliminary Air Force investigation identified a material failure in a V-22 component, leading to the grounding of all V-22s on Dec. 6.  During the grounding, the Pentagon formulated mitigation controls that eventually led to the hybrid aircraft's return to service.  Those controls include changes in maintenance and procedures with the Navy, Marines and Air Force, which all use the aircraft, implementing their own return-to-use plans.

Osprey Military Craft Grounded.  [Video clip only.]

With Ospreys grounded, Navy surges last squadron of legacy C-2A Greyhounds.  The US Navy is surging its last remaining C-2A Greyhound squadron to support carrier operations in US 5th and 7th Fleets, according to a Navy spokeswoman, a move that comes as its successor aircraft, the CMV-22B, remains grounded.  "Fleet Logistics Support (VRC) Squadron 40 located in Norfolk, Virginia is the last C-2 Greyhound squadron in the U.S. Navy.  There are a total of 15 C-2 Greyhounds still in service to support logistics and personnel transfers on the East and West Coasts, as well as deployed aircraft carriers in U.S. 5th and 7th Fleets," said Cmdr.  Beth Teach, a spokeswoman for commander of naval air forces.

US Air Force Osprey crew members killed in crash off the coast of Japan.  The identities of eight crew members killed when a US Air Force Osprey aircraft crashed last week off southwestern Japan have been revealed.  A search team recovered three members and located the remains of three others, while still searching for the two missing bodies, authorities said Tuesday.  'The depth of sorrow is immeasurable,' Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, Air Force Special Operations Commander, said in a statement announcing the names of the crew.

Japan grounds its V-22 Ospreys, calls for US to ground theirs after fatal crash off Japanese island.  Japan took the extraordinary step today of asking the US to ground its V-22 Osprey fleet, a day after one of the American tiltrotors assigned to a special operations wing crashed off the Japanese coast, reportedly killing at least one of eight on board.  Japan, which grounded its own Osprey fleet, asked for a halt of all non-emergency American V-22 flights over its territory until "their safety is confirmed," with the request coming from Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokzu Matsuno, one of Japan's highest officials.  A senior defense ministry official, Taro Yamato, told a hearing at the Japanese Diet today that Japan plans to suspend flights of its 14 aircraft temporarily.  A planned training flight Thursday at the Metabaru army camp in southern Japan, for instance, had already been canceled.  One US Osprey has continued to perform search and rescue duty, as the remaining crew are reportedly still missing.

Awkward syntax in original:  Likely an automatic translation.
US' Osprey V-22 Military Aircraft Makes Emergency Landing in Japan - Reports.  A US's V-22 Osprey military aircraft has made an emergency landing in the civil airport in the Japanese city of Oita, a Japanese broadcaster reported on Saturday, adding that no one was injured in the incident.  The plane landed at the airport 15 minutes after the landing request and the reasons for the emergency are not yet known.  However, there were partial delays in takeoffs and landings of civilian flights after the incident due to the need to inspect the runway, the broadcaster added.  Any information regarding the Osprey aircraft is of utmost interest to the Japanese, as society does not trust the planes due to numerous crashes and incidents, the broadcaster said.

3 Marines killed, 5 in serious condition after aircraft crash in Australia.  Three U.S. Marines were killed and five were in serious condition after an Osprey aircraft crashed in Australia during "routine" military exercises, the Marine Corps and authorities in the country said.  The aircraft was carrying 23 personnel when it crashed in a remote area of Melville Island, off the coast of Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory, around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday local time, the Marine Rotational Force-Darwin said in a statement.  The five seriously injured Marines were taken to Royal Darwin Hospital.  The cause of the crash is unknown and will be investigated, the statement said.

Three U.S. Marines Killed, 20 Injured After Osprey Plane Crash in Australia.  Three U.S. Marines died Sunday after their Osprey aircraft came down during war games on a remote tropical island on the northern tip of Australia.  Another 20 were injured with five flown to a hospital in a "serious condition."  Twenty-three personnel were on board a fully loaded Bell MV-22B Osprey when it crashed on Melville Island, 30 miles off the coast from Darwin, capital of the Northern Territory.

Air Force Grounds Osprey Fleet Indefinitely After Recent 'Safety Incidents'.  Air Force Special Operations Command has stopped all flights for its entire fleet of CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, citing safety issues over the last two months.  Lt. Gen. Jim Slife, head of Air Force Special Operations Command, on Tuesday ordered the stand-down of the service's 52 Ospreys "due to an increased number of safety incidents," according to an emailed statement.

5 Marines killed in Southern Calif.  Osprey aircraft crash.  Five marines were declared dead after a transport aircraft crash in Southern California.  The Marine Corps confirmed the news Thursday morning [6/9/2022].  On Wednesday, local and federal firefighters responded to the scene after the Osprey aircraft went down during a training exercise in a remote area, some 115 miles east of San Diego.

Lego cancels V-22 Osprey kit after anti-war group wages 'Love Bricks!  Hate War!' campaign.  An anti-war group has successfully tanked Lego's plans to sell its take on the iconic V-22 Osprey.  German Peace Society — United War Resisters (DFG-VK) recently started a "Love Bricks!  Hate War!" campaign against the Bell/Boeing-inspired toy and found a receptive ear with the top brass at Lego.  At issue is the company's 2010 pledge to "avoid realistic weapons and military equipment."

The Editor says...
The V-22, speaking of the real thing, isn't a realistic weapon.  I'm still surprised any pilot can get a V-22 off the ground, to say nothing of landing it safely.

Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey.  The U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey on recent deployment and training exercises.  [Photos]

Melania Trump makes first lady history with ride in Osprey.  Melania Trump made history Wednesday by flying in a V-22 Osprey aircraft and onto the deck of an aircraft carrier.

Marine Corps arms Osprey, tests guns, rockets and missiles.  The Marine Corps is now arming its Osprey tiltrotor aircraft with a range of weapons to enable its assault support and escort missions in increasingly high-threat combat environments.  Rockets, guns and missiles are among the weapons now under consideration, as the Corps examines requirements for an "all-quadrant" weapons application versus other possible configurations such as purely "forward firing" weapons.

Corps Identifies 3 Marines Killed in Tragic Osprey Crash Off Australia.  Two Marine aviators and an infantryman were killed when an MV-22 Osprey went down Aug. 5 into the waters off the coast of Queensland, Australia, officials announced Monday evening [8/7/2017].  As dive teams continue to recover debris from the site of the crash, the service has identified the three Marines lost in the tragedy.

Search called off for 3 US Marines who crashed off Australia.  U.S. military officials called off a search and rescue operation on Sunday [8/6/2017] for three U.S. Marines who were missing after their Osprey aircraft crashed into the sea off the east coast of Australia while trying to land.

First MV-22 Osprey with 3-D Printed Parts Takes Flight.  The first MV-22 Osprey with 3-D-printed parts recently took flight, the Navy announced.  The aircraft made by Textron Inc.'s Bell Helicopter unit and aerospace giant Boeing Co. performed a hover during a July 29 demonstration at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, the service said in a statement.  The Osprey was equipped with a titanium link and fitting inside an engine nacelle, thus marking the "first successful flight demonstration of a flight critical aircraft component built using additive manufacturing techniques," according to the Navy, which released video of the demonstration on YouTube.

One Marine killed and 21 others hospitalized after MV-22 Osprey crashes during training exercise in Hawaii.  One Marine has been killed and a further 21 have been hospitalized after the Marine Corps Osprey they were flying in crashed and exploded into flames [5/17/2015] during a training exercise in Hawaii.  The soldiers were traveling in the tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey — which can take off and land like a helicopter but has airplane-style wings — when the aircraft experienced a 'hard-landing mishap'.