A "tin foil hat" mentality assumption that is _not_ supported by the facts of history.
The Penn Central Railway, just to name one example, ran so well "by itself", that it drove itself into bankruptcy, and liquidation. The vast sums that they lost on passenger rail service were a direct contributing factor.
Amtrak came into existence as a _bail-out_ of the private railroad companies.
The government had, 'forever', required railroads to provide passenger service, at 'regulated' rates. Unfortunately, the rates they were allowed to charge for seats were _not_ adequate to cover the cost of operating the passenger trains.
Thus, passenger rail service became more and more of a 'drag', and 'red ink' source, to the railroads. Other Government programs -- including the Interstate Highway System -- exacerbated the money-losing situation.
Yet, a _national_ passenger rail service was 'in the national interest'.
Railroads were faced with the dilemma of continuing to run the _required_ money-losing passenger services, and being driven into bankruptcy, *or* of getting the situation changed, somehow.
AMTRAK was formed to 'rescue' the railroads from that bankruptcy scenario.
In return for letting the railroads 'off the hook' for those 'required' passenger services, the government got the right to run passenger trains 'at cost' over the various railroad's tracks.
The railroads had to "buy into" this program. It was *OPTIONAL* -- several railroads _did_, in fact, choose *not* to participate in the AMTRAK program. (The Rock Island RR, for one.) Those who did not 'buy into' the AMTRAK program were required to _continue_ running their required passenger services, themselves.
Rock Island's decision not to 'go Amtrak' was a signficant factor in that RRs subsequent bankruptcy and liquidation.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Whatever you say ... all I know is that the few times I have ridden on a long-haul train ride (1948, 1950, 1952, and 1968?) the trains were very nice, _non-government_ operated, etc.In 1948 my mother and maternal grandmother and myself went from Coffeyville, KS to Dearborn Street Station in Chicago. I was too young to remember a lot about that trip but I recall being impressed, perhaps because I was six years old. In 1950 I was sent on the train by myself to visit my paternal grandparents who lived here in Independence (and two weeks later, back to Chicago). I remember more about that trip, since I was 8 years old. I recall I wanted to go exploring on the train and I walked around with the conductor looking in all the cars. The conductor let me ride with him in a car that was full of newspapers and magazines; every now and then the conductor would look at some listing he had and pick up a bundle of newspapers which were tied together with twine. As the train slowed down but did not stop he would tell me to go sit down where I would not get hurt and he would take a bundle of the newspapers (Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Herald-American) and looking out the open door of that car, he would toss a bundle of papers to some man or woman sitting in a truck at the side of the track, who would pick them up, put them in their truck and drive away as we were speeding up and pulling away also. Or maybe that was 1952, I just do not remember that well.
In the late 1950's and early 1960's when my maternal grandparents lived in Whiting, Indiana if I had been staying with them I would 'commute' to work each day at the U of C. switchboard/phone room, and I would ride the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend train into Chicago at the 63rd Street Station, and the fare was 75 cents as I recall from Hammond to 63rd Street, a 40 minute ride. We called it the "Orange Train" and it was a very comfortable ride; always on time. In about 1968 I took a friend of mine with me to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and we rode Illinois Central 'City of New Orleans' each way. Two things I distinctly remember about that trip were the train pulled out each day from Chicago at 3:30 PM. About 3:15 or so, in the Central Station in Chicago, they would always begin playing that song "City of New Orleans" on the loud speaker, and the lady in the ticket office would say "Its time to start the show, folks! Please walk out track 3 and meet the staff of employees who will operate the train." And as that music played, we all walked out to the train. _That_ was an especially wonderful trip. My friend and I had drinks and dinner in the club car, then spent the evening alternatly between the observation car and our private suite, with stops in the club car coming and going, of course. We got in at 10 the next morning. We stayed in New Orleans about three or four days. The railroads all did okay without government help, IMO.
The only _bad_ experience I had on a train was about 1972, again an Illinois Central Suburban Train. You may have read about it in the newspapers at the time. The train was supposed to stop at 27th Street on the way downtown, he 'overshot' the station by some distance, I think about 150 feet, and decided to back up into the station. That was one of the newer trains they had recently put in service; we wound up getting smacked by another train also coming north on the same track. With a loud 'thud' I saw my coffee spill out of its cup and onto my trousers. As we sat there, I got up to look around; the two cars behind us were flattened like accordions, 200 plus people were killed in our train. _I_ got up and walked off! In fact, on the train platform right there close was one of the old fashioned fire department 'call boxes'. I pulled the lever on it, then just walked away and got a Yellow Cab out on the street nearby, but _they_ (railroad employees) found me later at work; I got subpoened to go to the railroad safety inspector's hearing on the matter a month or so later. My picture was in the paper (Chicago Daily News) and all that, and quite a story about me and how I got up and walked away from the mess. PAT]