Traveling by train is a throwback to an earlier age of travel when the major railroad companies such as Union Pacific, Santa Fe, Burlington & Northern, etc. proudly ran their crack streamliners. And trains such as The City of Los Angeles, the Super Chief, and the El Capitan crisscrossed the country. That was when the railroads handled both passenger and freight. As more and more demands were put on the rail system Congress felt it would be better if a passenger-only system was created and in 1971 Amtrak, a hybrid private company, (funded by the government) was formed. The railroads stuck to freight and Amtrak focused on the passenger-hauling business. Well, it wasn’t long before it dawned on Congress that a slight misstep had taken place. The major railroad companies owned the rails. And that’s the “rub,” as they say.

How this “rail ownership” affected passenger trains is illustrated by the following example. One of the more popular routes was Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and points beyond. With the lure of gambling, girls and shows, weekend travel in particular was tremendous. Freeways were jammed, flights were sold out and the train was crowded. Then, about 15 years ago, the trains stopped. The reason was that freight traffic on that route was so heavy it could no longer handle passenger service. What should have happened with the advent of Amtrak was the creation of a huge track-laying program so Amtrak could operate independently. Well it didn’t happen then it surely won’t happen now with construction and material cost soaring.