By David Briginshaw, International Railway Journal; September 2, 2019
AMTRAK was set up in 1971 as a quasi-public corporation to save the US inter-city passenger industry from extinction following two decades of accelerating decline. Many of the surviving medium and long-distance passenger services were incorporated into a new national network which largely survives today.
From the outset, Amtrak has been a political football at the mercy of battles in Congress over its annual funding budget which has brought it close to the brink on a few occasions. Despite its roller-coaster hand-to-mouth existence, Amtrak has survived and nearly 50 years later is on course to breakeven next year.