By Frank N. Wilner, Capitol Hill Contributing Editor, Railway Age Magazine; November 14, 2018
From the November 2018 issue of Railway Age: Were Amtrak a business school case study, it would be advertised as “The Failure of Public Enterprise”—users receiving services for which they don’t pay the full cost; taxpayers subsidizing the difference; a failure to follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), as if Bernie Madoff were Amtrak’s chief accountant, and conflict of interest collaboration with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to impede entry by more efficient private-sector competitors. 
The Amtrak subsidy is no small sum, and actually considerably greater than the advertised $1 billion annual average federal transfer Amtrak has enjoyed since its creation by Congress 48 years ago.
Click here to read the full story. Be sure and read the accompanying opinion article by Robert VanderClute found with the same link as the story above.