Buying 40 ACELA cars as a small stand alone order was uneconomical from the start and that plan should never had gotten this far. If the ACELA is “profitable” as Amtrak claims, then shouldn’t those “profits” finance the purchase of these new cars? Again Amtrak is ignoring the most crowded trains on its system with the highest fares which are the Long Distance Trains particularly on the Sleepers. With the Bi-level car order in place for regional corridor service, Amtrak could still get a good deal on new cars to add sleepers and coaches with this order on the Long Distance Superliner Trains. Adding 1 or 2 sleepers and coaches to existing trains would greatly increase the revenue from the Superliner Trains. The added revenues can be used to finance leasing for the new cars. This is how most commercial transportation finance new equipment. NB

December 17, 2012 Part 1  December 17, 2012 Part 2

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