Alternative History #4

Scenario

Congress reluctantly decides to pay the 26 Class I railroads still running passenger trains rather than setting up Amtrak

Point of Departure

1970

Storyline

The funded routes get added frequencies over time--mostly after the Staggers Rail Act . That same 1980 law included a special provision that transferred corridors from the railroads to the states. Four years earlier, the Ford Administration ordered the USDOT to own the Northeast Corridor.

Today’s Likely Outcome

The only corridors anyone talks about are the long distance routes with multiple frequencies as the short distance routes are essentially nothing more than enhanced commuter rail routes that have been extended. There would have been little need for PRIIA because recent profits and enhancements to passenger service have drastically reduced the amount of subsidies Congress gives the Class I railroads.

Federal ownership results in the 457-mile Boston-to-Washington route means that improvements are done much faster. Tunnels, bridges, and tracks are rehabilitated and electrification are indications of what government can do.