Amtrak is a public service, not a business

Regarding columnist Scott Burns' May 30 article (“Funding Amtrak - the 40-year train wreck”): Burns should have his license revoked before his ideas crash into a tree. His premise that Amtrak should make a profit like Southwest Airlines is nuts. Passenger rail service should be available as a public service, not just to be a business.

When are we going to learn that not everything in society should follow the business model? Especially transportation. Cities don't build subway systems to rack up stockholder profit. Light rail services connect urban centers to suburbs for accessibility, not for making money. We also need intercity rail service (Amtrak) to supplement our highway system. Transit systems, such as airlines and buses, that operate for profit wouldn't make any profits either if they had to build the publicly subsidized airports and highways on which they depend.

Amtrak is for the public benefit, so it must be affordable, even if ticket sales don't cover the cost of operation. Burns' suggestion that we turn Amtrak into a pricey Orient Express would serve the “1 percent” while the rest of us are forced onto overcrowded highways or into cramped economy seating on airplanes designed for profit.

Public services cost money. That's why we pay taxes. That's also why our for-profit airlines are an insult nowadays - they exist for profit, not service. Until Burns and his ilk understand this distinction, we'll continue to have a weak rail system that not enough people can use, even though they'd like to.

James Conger

Iowa City