EXECUTING RICHARD NIXON'S PRIME DIRECTIVE?

There's a school of thought in ferroequinology that Amtrak was set up to fail: it would be sold to the masses as a quasi-public, for profit corporation that would devote the best of the existing rolling stock to continuing service on some of the existing passenger train routes, and it might have quietly expired a few years later had the 1973 oil embargo not gotten passengers interested in trains.  That's despite the early efforts to experiment, for example with trains running through Chicago, and with lounge or first class service on many trains.

It is hard to perceive the current behavior of the carrier, cancelling trains whenever the deer hibernate and offering a joke of a meal service, as anything other than reverting to that liquidation.

In doing so, might they be taking the Commuter Rail authorities down with them?  "Amtrak is tightening the screws on three commuter operators using its infrastructure—Virginia Railway Express (VRE), Chicago’s Metra and now the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA)." It would be funny if it weren't so silly, a ward of the state that has no interest in doing its own work making it difficult for other passenger train agencies to do theirs.

The problem is that in the three affected cities, there are still parts of the commuter rail service that function as rolling gated communities.  There's even a subscription parlor car still serving Chicago, on the old Chicago and North Western into a terminus not run by Amtrak.  There might be some influential citizens who get ticked off.

Unlike squabbles over substituting jelly sandwiches for hot meals, and adjusting routes and schedules to reflect budgetary realities and changing demographics, Amtrak, in dealings with commuter railroads, is engaging in incomprehensible pretensions to avoid its public interest obligations, shield itself from regulatory oversight and threaten, unchecked, commuter operators with service disruptions and even eviction unless they pony-up more cash.

Thuggish behavior intended to weaken other financially strapped public transportation entities so as to make Amtrak stronger is a reprehensible affront to public trust. Amtrak should be better than that. But with no sign of Amtrak remorse or abatement, Amtrak’s actions are overripe for congressional oversight and correction.

Amtrak's spokesman denies any ill intent, claiming it's all about clarifying fully allocated costs.