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Amtrak’s 40th anniversary The rail service, established in 1971 to relieve struggling freight rail services of their money-losing passenger service, has been a source of constant debate about its costs and benefits.
March 4, 2010
Tinesheau Howell of Perryville, Md., and her daughters Lena, 11, and Tiggy, 9 months, held by Lena, stand at Jean S. Roberts Memorial Park in Havre de Grace, Md., as an Amtrak Acela train crosses the Susquehanna River. As the rail service celebrates its 40th anniversary, major questions loom about its future.
Ricky Carioti
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The Washington Post
Related Content
An Amtrak train heads through the mountains. The rail service, which has unable to survive without taxpayer funds, has had repeated operating losses, stemming in part from its 15 long-distance routes. Amtrak supporters argue that the federal subsidy it receives is no different from highways receiving money from gas taxes.
Courtesty of Amtrak
Jan. 4, 1987
Rescue workers dig through the rubble of an Amtrak passenger train that collided with three disel engines in Essex, Md. Sixteen people were killed and 175 injured in the accident, one of the worst in Amtrak's history.
Fred Kraft
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The Associated Press
April 17, 1991
Amtrak attendant Karl White assists passengers from the Coast Starlight after it was halted in Oakland, Calif., by a nationwide rail strike. The Starlight was en route from Seattle to Los Angeles. Amtrak passengers boarded buses to continue their trip.
Ben Margot
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The Associated Press
June 22, 1992
Commuters reach for scheduling information in New York's Penn Station during the evening rush hour. Amtrak has a $117 billion plan to build and operate trains that one day could speed between Washington and New York in 96 minutes.
Chrystyna Czajkowsky
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The Associated Press
Sept. 8, 1995
Matt Gilbert, left, and Nick Moore, both from Sussex, England, start a card game in a lounge car of the Broadway Limited between Philadelphia and Paoli, Pa., during its next-to-last run. When the line began service in 1912, it was synonymous with luxury and speed between New York and Chicago; it fell victim to Amtrak budget cuts.
George Widman
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The Associated Press
Oct. 9, 1995
An Amtrak Sunset Limited train lies on its side in a creek bed after derailing 55 miles southwest of Phoenix near Hyder, Ariz. One person was killed and dozens were injured. Within hours of the derailment, the FBI declared it an act of sabotage, but those responsible never were caught.
Scott Troyanos
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The Associated Press
Oct. 26, 1995
The first train heads under an overpass in Lorton after wreckage was cleared following a truck accident that dumped six tons of industrial air conditioners down a 30-foot embankment and next to the tracks. The accident stopped trains for more than three hours and made more than 1,000 rail commuters late to work.
Tyler Mallory
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For The Washington Post
Feb. 12, 1996
Folk singer Peter Yarrow of the group Peter, Paul and Mary sings at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. Yarrow was on a tour of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor that included performances in New York and Washington. Yarrow also performed aboard trains in between the major cities, praising Amtrak's work during a January blizzard in 1996.
Marty Katz
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The Associated Press
March 15, 1996
U.S. Transportation Secretary Federico Peña, second from right, announces a contract for new, faster trains in the Northeast Corridor, from Washington to Boston, during a news conference at Union Station in the District. Standing are, from left, Tom Downs, president of Amtrak; Peter Stengel of Bombardier Transit of Canada; Andre Navarri of GEC Alsthom of France; and Jolene Molitoris, federal railroad administrator.
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AFP/Getty Images
March 16, 1999
Rescue workers, left, search wreckage from a derailed Amtrak passenger train after it collided with a tractor-trailer near Bourbonnais, Ill., 50 miles south of Chicago. Eleven people were killed and more than 100 injured in the collision and resulting fire.
John Zich
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AFP/Getty Images
Nov. 16, 2000
Amtrak's high-speed Acela train is christened with champagne by Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson before it leaves Washington's Union Station on an inaugural run to New York and Boston.
Carol Guzy
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The Washington Post
June 25, 2002
Passengers walk under the departure board as they head to a gate at the Amtrak terminal in the New York's Penn Station. Amtrak was flirting with a shutdown at the time because it was running out of cash, but it got an emergency government loan to keep operating.
Stan Honda
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AFP/Getty Images
David Gunn, right, president and chief executive of Amtrak, chats with conductor Jerry Bridgeman as Gunn makes rounds at Union Station.
Bill O'Leary
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The Washignton Post
July 29, 2002
Rescue workers administer aid to an injured passenger who was on Amtrak's Capitol Limited from Chicago, which derailed in Kensington, 12 miles north of its destination of Washington. Local police officials put the number of injured at 60, with no fatalities.
Paul J. Richards
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AFP/Getty Images
April 18, 2002
Four people were killed when an Amtrak train carrying nearly 500 people derailed near Crescent City, Fla. The Auto Train was bound from suburban Orlando to just outside Washington. Fourteen cars overturned on the 41-car train.
Roberto Gonzalez
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The Associated Press
Jan. 14, 2003
Massage therapist Linda Sae-Jang gives Sandra Black a massage onboard the Amtrak Capitol Corridor train as it passes through Richmond, Calif. Amtrak began offering massage service for $1 an hour on afternoon trains from Oakland, Calif., to Sacramento.
Justin Sullivan
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Getty Images
June 10, 2004
National Park Service volunteer Mike Barkon holds up a stuffed prairie dog as he talks about the Lewis and Clark expedition on an Amtrak train near Washington, Mo. A partnership between Amtrak and the National Park Service placed volunteers on trains that traced the route that the expedition that took 200 years before.
Charlie Riedel
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The Associated Press
Jan. 22, 2005
An Amtrak worker stands between two cars in an area partially filled with snow in Wilmington, Del., during an East Coast blizzard. Amtrak is often the last form of transportation operating in snowstorms.
Mario Tama
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Getty Images
Dec. 15, 2005
Musician Arlo Guthrie, left, plays "City of New Orleans" with other musicians on Amtrak's City of New Orleans train, near Hammond, La., as it makes its way toward New Orleans. Arlo & Friends were traveling and performing along the way to benefit the small musical venues in the train's namesake city after it was devasted by Hurricane Katrina.
Jacqueline Larma
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The Associated Press
July 28, 2005
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) arrives in Washington on the Acela train from Wilmington, Del. As a senator, Biden commuted from his home in Wilmington via Amtrak.
Melina Mara
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The Washington Post
Feb. 14, 2005
Amtrak employee Terry Dempsey protests with other Amtrak workers and supporters at Union Station in Chicago, where U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta was holding a news conference to promote President George W. Bush's plan for the financially strapped passenger train service.
Scott Olson
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Getty Images
May 25, 2006
Andrew Michael, who had been waiting for hours, takes a nap as he waits for a train at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. Thousands of Amtrak passengers were starnded from Washington to New York during a power outage along the East Coast.
William Thomas Cain
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Getty Images
Nov. 21, 2007
An Amtrak passenger hurries to board her train at South Station in Boston. Amtrak ridership has climbed in the past decade, with 28.7 million people riding Amtrak's 300 daily trains last year, and with ridership on pace to set another annual record this fiscal year, according to the rail service.
Darren McCollester
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Getty Images
Nov. 30, 2007
Rescue workers transport injured Amtrak passengers after their train collided with a freight train in Chicago. More than 50 people were injured when the train traveling from Grand Rapids, Mich., to Chicago smashed into the back of a freight train on the city's south side.
Scott Olson
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Getty Images
Aug. 31, 2008
Quentin Barganier and his fiancee, Robin Johnson, rest on the last Amtrak train to depart New Orleans en route to Memphis after a mandatory evacuation was ordered ahead of Hurricane Gustav.
Jim Watson
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AFP/Getty Images
Aug. 26, 2008
The Amtrak station in Wilmington, Del. Unlike highways and aviation, which have their own dedicated funding streams, Amtrak relies on annual appropriations from Congress, leaving its federal subsidies vulnerable to politics. Questions loom about how Amtrak will pay for maintenance on its aging infrastructure.
Jim Graham
Nov. 16, 2010
Musician Keith Urban performs a surprise concerts for Amtrak commuters in New York.
Larry Busacca
Dec. 27, 2010
Travelers at Union Station in Washington trying to travel during an East Coast blizzard walk through a cloud of mist as they make it on an Amtrak train heading through New York on its way to Boston.
Matt McClain
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The Washington Post
Feb. 8, 2011
A conductor drives an Amtrak train outside of Newark. Amtrak, a government-owned corporation, has joined up with New Jersey's two U.S. senators to propose a new rail link to New York City under the Hudson River. The Gateway Project would include two tunnels and increase the train traffic under the river from 62 trains per day to 92 at an estimated cost of $13.5 billion. The plan is looked at as an alternative after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) killed another rail link plan last year after he deemed it too costly.
Spencer Platt
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Getty Images
May 10, 2011
Roger Rose, an electrical technician with Amtrak, follows up on an inbound inspection in the control room of an Acela train at Union Station in Washington.
Ricky Carioti
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The Washington Post
May 10, 2011
Passengers disembark from an Amtrak regional train at Washington's Union Station. Amtrak's plan for "next generation" service in the Northeast Corridor recently got a major boost when the Obama administration announced the latest round of high-speed rail funding, which included $450 million for Amtrak.
Ricky Carioti
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The Washington Post
May 6, 2011
An Amtrak conductor looks out the door of the Capitol Limited at the train station in Harpers Ferry, W.Va. The Capitol Limited runs daily between Washington and Chicago.
Ricky Carioti
/
The Washington Post
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