Railway (U.S.) May Expand Package Delivery

Amtrak [national railway] is branching out in pursuit of new income to stay in business, from souvenirs to cell phone service, real estate development to express package delivery. In fact, the national railway now gets 43 percent of its revenue from non-passenger business, up from 29 percent in 1990. ‘Congress has basically said to us, [s]tart running yourself like a business, and that’s what we’re doing,’ said Amtrak’s acting chairman, Michael Dukakis, the former governor of Massachusetts. Congress has given Amtrak until 2003 to wean itself from annual government subsidies, something the railway has failed to do in its 30-year history.” The Associated Press: “[Amtrak President George] Warrington says the decline in American passenger rail, which prompted the government to create Amtrak, was caused in part by the post office turning to automobiles and airplanes to move the mail. Amtrak has continued to carry small amounts of mail. And it took a leap into the delivery business in 1998 when the Surface Transportation Board, a federal regulatory agency, ruled it could carry time-sensitive packages and freight shipments. Now Amtrak carries packages, periodicals, first-class mail and dry freight. In a new venture, Amtrak carries lemons and oranges from California, and apples from Washington state, to the East Coast in refrigerated cars. Last year, Amtrak’s Mail and Express division generated dlrs 122 million – 6 percent of the railway’s total revenue. ‘We’re focusing on markets where we have a clear, competitive advantage, and that is primarily in the long-haul, transcontinental service,’ said Lee Sargrad, president of Amtrak Mail and Express, formed last October.”

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