Amtrak auto train profit or loss

[dadonatrain]

Mod: move this msg if necessary,

I just watched yesterday’s auto train on a railfan camera and I was surprised at the size of it. There were 15 “people cars” and 34 “car cars”! It made me wonder: is this particular Amtrak “product” profitable for them or don’t they track costs and revenues that way. Just curious. It sure seemed to me to be large enough for them to be along a profit but what do I know!?

 

[jis]

According to Amtrak in 4Q2021 Auto Train had 125% cost recovery based on fully allocated cost. Many would call that "profitable" on an operating basis. And others would point out the obvious that that determination does not take into account capital and depreciation and such, the problem being that Amtrak has never got around to nailing down the formula for accounting for capital and depreciation allocation.

 

[dadonatrain]

Thx. Makes sense.