British Columbia Railways - Canadian Pacific Railway, Amtrak, Canadian National Railway, Bnsf Railway, BC Rail, Southern Railway of Vancouver Isla (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 62. Chapters: Canadian Pacific Railway, Amtrak, Canadian National Railway, BNSF Railway, BC Rail, Southern Railway of Vancouver Island, O'Dell, British Columbia, Englewood Railway, Sicamous, Southern Railway of British Columbia, Canada Alaska Railway, Kelowna Pacific Railway, Okanagan Valley Railway, Grand Forks Railway, Whistler Mountaineer, International Rail Road Systems. Excerpt: The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak (reporting mark AMTK), is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track." It is headquartered at Union Station in Washington, D.C. All of Amtrak's preferred stock is owned by the U.S. federal government. The members of its board of directors are appointed by the President of the United States and are subject to confirmation by the United States Senate. Common stock was issued in 1971 to railroads that contributed capital and equipment; these shares convey almost no benefits but their current holders declined a 2002 buy-out offer by Amtrak. Amtrak employs nearly 19,000 people. It operates passenger service on 21,000 miles (34,000 km) of track primarily owned by freight railroads connecting 500 destinations in 46 states and three Canadian provinces. In fiscal year 2008, Amtrak served 28.7 million passengers, representing six straight years of record ridership. Despite this recent growth, the United States still has one of the lowest inter-city rail usages in the developed world. Amtrak's origins are traceable to the sustained decline of private passenger rail services in the United States from about 1920 to 1970. In 1971, in response to the decline, Congress and President Richard Nixon created Amtrak. The Nixon administration secretly...