Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
railroad name	Amtrak
logo filename	Amtrak Logo.svg
logo size	230px
system map	Amtrak network 2008.svg
map caption	2008 map with metro areas
marks	AMTK
locale	Contiguous United States (except Wyoming and South Dakota), as well as Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec
start year	1971
end year	present
length	routes: track:
hq city	Union StationWashington, D.C.
website	www.amtrak.com }}

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , 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 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.

History

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 agreed with some railroads that Amtrak would be shut down after two years. After ''Fortune'' magazine exposed the manufactured mismanagement in 1974, Louis W. Menk, chairman of the Burlington Northern Railroad remarked that the story was undermining the scheme to dismantle Amtrak. Though for its entire existence the company has been subjected to political cross-winds and insufficient capital resources, including owned railway, Amtrak's ridership has maintained consistent growth.

Pre-Amtrak

Privately operated passenger rail service

From the middle 19th century until approximately 1920, nearly all intercity travelers in the United States moved by rail. By 1910, close to all of intercity passenger trips were by railroad. The rails and the trains were owned and operated by private, for-profit organizations. Approximately 65,000 railroad passenger cars operated in 1929.

For a long time after 1920, passenger rail's popularity diminished and there were a series of pullbacks and tentative recoveries. Rail passenger revenues declined dramatically between 1920 and 1934 because of the rise of the automobile, but in the mid-1930s, railroads reignited popular imagination with service improvements and new, diesel-powered streamliners, such as the gleaming silver ''Pioneer Zephyr'' and ''Flying Yankee''. Even with the improvements, on a relative basis, traffic continued to decline, and by 1940 railroads held 67% of passenger-miles in the United States. World War II broke the malaise. During the war, troop movements and restrictions on automobile fuel generated a sixfold increase in passenger traffic from the low point of the Depression. After the war, railroads rejuvenated overworked and neglected fleets with fast and often luxurious streamliners—epitomized by the ''Super Chief'' and ''California Zephyr''—which inspired the last major resurgence in passenger rail travel.

The postwar resurgence was short-lived. In 1946, there remained 45% fewer passenger trains than in 1929, and the decline quickened despite railroad optimism. Passengers disappeared and so did trains. Few trains generated profits; most produced losses. Broad-based passenger rail deficits appeared as early as 1948 and by the mid-1950s railroads claimed aggregate annual losses on passenger services of more than $700 million (almost $5 billion in 2005 dollars using CPI). By 1965, only 10,000 rail passenger cars were in operation, 85% fewer than in 1929. Passenger service was provided on only of track, a stark decline. Passenger rail service in the United States showed the signs of underinvestment. Rail facilities suffered from decrepit equipment, cavernous and nearly empty stations in declining urban centers, and management that seemed intent on driving away the few remaining customers. The 1960s also saw the end of railway post office revenues, which had helped some of the remaining trains break even.

Causes of the decline of privately operated passenger rail service

The causes of the decline of passenger rail in the United States were complex. Until 1920, rail was the only practical form of intercity transport, but the industry was subject to government regulation and labor inflexibility. By 1930, the railroad companies had constructed, with private funding, a vast and relatively efficient transportation network, but when the federal government began to construct the National Highway System, the railroads found themselves faced with unprecedented competition for passengers and freight with automobiles, buses, trucks, and aircraft, all of which were heavily subsidized by the government road and airport building programs. At the same time the railroads were subject to property and other taxes. Every foot of rail was taxed, and some localities treated them like cash cows. In 1916, the amount of track in the United States peaked at , compared to in 2007 (although it remained the largest rail network of any country in the world). Some routes had been built primarily to facilitate the sale of stock in the railroad companies; they were redundant from the beginning. These were the first to be abandoned as the railroads' financial positions deteriorated, and the rails were routinely removed to save money on taxes. Many rights of way were destroyed by being broken up and built over, but others remained the property of the railroad or were taken over by local or state authorities and turned into rail trails, which could be returned to rail service if necessary. To date, no rail trail in the U.S. has reverted to an active railroad.

Government regulation and labor issues

The first interruption in passenger rail's vibrancy coincided with government intervention. From approximately 1910 to 1921, the federal government introduced a populist rate-setting scheme, followed by nationalization of the rail industry for World War I. Ample railroad profits were erased, growth of the rail system was reversed, and railroads massively underinvested in passenger rail facilities during this time. Meanwhile, labor costs advanced, and with them passenger fares, which discouraged passenger traffic just as automobiles gained a foothold.

The primary regulatory authority affecting rail interest from the early 20th century was the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). The ICC played a leading role in rate-setting and intervened in other ways detrimental to passenger rail. Increases in train speeds which had been occurring since the 1930s were hampered after the Naperville train disaster of 1946 and other crashes in New York in 1950. In 1947 the ICC issued an order requiring US railroads, by the end of 1951, to install automatic train-stop or train-control or cab-signalling wherever any trains would travel at or faster. Such technology was not widely implemented outside the Northeast., effectively placing a speed limit in other areas, which is still in effect today, and why the 79 mph maximum passenger train speed is common in the United States. In 1958, the ICC was granted authority to allow or reject modifications and eliminations of passenger routes (''train-offs''). Many routes required beneficial pruning, but the ICC delayed action by an average of eight months and when it did authorize modifications, the ICC insisted that unsuccessful routes be merged with profitable ones. Thus, fast, popular rail service was transformed into slow, unpopular service. The ICC was even more critical of corporate mergers. Many combinations, which railroads sought to complete, were delayed for years and even decades, such as the merger of the New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad, into what eventually became Penn Central, and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and Erie Railroad into the Erie Lackawanna Railway. By the time the ICC approved the mergers in the 1960s, disinvestments by the federal government, years of deteriorating equipment and station facilities and the flight of passengers to the air and car had taken their toll and the mergers were unsuccessful.

Some railroads had begun to invest in other forms of transportation such as airlines, trucking and intercity buses but the ICC, fearing a transportation monopoly, ordered them to sell these interests off.

Taxation

At the same time, railroads carried a substantial tax burden. A World War II–era excise tax of 15% on passenger rail travel survived until 1962. Local governments, far from providing needed support to passenger rail, viewed rail infrastructure as a ready source for property tax revenues. In one extreme example, in 1959, the Great Northern Railway, which owned about a third of one percent (0.34%) of the land in Lincoln County, Montana, was assessed more than 91% of all school taxes in the county. To this day, railroads are generally taxed at a higher rate than other industries, and the rates vary greatly from state to state.

Railroads also were saddled with antiquated work rules and an inflexible relationship with trade unions. Work rules did not adapt to technological change. Average train speeds doubled from 1919 to 1959, but unions resisted efforts to modify their existing 100 to 150 ''mile'' work days. As a result, railroaders' work days were roughly cut in half, from 5–7½ hours in 1919 down to 2½–3¾ hours in 1959. Labor rules also perpetuated positions that had been obviated by technology; for example, requirements that diesel locomotive have a "fireman" aboard at all times, even in switching yards. Between 1947 and 1957, passenger railroad financial efficiency dropped by 42% per mile.

Today, the burden of nascent railroad worker pensions, including those of freight railroad workers, are financed by Amtrak, regardless of whether such workers were ever employed by Amtrak or worked in passenger railroad service. In effect, Amtrak subsidizes the pensions of thousands of railroad workers who would otherwise not receive any pension.

Subsidized competition

While passenger rail faced internal and governmental pressures, new challenges appeared that undermined the dominance of passenger rail: highways and commercial aviation. The passenger rail industry wilted as government backed these potent upstarts with billions of dollars in construction of highways and government-owned airports and the air traffic control system.

As cars became more attainable to most Americans, this newfound freedom and individualization of transit became the norm for most Americans because of the increased convenience. Government actively began to respond with funds from its treasury and later with fuel tax funds to build a non-profit network of roads not subject to property taxation that rivaled and then surpassed the for-profit network that the railroads had built in previous generations with corporate capital and government land grants. All told between 1921 and 1955 governmental entities, using taxpayer money and in response to taxpayer demand, financed more than $93 billion worth of pavement, construction, and maintenance.

In the 1950s, a second and more formidable threat appeared: affordable commercial aviation. Government at many levels supported aviation. Governmental entities built sprawling urban and suburban airports, funded construction of highways to provide access to the airports, and provided air traffic control services.

Loss of U.S. Mail contracts

Until 1966, most U.S. Postal Service mail was transported on passenger trains. By the 1960s, it was not uncommon for passenger trains to feature a dozen mail cars with only a few passenger cars. The mail contracts kept most passenger trains economically viable. In 1966, the U.S. Postal Service switched to trucks and airplanes, depriving many passenger trains of a major source of revenue.

Formation

Rail Passenger Service Act

In the late 1960s, the end of passenger rail in the United States seemed near. First had come the requests for termination of services; then came the bankruptcy filings. The legendary Pullman Company became insolvent in 1969, followed, in 1970, by the dominant railroad in the Northeastern United States, the Penn Central. It now seemed that passenger rail's financial problems might bring down the railroad industry as a whole, yet few in government wanted to be held responsible for the extinction of the passenger train.

In 1970, Congress passed and President Richard Nixon signed into law, the Rail Passenger Service Act. Proponents of the bill, led by the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP), sought government funding to assure the continuation of passenger trains. They conceived the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (NRPC), a hybrid public-private entity that would receive taxpayer funding and assume operation of intercity passenger trains. The original working brand name for NRPC was Railpax, but shortly before the company started operating it was changed to Amtrak. There were several key provisions:

Any railroad operating intercity passenger service could contract with the NRPC, thereby joining the national system.

Participating railroads bought into the NRPC using a formula based on their recent intercity passenger losses. The purchase price could be satisfied either by cash or rolling stock; in exchange, the railroads received NRPC common stock.

Any participating railroad was freed of the obligation to operate intercity passenger service after May 1, 1971, except for those services chosen by the Department of Transportation as part of a "basic system" of service and paid for by NRPC using its federal funds.

Railroads that chose not to join the NRPC system were required to continue operating their existing passenger service until 1975 and thenceforth had to pursue the customary Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) approval process for any discontinuance or alteration to the service.

Nearly everyone involved expected the experiment to be short-lived. The Nixon administration and many Washington insiders viewed the NRPC as a politically expedient way for the President and Congress to give passenger trains the one "last hurrah" demanded by the public. They expected Amtrak to quietly disappear as public interest waned. Proponents also hoped that government intervention would be brief, but their view was that Amtrak would soon support itself. Neither view has proved correct. Popular support has allowed Amtrak to continue in operation longer than critics imagined, while financial results have made a return to private operation unfeasible.

Non-participating railroads

Of the railroads that were still offering long-distance passenger service in 1971 only six declined to join Amtrak. Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad passenger trains, which operated in the roughly industrial corridor between Chicago, Illinois and South Bend, Indiana continue to operate as part of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District system. The Georgia Railroad was required by its state charter to maintain roughly of minimal passenger service, which it did with mixed freight/passenger trains. This limited passenger service continued until the company was sold to the Seaboard System in 1983. The Reading Company maintained passenger services on short (less than 100 mile) lines from Philadelphia to each of Newark Penn Station, NJ, Bethlehem, PA, and Pottsville, PA. The Reading Company merged into Conrail in 1976. Passenger service to Bethlehem and Pottsville was discontinued in 1981, while passenger service to New Jersey was cut back by roughly to terminate in West Trenton, NJ.

The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (the Rock Island) determined that the fee to join Amtrak was greater than the cost of the statutory five years of operations for its remaining intercity passenger service. The Rock Island continued operating two truncated passenger trains (the ''Peoria Rocket'' and the ''Quad Cities Rocket'') on short routes out of Chicago until 1978.

Southern Railway relinquished some operations, but continued four routes, including its ''Southern Crescent''. Continued losses convinced Southern Railway to relinquish remaining passenger operations to Amtrak in 1979. Amtrak continues a variation of the Southern Crescent service as the ''Crescent''.

The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (DRG) continued operating its portion of the original ''California Zephyr'' service, renamed the ''Rio Grande Zephyr'', between Denver, Colorado and Ogden, Utah. In operation until 1983, the Rio Grande Zephyr was the last privately operated long-distance passenger service in the United States. Amtrak subsequently rerouted its modern version of the ''California Zephyr'' to follow DRG's scenic route between Denver and Salt Lake City.

Rainbow Era (the first decade)

Day one

Amtrak began operations May 1, 1971. Amtrak's first passenger train, Train 173 (''Clocker''), departed New York Penn Station at 12:05 am on May 1 en route to Philadelphia 30th Street Station with a GG1 inherited from Penn Central. The corporation was molded from the passenger rail operations of 20 out of 26 major railroads in operation at the time. The railroads contributed rolling stock, equipment, and capital. In return, they received approval to discontinue their passenger services, and at least some acquired common stock in Amtrak. Amtrak received no rail tracks or right-of-way at its inception. Railroads that shed passenger operations were expected to host Amtrak trains on their tracks, for a fee.

Consolidations

There was a period of adjustment. However, Amtrak was making numerous renovations and improvements. All Amtrak's routes were continuations of prior service, although Amtrak pruned about half the passenger rail network. Of the 364 trains operated previously, Amtrak only continued 182. On trains that continued, to the extent possible, schedules were retained with only minor changes from the ''Official Guide of the Railways''. Former names largely were continued.

Several major corridors became freight-only, including New York Central Railroad's ''Water Level Route'' across New York and Ohio and Grand Trunk Western Railroad's Chicago to Detroit service, although passenger service soon returned to the ''Water Level Route'' with the introduction of the ''Lake Shore Limited''. Reduced passenger train schedules created headaches. A 19-hour layover became necessary for eastbound travel on the ''James Whitcomb Riley'' between Chicago and Newport News.

Amtrak inherited problems with train stations, most notably deferred maintenance, and redundant facilities resulting from competing companies that served the same areas. On the day it started, Amtrak was given the responsibility of rerouting passenger trains from the seven train terminals in Chicago (LaSalle, Dearborn, Grand Central, Randolph, Chicago Northwestern Terminal, Central, and Union) into just one, Union Station. In New York City, Amtrak had to pay to maintain Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal because of the lack of track connections to bring trains from upstate New York into Penn Station, a problem not rectified until the building of the Empire Connection in 1991. In many cases Amtrak had to abandon service into the huge old ''Union Stations'' such as Cincinnati, Saint Paul, Buffalo, Kansas City, Houston, and Saint Louis, and route trains into smaller Amtrak-built facilities down the line, jokingly referred to over the years as "Amshacks" due to their basic design. Amtrak has pushed to start reusing some of the old stations, most recently Cincinnati Union Terminal, and Kansas City Union Station.

On the other hand, merged operations presented efficiencies such as the combination of three West Coast trains into the ''Coast Starlight'', running from Los Angeles to Seattle. The ''Northeast Corridor'' received an ''Inland Route'' via Springfield, Massachusetts, thanks to support from New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. The ''North Coast Hiawatha'' was implemented as a second Pacific Northwest route. The Milwaukee to St. Louis ''Abraham Lincoln'' and ''Prairie State'' routes also commenced. The first all-new Amtrak route, not counting the ''Coast Starlight'', was the ''Montrealer''/''Washingtonian''. That route was inaugurated September 29, 1972, along Boston and Maine Railroad and Canadian National Railway track that had last seen passenger service in 1966. Amtrak was also instrumental in restoring service in the Empire Corridor of upstate New York, between Albany and Niagara Falls, with its ''Empire Service'', a service that was discontinued in the sixties by the New York Central and Penn Central.

Northeast Corridor ownership

Amtrak soon had the opportunity to acquire railway. Following the bankruptcy of several northeastern railroads in the early 1970s, including Penn Central which owned and operated the Northeast Corridor, Congress passed the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976. A large part was directed to the creation of a Conrail, but in addition the law enabled transfer to Amtrak the portions of the Northeast Corridor not already owned by state authorities. (The portion in Massachusetts is owned by the Commonwealth and managed by Amtrak. The route from New Haven to New Rochelle is owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Connecticut Department of Transportation as the New Haven Line.) That track became Amtrak's jewel and helped Amtrak generate significant revenues. While the Northeast Corridor ridership and revenues were higher than any other segment of the system, the cost of operating and maintaining the corridor proved to be overwhelming. As a result, Amtrak's federal subsidy increased dramatically. In subsequent years, short route segments not needed for freight operations were transferred to Amtrak. Nevertheless, in general, Amtrak remained dependent on freight railroads for access to most of its routes outside of the northeast.

The verdict

In its first decade, Amtrak fell far short of financial independence, which continues today, but it did find modest success rebuilding trade. Outside factors discouraged competing transport, such as fuel shortages which increased costs of automobile and airline travel, and strikes which disrupted airline operations. Investments in Amtrak's track, equipment and information also made Amtrak more relevant to America's transportation needs. Amtrak's ridership increased from 16.6 million in 1972 to 21 million in 1981.

Rainbow Era: defined

Amtrak's early years are often called the ''Rainbow Era'', which refers to the ad hoc arrangement of the rolling stock and locomotives from a pool of equipment, acquired by Amtrak, at its formation, that consisted of a large mix of paint schemes from their former owners. This rolling stock, which for the most part still bore the pre-Amtrak colors and logos, formed the multi-colored consists of early Amtrak trains. By mid-1971, Amtrak began purchasing some of the equipment it had leased, including 286 second-hand locomotives, of the EMD E and F types, 30 GG1 electric locomotives, and 1290 passenger cars, and continued leasing even more motive power. By 1975 the official Amtrak color scheme was painted on most Amtrak equipment and newly purchased locomotives and rolling stock began appearing.

The 1980s and 1990s

Ridership stagnated at roughly 20 million passengers per year amid uncertain government aid from 1981 to about 2000.

In the 1990s, Amtrak's stated goal remained ''operational self-sufficiency''. By this time, however, Amtrak had a large overhang of debt from years of underfunding, and in the mid-1990s, Amtrak suffered through a serious cash crunch. To resolve the crisis, Congress issued funding but instituted a ''glide-path'' to financial self-sufficiency, excluding railroad retirement tax act payments. Passengers became "guests" and there were expansions into express freight work, but the financial plans failed. Amtrak's inroads in express freight delivery created additional friction with competing freight operators, including the trucking industry. Delivery was delayed of much anticipated high-speed trainsets for the improved ''Acela Express'' service, which promised to be a strong source of income and favorable publicity along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C.

The 21st Century

Ridership increased in the first decade of the 21st century after implementation of capital improvements in the Northeast Corridor and rises in automobile fuel costs. Amtrak set its sixth straight year of record ridership, with 28.7 million passengers for the 12 months ended September 30, 2008. According to Amtrak, an average of more than 70,000 passengers ride on up to 300 Amtrak trains per day.

Through the late 1990s and very early 21st century, Amtrak could not add sufficient express freight revenue or cut sufficient other services to break even. By 2002, it was clear that Amtrak could not achieve self-sufficiency, but Congress continued to authorize funding and released Amtrak from the requirement.

Amtrak's leader at the time, David L. Gunn, was polite but direct in response to congressional criticism. In a departure from his predecessors' promises to make Amtrak self-sufficient in the short term, Gunn argued that ''no'' form of passenger transportation in the United States is self-sufficient as the economy is currently structured. Highways, airports, and air traffic control ''all'' require large government expenditures to build and operate, coming from the Highway Trust Fund and Aviation Trust Fund paid for by user fees, highway fuel and road taxes, and, in the case of the General Fund, by people who own cars and do not.

Before a congressional hearing, Gunn answered a demand by leading Amtrak critic Arizona Senator John McCain to eliminate all operating subsidies by asking the Senator if he would also demand the same of the commuter airlines, upon which the citizens of Arizona are dependent. McCain, usually not at a loss for words when debating Amtrak funding, did not reply.

Under Gunn, almost all the controversial express freight business was eliminated. The practice of tolerating deferred maintenance was reversed to eliminate a safety issue.

Amtrak's previous chief, Alexander Kummant, was committed to operating a national rail network, and he did not envision separating the Northeast Corridor (the rail line from Washington, DC, to Boston that is primarily, though not completely, owned by Amtrak) under separate ownership. He said that shedding the system's long distance routes would amount to selling national assets that are on par with national parks, and that Amtrak's abandonment of these routes would be irreversible. Amtrak is seeking annual congressional funding of $1 billion for ten years. Kummant has stated that the investment is moderate in light of federal investment in other modes of transportation. In 2011, Amtrak announced its intention to build a small segment of a high speed rail corridor in New Jersey called the Gateway Project, estimated to cost $13.5 billion.

In 2011 and 2012, Amtrak will celebrate its 40th anniversary with festivities across the country, starting the year-long celebration with National Train Day in May. A commemorative book entitled ''Amtrak: An American Story'' was published, and a documentary was created. Four commemorative locomotives and an exhibit train are also made. The exhibit train will be an entirely rebuilt train powered by EMD F40PH and GE Genesis locomotives and will include three made-over baggage cars and a food service car. 4 GE P42DC's are also going to be painted into past paint schemes. P42DC No.156 will be in Phase 1 colors, No.66 will be in Phase 2 colors, No.145 has been painted into Phase 3 colors, and No.184 will be in Phase 4 colors.

Passenger Wi-Fi services were launched on ''Acela Express'' in 2010; WiFi is being expanded to other Amtrak services in 2011.

Leadership

Presidents

Roger Lewis (1971–1974) Paul Reistrup (1974–1978) Alan Stephenson Boyd (1978–1982) W. Graham Claytor, Jr. (1982–1993) Thomas Downs (1993–1998) George Warrington (1998–2002) David L. Gunn (2002–2005) David Hughes (interim) (2005–2006) Alexander Kummant (2006–2008)

William Crosbie (interim) (2008)

Joseph H. Boardman (2008–present)

Board of Directors

Chairman Thomas Carper

Vice-Chairman Donna McLean

Joseph Boardman

Anthony Coscia

Albert DiClemente

Ray LaHood

Jeffrey Morland

Nancy Naples

One seat is vacant.

Note: As of summer 2010.

Leaders and political influences

Unlike many large businesses, subsequent to its formation Amtrak has had only one active investor: the U.S. government. Like most investors, the federal government has demanded a degree of accountability. Determination of congressional funding and selection of Amtrak's leadership have been infused with political considerations. As discussed below, funding levels and capital support have varied over time.

Like many railroads, some members of Amtrak's board have had little or no experience with railroads. Conversely, Amtrak also has benefited from the interest of highly motivated and politically oriented public servants. For example, in 1982, former Secretary of the Navy and retired Southern Railway head W. Graham Claytor, Jr. brought his military and railroad experience to the job. Graham Claytor earned distinction as a lawyer (he was president of the Harvard Law Review and law clerk to U.S. Judge Billings Learned Hand and Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis); as a transportation executive (he joined the Southern as vice president-law in 1963, became president in 1967, and retired in 1977, five years before he took over the command at Amtrak); and as a public servant (he was President Carter's Secretary of the Navy, Deputy Secretary of Defense, and, briefly, Acting Secretary of Transportation, all between his two railroad careers). Claytor came out of retirement to lead Amtrak after the disastrous financial results during the Carter administration (1977–1981). He was recruited by then Secretary of Transportation, Drew Lewis, and Federal Railroad Administrator Robert Blanchette, both Reagan appointees. Despite the fact that Claytor frequently opposed the Reagan Administration over Amtrak funding issues, he was strongly supported by John H. Riley, an attorney who was the highly skilled head of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) under the Reagan Administration from 1983–1989. Claytor, the longest serving Amtrak CEO, at 12 years, clearly enjoyed a good relationship with Congress and was perceived by many in the rail industry and government to have done an outstanding job of running Amtrak. Due to limited federal funding, Claytor was forced to use short-term debt to keep most of its operations running. Also, during the Reagan Administration, Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole tacitly supported Amtrak.

In the 1990s, Claytor was succeeded at Amtrak's helm by a succession of career public servants. First, Thomas Downs, who had overseen the Union Station project in Washington, D.C., which experienced substantial delays and cost overruns, assumed the leadership. Amtrak faced a serious cash crisis during 1997. However, Tim Gillespie, Amtrak's highly regarded vice president for government affairs for almost two decades, persuaded Congress to include a provision in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 that resulted in Amtrak receiving a $2.3 billion tax refund that resolved their cash crisis. In January, 1998, after Amtrak weathered this serious cash shortfall, George Warrington succeeded Downs. Warrington previously led Amtrak's Northeast Corridor Business Unit. Warrington ran into trouble with Congress and the Administration through lavish spending and extensive borrowing. When he attempted to mortgage Penn Station in New York City he ran into a fire storm of opposition in Congress. Warrington stepped down shortly thereafter. The 1988 Democratic Presidential nominee Michael Dukakis served as Amtrak's vice chairman of the board and was nominated as a director by President Bill Clinton in 1998.

In April 2002, David L. Gunn was selected as president. Gunn had a strong reputation as a straightforward and experienced manager. Years earlier (between 1991 and 1994), Gunn's refusal to "do politics" put him at odds with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority board of directors, which included representatives from the District of Columbia and suburban jurisdictions in Maryland and Virginia. Gunn was an accomplished public servant and railroad person and his successes before Amtrak earned him a great deal of credibility, despite a sometimes-rough relationship with politicians and labor unions.

Gunn was polite but direct in response to congressional criticism of Amtrak, and his tenure was punctuated by successes in reducing layers of management overhead in Amtrak and streamlining operations. Amtrak's Board of Directors removed Gunn on November 9, 2005. The board then appointed David Hughes, Amtrak's Chief Engineer, as interim CEO. Given Gunn's solid performance, many Amtrak supporters feared that Gunn's departure was Amtrak's death knell, although those fears have not been realized. On August 29, 2006 Alexander Kummant was named as Gunn's permanent replacement effective September 12, 2006. Kummant resigned on November 14, 2008. The board appointed Amtrak COO William Crosbie as interim CEO. On November 26, 2008, the board appointed Federal Railroad Administration chairman Joseph H. Boardman as interim Amtrak President and CEO for one year. In January 2010, Amtrak announced that it had extended Boardman's appointment indefinitely.

Public funding

Amtrak commenced operations in 1971 with $40 million in direct federal aid, $100 million in federally insured loans, and a somewhat larger private contribution. Officials expected that Amtrak would break even by 1974, but those expectations proved unrealistic and annual direct Federal aid reached a 17-year high in 1981 of $1.25 billion. During the Reagan administration, appropriations were halved. By 1986, federal support fell to a decade low of $601 million, almost none of which were capital appropriations. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Congress continued the reductionist trend even while Amtrak expenses held steady or rose. Amtrak was forced to borrow to meet short-term operating needs, and by 1995 Amtrak was on the brink of a cash crisis and was unable to continue to service its debts. In response, in 1997 Congress authorized $5.2 billion for Amtrak over the next five years—largely to complete the ''Acela'' capital project—on the condition that Amtrak submit to the ultimatum of self-sufficiency by 2003 or liquidation. Amtrak made financial improvements during the period, but ultimately did not achieve self-sufficiency.

In 2004, a stalemate in federal support of Amtrak forced cutbacks in services and routes as well as resumption of deferred maintenance. In fiscal 2004 and 2005, Congress appropriated about $1.2 billion for Amtrak, $300 million more than President George W. Bush had requested. However, the company's board requested $1.8 billion through fiscal 2006, the majority of which (about $1.3 billion) would be used to bring infrastructure, rolling stock, and motive power back to a state of good repair. In Congressional testimony, the Department of Transportation's inspector-general confirmed that Amtrak would need at least $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion in fiscal 2006 and $2 billion in fiscal 2007 just to maintain the status quo. In 2006, Amtrak received just under $1.4 billion, with the condition that Amtrak would reduce (but not eliminate) food and sleeper service losses. Thus, dining service was simplified and now requires two fewer on-board service workers. Only ''Auto Train'' and ''Empire Builder'' services continue regular made-on-board meal service. In 2010 the Senate approved a bill to provide $1.96 billion to Amtrak, but cut the approval for high-speed rail to a $1 billion appropriation.

State governments have partially filled the breach left by reductions in federal aid. Several states have entered into operating partnerships with Amtrak, notably California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, Missouri, Washington, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Vermont, Maine, and New York, as well as the Canadian province of British Columbia, which provides some of the resources for the operation of the ''Cascades'' route.

With the dramatic rise in gasoline prices during 2007–2008, Amtrak has seen record ridership. Capping a steady five-year increase in ridership overall, regional lines saw 12% year-over-year growth in May 2008. In October 2007, the Senate passed S-294, ''Passenger Rail Improvement and Investment Act of 2007'' (70–22) sponsored by Senators Frank Lautenberg and Trent Lott. Despite a veto threat by President Bush, a similar bill passed the House on June 11, 2008, with a veto-proof margin (311–104). The final bill, spurred on by the September 12 Metrolink collision in California and retitled ''Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008'', was signed into law by President Bush on October 16, 2008. The bill appropriates $2.6 billion a year in Amtrak funding through 2013.

Controversy

Government aid to Amtrak was controversial from the beginning. The formation of Amtrak in 1971 was criticized as a bailout serving corporate rail interests and union railroaders, not the traveling public. Critics assert that Amtrak has proven incapable of operating as a business and that it does not provide valuable transportation services meriting public support, a "mobile money-burning machine." They argue that subsidies should be ended, national rail service terminated, and the Northeast Corridor turned over to private interests. "To fund a ''Nostalgia Limited'' is not in the public interest." Critics also question Amtrak's energy efficiency, though the U.S. Department of Energy considers Amtrak among the most energy-efficient forms of transportation.

Proponents point out that the government heavily subsidizes the Interstate Highway System, the Federal Aviation Administration, many airports, among many aspects of passenger aviation. Massive government aid to those forms of travel was a primary factor in the decline of passenger service on privately owned railroads in the 1950s and 1960s. In addition, Amtrak pays property taxes (through fees to host railroads) that highway users do not pay. Advocates therefore assert that Amtrak should only be expected to be as self-sufficient as those competing modes of transit.

Along these lines, in a June 2008 interview with Reuters, Amtrak President Alex Kummant made specific observations: $10 billion per year is transferred from the general fund to the Highway Trust Fund; $2.7 billion is granted to the FAA; $8 billion goes to "security and life safety for cruise ships." Overall, Kummant claims that Amtrak receives $40 in federal funds per passenger, while highways are subsidized at a rate of $500–$700 per automobile. Moreover, Amtrak provides all of its own security, while airport security is a separate federal subsidy. Kummant added: "Let's not even get into airport construction which is a miasma of state, federal and local tax breaks and tax refinancing and God knows what."

According to the United States Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, rail and mass transit are considerably more subsidized on a per passenger-mile basis by the federal government than other forms of transportation; the subsidy varies year to year, but exceeds $100 dollars (in 2000 dollars) per thousand passenger-miles, compared to subsidies around $10 per thousand passenger-miles for aviation (with general aviation subsidized considerably more per passenger-mile than commercial aviation), subsidies around $4 per thousand passenger-miles for intercity buses, and automobiles being a small net contributor through the gas tax and other user fees rather than being subsidized. On a total subsidy basis, aviation, with many more passenger-miles per year, is subsidized at a similar level to Amtrak. The analysis does not consider social costs and benefits, or difficult-to-quantify effects of some regulation, such as safety regulation.

Critics, such as the Cato Institute's Randal O'Toole, argue that gasoline taxes amount to user fees because people are taxed to the extent they use the roads. However, there is still a significant amount of road spending that is not covered by the gas tax. It covers little of the costs for local highways and in many states little of the cost for state highways. Taking these facts into account, though, O'Toole claims on page 2 of his report that "in 2006, Americans paid $93.6 billion in tolls, gas taxes, and other highway user fees. Of this amount, $19.3 billion was diverted to mass transit and other non-highway activities. At the same time, various governments—mainly local—spent $44.5 billion in property, sales, or other taxes on highways, roads, and streets. The net subsidy to highways was $25.1 billion, or about half a penny per passenger mile." O'Toole's road budget and passenger-mile numbers are disputed. In the same year, Amtrak receives direct subsidies of just over $1 billion, or 22 cents per passenger mile.

Labor issues

Many trade union jobs were saved by the bailout, and Amtrak itself finances the pensions of most railroad employees, even if they had never worked for Amtrak directly or never worked in passenger railroad service.

In recent times, efforts at reforming passenger rail have addressed labor issues. In 1997 Congress released Amtrak from a prohibition on contracting for labor outside of the corporation (and outside its unions), opening the door to privatization. Since that time, many of Amtrak's employees have been working without a contract. The most recent contract, signed in 1999, was mainly retroactive.

Still, though, the influence of unions is a strong force against change. Amtrak has 14 separate unions to negotiate with, because of the fragmentation of railroad unions by job. Plus, it has 24 separate contracts with those unions. This makes it difficult to make substantial changes, in contrast to a situation where one union negotiates with one employer. Former Amtrak president Kummant seems poised to follow a cooperative posture with Amtrak's trade unions. He has ruled out plans to privatize large parts of Amtrak's unionized workforce.

In late 2007 and early 2008, however, major labor issues came up, a result of a dispute between Amtrak and 16 unions over healthcare, specifically which employees healthcare should be available to. The dispute was not resolved quickly, and the situation escalated, to the point of President Bush declaring a Presidential Emergency Board to resolve the issues. It was not immediately successful, and a strike was threatened, to begin on January 30, 2008. In the middle of that month, however, it was announced that Amtrak and the unions had come to terms and January 30 passed without a strike. In late February it was announced that three more unions had worked out their differences, and as of that time it seems unlikely that any more issues will arise in the near future.

Amtrak operations and services

Amtrak is no longer required by law, but is encouraged, to operate a national route system. Amtrak has some presence in all of the 48 contiguous states except Wyoming and South Dakota. Service on the Northeast Corridor, between Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C., as well as between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is powered by overhead electric wires; for the rest of the system, diesel locomotives are used. Routes vary widely in frequency of service, from three trips weekly on the ''Sunset Limited'' (Los Angeles, California, to New Orleans, Louisiana), to weekday service several times per hour on the Northeast Corridor, (New York City to Washington, D.C.) Amtrak also operates a captive bus service, Thruway Motorcoach, which provides connections to train routes.

The most popular and heavily used services are those running on the Northeast Corridor (NEC), which include the ''Acela Express'', and ''Northeast Regional''. The NEC serves Boston, Massachusetts; New York City; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, D.C.; and many communities between. The NEC services accounted for 10.0 million of Amtrak's 25.7 million passengers in fiscal year 2007.

Regional services in California, subsidized by the California Department of Transportation are the most popular services outside of the NEC and the only other services boasting over one million passengers per annum. The ''Pacific Surfliner'', ''Capitol Corridor'' and ''San Joaquin'' services accounted for a combined 5.0 million passengers in fiscal year 2007.

Four of the six stations busiest by boardings are on Amtrak's NEC: New York (Penn Station) (first), Washington (Union Station) (second), Philadelphia (30th Street Station) (third), and Boston (South Station) (sixth). The other two of the top six are Chicago (Union Station) (fourth) and Los Angeles (Union Station) (fifth).

Many Amtrak trains have both names and numbers. Train routes are named to reflect the rich and complex history of the routes and the areas traversed by them. Each scheduled run of the route is assigned a number. Generally, even-numbered routes run northward and eastward, while odd-numbered routes run southward and westward. Some routes, such as the ''Pacific Surfliner'', use the opposite numbering system, inherited from the previous operators of similar routes, such as the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Many NEC trains only have numbers.

These are the 15 busiest routes in the Amtrak system, ordered by region followed by ridership:

West Coast

''Pacific Surfliner'': San Luis Obispo – Santa Barbara – Los Angeles – San Diego

''Capitol Corridor'': Sacramento – Oakland – San Jose

''San Joaquin'': Oakland–Stockton–Bakersfield & Sacramento–Stockton–Bakersfield

''Amtrak Cascades'': Vancouver–Seattle–Portland–Eugene

''Coast Starlight'': Seattle–Los Angeles

Midwest

''Hiawatha'': Milwaukee–Chicago

''Empire Builder'': Chicago – Seattle/Portland

''Lincoln'': Chicago – St. Louis

''Wolverine'': Chicago–Detroit–Pontiac

East/Southeast

''Silver Star'': New York City – Raleigh – Tampa – Miami

Northeast

''Northeast Regional'': Boston/Springfield – New York – Philadelphia – Baltimore – Washington, DC – Virginia (either Richmond, Lynchburg, or Newport News)

''Acela'': Boston, MA – Washington, D.C.

''Keystone'': Harrisburg – Philadelphia – New York

''Empire'': Niagara Falls – Buffalo – Albany – New York

''Downeaster'': Portland–Boston

Rail passenger efficiency versus other modes

Per passenger mile, Amtrak is 30–40 percent more energy-efficient than commercial airlines and automobiles overall, though the exact figures for particular routes depend on load factor along with other variables. The electrified trains in the Northeast Corridor are considerably more efficient than Amtrak's diesels and can feed energy captured from regenerative braking back to the electrical grid. Passenger rail is also competitive with other modes in terms of safety per mile.

style="background:Lemonchiffon; text-align:center;" style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;" style="background:PeachPuff; text-align:center;" style="text-align: center;"

style="background:Lemonchiffon; text-align:center;"	Mode	Revenue per passenger mile ||	Energy consumption per passenger mile	Deaths per 100 million passenger miles	Reliability
style="background:Lemonchiffon; text-align:center;"	''Domestic airlines''	>style="text-align: center;"| 2,931 BTUs ||	0.02 deaths	76%
style="background:Lemonchiffon; text-align:center;"	''Transit buses''	12.9¢ ||	2,656 BTUs	0.05 deaths	N/A
style="text-align:center;"	''Amtrak''	30.7¢ ||	1,745 BTUs	0.03 deaths	80%
style="background:Lemonchiffon; text-align:center;"	''Autos''	N/A ||	3,501 BTUs	0.8 deaths	N/A

It should be noted that on-time performance is calculated differently for airlines than for Amtrak. A plane is considered on-time if it arrives within 15 minutes of the schedule. Amtrak uses a sliding scale, with trips under considered late if they're more than 10 minutes behind schedule, up to 30 minutes for trips over in length.

Intermodal connections

Intermodal connections between Amtrak trains and other transportation are available at many stations. Most Amtrak rail stations in downtown areas have connections to local public transport. Amtrak also code shares with Continental Airlines, providing service between Newark Liberty International Airport (via its Amtrak station and AirTrain Newark) and Philadelphia 30th St, Wilmington, Stamford, and New Haven. Amtrak also serves airport stations at Milwaukee, Oakland, Burbank, and Baltimore.

Amtrak coordinates Thruway Motorcoach service to extend many of its routes, especially in California.

Gaps in service

Outside the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak is a niche player in passenger transportation. In 2003, Amtrak accounted for just 0.1% of U.S. intercity passenger miles (5,680,000,000 out of 5,280,860,000,000 total, of which private-automobile travel makes up the vast majority). In fiscal year 2004, Amtrak routes served over 25 million passengers, while, in calendar year 2004, commercial airlines served over 712 million passengers.

Initial Amtrak service cuts

When it started on May 1, 1971, Amtrak implemented a fairly drastically truncated system of passenger trains compared to what had previously existed. Out of the 364 passenger trains that operated on April 30, only 182 were continued.

Initially, Amtrak served 46 out of the 50 states. The states not served were:

Alaska was (and is) served by the Alaska Railroad, because it is disconnected from the rest of the US.

Hawaii was excluded because it is outside the contiguous United States and last had passenger service in 1947.

South Dakota's passenger trains, last run by the Milwaukee Road, were discontinued by Amtrak for budget reasons.

Maine was excluded because it last passenger trains were discontinued by the Boston and Maine in 1967, prior to the start of Amtrak in 1971.

Subsequent Amtrak service changes

As of 2010 Amtrak still provides service to only 46 out of the 50 states:

Maine gained service through the new ''Downeaster'' trains.

Wyoming lost rail service in the 1997 cuts.

However, even within some of the states in which Amtrak operates, service is nominal at best. Many trains operate along borders and/or away from major population areas, such as in Idaho and Kentucky. Many major cities in the Midwest, West, and South have two or fewer trains per day, such as Atlanta, Denver, Cincinnati, Houston, Indianapolis, and Minneapolis – Saint Paul.

Meanwhile, outside the Continental US:

Alaska is (still) served by the Alaska Railroad, rather than Amtrak.

Hawaii is proposing building a commuter-oriented elevated railroad line on Oahu.

Service changes due to freight railroads

Since its inception, Amtrak has been reliant on freight railroads and operating over their rights of way. Amtrak services are affected if a freight railroad decides to abandon a right of way that it uses. This can sometimes lead to a rerouting of a train over a different route, adding to a train's travel time, or to the complete discontinuance of a train. Several trains affected by freight railroads over the years have been:

In 1983, the ''Silver Palm,'' later renamed the ''Palmetto'', between New York and St. Petersberg, Florida, was truncated to Tampa because Amtrak was unable to take on the costs of maintaining the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad drawbridge, which took the train over Tampa Bay.

In 2004, the ''Palmetto'' was further truncated back to the route between New York city and Savannah, Georgia, when CSX, successor to the Seaboard Coast Line, decided to abandon its mainline through Ocala. This abandoned track had been the route for the ''Palmetto'' from Savannah to Tampa.

The ''Sunset Limited'' was rerouted in 1997 to stop at Maricopa, 37 miles south of Phoenix, Arizona, after the Union Pacific Railroad decided to abandon the trackage that served Phoenix. Amtrak did not have the funds to maintain the trackage, and connects Phoenix to Maricopa by an Amtrak bus.

The ''San Joaquin'' service from Los Angeles, through central California, to Sacramento and Oakland, is prohibited from operating on the track between Los Angeles and Bakersfield because the Tehachapi Pass line between the two cities, owned and operated by Union Pacific, is the busiest single freight route in the country and thus UP prohibits passenger train use (except when the Coast Starlight's route is being repaired). Passengers take an Amtrak motorcoach bus service between Los Angeles and Bakersfield. The 280 to route takes roughly nine hours.

The ''Coast Starlight'' offers the only direct connection between Los Angeles and Oakland, and onward with Seattle. This runs along the Pacific Coast on a much longer twelve-hour schedule. Amtrak service is provided to San Jose, Oakland, and Emeryville, but not directly to San Francisco. Amtrak passengers destined for San Francisco transfer either at San Jose to Caltrain, which operates all passenger rail service north along the peninsula to San Francisco, or at Oakland to an Amtrak bus or using AC Transit or BART

Service reductions due to funding issues

Several significant Amtrak routes have been eliminated because of lack of funding since 1971, creating other gaps such as:

The ''National Limited,'' a New York and Washington D.C. train that connected with Kansas City, Missouri, providing direct connections to cities such as Pittsburgh, Columbus, Ohio, Indianapolis, and St. Louis. After its discontinuance in 1979, Chicago was left as the only passenger rail connection between the Midwest and East.

The ''North Coast Hiawatha,'' between Chicago and Seattle, had supplemented the ''Empire Builder'' service to the Pacific Northwest until 1979. The ''Hiawatha'', running on a more southern route to Seattle than the ''Empire Builder'', provided communities along that corridor with Amtrak service, in addition to providing another daily service between Chicago and Minneapolis–St. Paul.

In October 1979, The ''Floridian,'' which was the last link with the vaunted Chicago–Florida services of such trains as the ''City of Miami'', the ''Dixie Flagler'', and the ''South Wind'', was discontinued – along with the Louisville, Kentucky to Sanford, Florida ''Auto Train'' that the ''Floridian'' connected to in Louisville. This left the Midwest without any direct connections to Florida. Today passengers must travel east to Washington, D.C. to connect with the southbound ''Silver Star'' and ''Silver Meteor''.

In 1985, the local Minneapolis/Saint Paul to Duluth, Minnesota service, the ''North Star'', was eliminated and replaced with through motorcoach service.

In 1995, the ''Atlantic City Express'' service from New York and Washington D.C. to Atlantic City via Philadelphia, was replaced by New Jersey Transit passenger trains, which operate 14 daily trains in each direction between Philadelphia and Atlantic City.

In 1997, the ''Desert Wind'' and ''Pioneer'' were discontinued, thereby eliminating Amtrak service from Las Vegas, Boise, and all of Wyoming.

In 2003, Amtrak discontinued the ''Kentucky Cardinal,'' ending all service to Louisville KY.

In 2004 all ''Northeast Regional'' trains between New York and Boston via Hartford and Springfield were discontinued, but the other route between New York and Boston continues to have frequent service.

In 2005, ''Three Rivers'' (a reborn ''Broadway Limited'') was canceled, however New York to Chicago trains using the northerly (formerly New York Central) route continued.

In 2005, the ''Sunset Limited'', which offers thrice-weekly service between Orlando FL and Los Angeles CA, was affected by track damage along the Gulf Coast caused by Hurricane Katrina. This resulted in the train being temporarily truncated to the segment between New Orleans LA and Los Angeles CA. Although the track's owner, CSX, completed repairs by early 2006, Amtrak service has not resumed service between New Orleans and Orlando.

Recent issues with freight railroads

According to August 2010 issue of ''Trains'' Magazine, the ''Southwest Chief'' currently faces some challenges regarding some moves made by BNSF to cease all freight operations between La Junta, CO, and Lamy, NM. It has been reported that BNSF told Amtrak that as of January 1, 2010, all maintenance costs are to be covered by Amtrak if they wished to continue routing the train over the same right-of-way. Furthermore, BNSF has also declared that it will maintain the tracks between Hutchinson, KS, and La Junta, CO, at a Class 2 (30 mph passenger train maximum) speed instead of a Class 4 (79 mph passenger train maximum), again handing the bill over to Amtrak if they wanted to see service continue at a Class 4 level. These moves have led BNSF to offer to host the ''Southwest Chief'' over BNSF's currently used freight routes via Wichita, KS, Wellington, KS, Amarillo, TX, and Clovis, NM; however, Amtrak has refused and insists that they will pay the bill in order to keep the service as it currently is.

Three intermediate stops along the route of the ''Empire Builder'' in North Dakota are on the chopping block due to complications arising from Devils Lake, also according to the August 2010 issue of ''Trains'' Magazine. Because Canada will not allow the waters of the lake to drain within its borders, the lake is slowly rising and threatens to submerge the BNSF right-of-way located near it. As a result, BNSF has ended freight service between Devils Lake and Churchs Ferry, handing the cost of maintenance over to Amtrak. North Dakota's Congressional delegation has declared that there will be no reroute, as suggested by BNSF, to go directly between Fargo, ND, and Minot, ND, and possibly serve New Rockford, ND; instead, they have declared that they will "find the necessary funding needed" in order to help Amtrak cover the maintenance costs.

Train speeds, frequency, and ridership: international comparisons

US passenger rail offerings are not competitive with the passenger rail offerings in most of Europe or much of Japan, when comparing train frequency, speeds, ticket prices, or geographic coverage. Canadian passenger rail services are broadly similar to US passenger rail services, however.

The causes of these differences are disputed. Some suggest that the longer distances between most US cities and the lower population density, as compared with Europe or Japan, are the primary causes. These people often also note that the US ''Northeast Corridor'' route has both higher population density and shorter inter-city distances than the rest of the US. These people also often note that many European Union countries have much higher gasoline taxes, which makes automobile travel much more expensive per-mile in the EU than in the US, thereby encouraging use of alternative modes of transport. Others believe that US passenger rail has received less governmental subsidy (federal and state) than it should have received. Many other perspectives about these differences exist.

Speed

Inter-city Amtrak trains outside of the Northeast Corridor are much slower than typical inter-city passenger rail services in much of Japan or most of Europe. Many attribute this to Amtrak's reliance upon railway tracks owned and operated by freight railroads for trains outside of the Northeast Corridor. Track ownership in the US is different from most Europe and much of Japan, where the passenger rail services generally own and operate the railway tracks.

Freight rail operators are required under federal law to give dispatching preference to Amtrak trains. Some freight railroads have been accused of violating or skirting these regulations, allegedly resulting in passenger trains waiting in sidings for an hour or longer while waiting for freight traffic to clear the track. The railroads' dispatching practices were investigated in 2008, resulting in stricter laws about train priority which had a dramatic impact. Amtrak's overall on-time performance went up from 74.7% in fiscal 2008 to 84.7% in 2009, with long-distance trains and others outside the Northeast Corridor seeing the greatest benefit. The ''Missouri River Runner'' jumped from a very poor 11% to 95%, becoming one of Amtrak's best performers. The ''Texas Eagle'' went from 22.4% to 96.7%, and the ''California Zephyr'', with an abysmal 5% on-time record in 2008, went up to 78.3%. However, this improved performance also coincided with a general economic downturn, resulting in the lowest freight rail traffic volumes since at least 1988, meaning less freight traffic to impede passenger traffic.

Separately, a 1947 Interstate Commerce Commission order required, by year-end 1951, enhanced safety features for all trains traveling above a 79 mph limit. The infrastructure required for cab signaling, automatic train stop and other enhancements were uneconomical for freight railroads in most of the US. Crucially, outside the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak trains primarily use trackage rights to travel on freight railroad tracks. So this ICC safety rule effectively killed further development of US high-speed rail outside of the Northeast Corridor. In the Northeast Corridor the Pennsylvania Railroad and others already had installed cab signaling by 1947. By contrast, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia all operate trains at 100 mph (160 km/h) or higher using conventional lineside signalling.

As a result of that 1947 ICC order, few trains in the United States operate above outside of the Northeast Corridor. A notable exception is the ''Southwest Chief'', which travels up to along various stretches of its Chicago–Los Angeles route. However, positive train control (PTC) signaling is required to be implemented by 2015 under the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008; PTC signaling is sufficient to remove the 79 mph limit. The ''Wolverine'' has already had some PTC signaling and other upgrades put in place to enable higher speeds. PTC has proven to be a much less expensive method to provide enhanced signaling than earlier technologies used in the United States.

In Britain, for example, the journey from London to Edinburgh is completed in around four and a half hours (an average speed of around per hour). In the USA, the journey on the ''Cardinal'' from New York to Charlottesville takes some seven hours, an average of just under per hour. Even the flagship ''Acela'' service between New York and Boston only averages, in its three and a half hour journey, around per hour, in large part due to the age of the trackage and catenary system, which has been undergoing renovation in stages since ''Acela'''s 2001 introduction. Also, some segments of track in the Northeast Corridor are too close together for the ''Acela'' carriages to safely tilt while also maintaining FRA-mandated minimum space between trains on parallel tracks.

Unlike Canada, the US, and most of the UK, the dedicated high-speed trains (e.g. Japan's ''Shinkansen'', France's ''TGV'') of China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain generally use special high-speed railroad tracks that were constructed for the sole use of high-speed passenger trains.

Train frequency

Frequency of trains even between major destinations in the USA (again outside the Northeast Corridor) is low when compared with most European countries. Many long distance main lines in Europe operate to half-hourly frequencies throughout the day, whereas in the USA many major cities (such as Indianapolis and Dallas) have once-daily intercity rail service. The causes for this are disputed.

For usage of Amtrak trains/routes: see ''List of Amtrak routes''

Ridership

The ridership for US intercity lines is lower than in most of Europe and much of Japan.

For example, the route from Chicago to San Antonio (the ''Texas Eagle''), taking in Fort Worth and other major cities and towns along its route, had a ridership in 2008 of just 251,518 passengers; while the relatively minor station of Lowestoft (population 55,000) in Suffolk, England had a patronage of over 410,000 for the same period. Some Amtrak routes (for example the ''Heartland Flyer'' with its ridership of only 80,892 per annum that Amtrak operates under contracts with the Government of Oklahoma and the Government of Texas) have minuscule ridership compared with European standards.

Guest rewards

Amtrak's loyalty program, Guest Rewards, is similar to the frequent-flyer programs of many airlines. Guest Rewards members accumulate points by riding Amtrak and through other activities, and can redeem these points for free or discounted Amtrak tickets and other rewards.

Freight

Amtrak Express provides small-package and less-than-truckload shipping among more than 100 cities. Amtrak Express also offers station-to-station shipment of human remains to many express cities. At smaller stations, funeral directors must load and unload the shipment onto and off the train. Amtrak hauled mail for the United States Postal Service and time-sensitive freight, but discontinued these services in October 2004 when the contract was lost. On most parts of the few lines that Amtrak owns, trackage-rights agreements allow freight railroads to use its trackage.

Commuter services

Through various commuter services, Amtrak serves an additional 61.1 million passengers per year in conjunction with state and regional authorities in California (through Amtrak California, Caltrain, and Metrolink), Connecticut (through Shore Line East), Maryland (through MARC), and Washington.

Amtrak's ''Capitol Corridor'', ''Pacific Surfliner'' (formerly ''San Diegan''), and ''San Joaquin'' are funded mostly by the California Department of Transportation, Caltrans, rather than the US Federal Government.

Classes of service

Amtrak has a variety of coaches that suit a variety of needs. Class choices are similar to those used by airlines.

First Class

''First Class'' service is currently offered on the ''Acela Express'' only. Previously First Class was offered on the ''Northeast Direct'' (predecessor to the ''Northeast Regional'') as well as the ''Metroliner'' up until that service's discontinuation in 2006.

Seats are larger than those of Business Class and come in a variety of seating modes (single, single with table, double, double with table and wheelchair accessible). First Class is located in separate cars from the other classes. First Class includes complimentary meal and beverage service along with free newspapers and hot towel service. First Class seats are set in a 1x2 configuration. There are two attendants per car.

First Class passengers have access to Amtrak ClubAcela lounges in Washington D.C., Philadelphia, New York and Boston (lounges offer complementary drinks, personal ticketing service, lounge seating, conference areas, computer/internet access and televisions tuned to CNN). At the Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., ClubAcelas, passengers can board their train directly from the ClubAcela. In Philadelphia passengers use an elevator to access the train, while in Washington passengers leave through a side door leading to the train platform.

Sleeper Service

''Sleeper Service'' rooms are considered First Class on long distance trains. Rooms are classified into roomettes, bedrooms, family bedrooms and accessible bedrooms. With the price of a room comes complimentary meals and attendant service. At night, rooms turn into sleeping areas with fold-down beds and fresh linens. Complimentary bottled water, newspapers and turn down service is included as well.

Sleeper car passengers have access to the entire train. Sleeper passengers also have access to the Club Acela lounges in stations along the Northeast Corridor and access to the Metropolitan Lounges in Chicago, Miami, New Orleans, Portland (Oregon), and Minneapolis/Saint Paul.

Business Class

''Business Class'' is the minimum class of service on the ''Acela Express'' and is offered as an upgrade on ''North East Regional'' and similar trains. Business Class seats are larger than coach seats. Business Class passengers have easy access to the cafe car, either seated at one end of the cafe car or with the cafe car separating the ''Business Class'' cars from ''Regional Coach'' Cars. Business Class passengers also receive complimentary non-alcoholic beverages and newspapers (typically ''The New York Times'', even if boarding/originating outside New York city).

Two different Business Class seat configurations exist:

Some trains feature Business Class seats at one end of the Cafe Car. These leather seats are in a 1x2 style, with cup holders, leg rests, and recline substantially.

Other trains feature a dedicated Business Class car, which is actually a rebranded ''Long-Distance Coach'' car. The ''Long-Distance Coach'' or ''Business Class'' cars have more comfortable seats, more leg room and upgraded foot rests, compared with a ''Regional Coach'' car. The cloth seats are organised in a 2x2 style, offer leg rests, offer North American standard (120 V, 60 Hz) electrical outlets along the windows, but lack cup holders. One end of this car type normally has open floor space for luggage that will not fit in the overhead racks.

Coach Class

Amtrak has several variations that it considers ''Coach Class''.

Reserved Coach

''Reserved Coach'' is the standard class of service on most Amtrak trains (except ''Acela''). Coach seats are always set in a 2x2 configuration, but the seats themselves come in two varieties:

Regional Coach is found on shorter (day) routes such as the ''North East Regional'', ''Empire Service'', the ''Keystone'', and the ''Downeaster''. Seats in this type of car are comparable to economy seating on airlines, with slightly more generous legroom and recline.

Long Distance Coach is only found on overnight sleeper routes, such as the ''Empire Builder'' and the ''Lakeshore Limited''. These seats are equivalent to the Business Class seats on Amtrak's ''Regional'' routes, having a much deeper recline, more legroom, footrests, and North American standard (120 V, 60 Hz) power outlets along the windows.

All ticketed passengers are guaranteed a seat, although passengers are not assigned a specific seat before boarding. The lack of advance seat assignment is unlike Canada's Via Rail and many long distance train services in Europe. If the train is not sold out, passengers are usually permitted to purchase tickets on the day of departure, or in some cases aboard the train.

Unreserved Coach

''Unreserved Coach'' seating is offered on a first-come, first-served basis on some of Amtrak's shorter distance and commuter-oriented routes. Unreserved coach is also used as a designator when Amtrak through-books an itinerary with a regional transit operator's commuter service (such as New Jersey Transit's Atlantic City Line)

Until 2005 certain ''Northeast Regional'' trains were unreserved, running alongside standard reserved trips. The hourly ''Clocker'' trains that ran from New York to Philadelphia until late 2005 were also unreserved. Currently the ''Pacific Surfliner'', the ''Capitol Corridor'', the ''Hiawatha'', and the ''Keystone Service'' between Harrisburg and Philadelphia are the only trains to offer unreserved coach seating.

Trains and tracks

Most tracks on which Amtrak operates are owned by freight railroads, but Amtrak owns the rail track in most of the ''North East Corridor'' and a few other places.

Tracks not owned or leased by Amtrak

Amtrak operates over all five Class I railroads in the United States, as well as several regional railroads and short lines, such as Pan Am Railways, the New England Central Railroad, and the Vermont Railway. Other sections are owned by terminal railroads jointly controlled by freight companies or by commuter rail agencies. It is able to do this because Amtrak has ''trackage rights'', but it does not maintain those tracks or control train movements on those tracks.

The arrangement has two notable impacts on Amtrak operations:

The host railroad is responsible for maintenance. Occasionally, Amtrak has suffered service disruptions from untimely track rehabilitation. When host railroads have simply refused to maintain their tracks to Amtrak's needs, Amtrak occasionally has been compelled to pay the host to maintain the tracks.

Amtrak has priority over freight traffic only for a specified and small window of time. When a passenger train misses that window, for example due to an earlier delay, host railroads may (and frequently do) direct passenger trains to follow slower freight traffic. This means that severely even minor delays quickly become major delays. In some cases, an unauthorized delay caused by a freight railroad might expose the host railroad to financial penalties by law.

Tracks owned or leased by Amtrak

Along the Northeast Corridor and in several other areas, Amtrak owns 730 route-miles of track (1175 km), including 17 tunnels consisting of of track, and 1,186 bridges (including the famous Hell Gate Bridge) consisting of of track. Amtrak owns and operates the following lines:

In several places, primarily in New England, Amtrak leases tracks, providing track maintenance and controlling train movements. Most often, these tracks are leased from state, regional, or local governments.

Northeast Corridor

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Boston to the Massachusetts/Rhode Island state line (operated and maintained by Amtrak, but owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts)

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Amtrak Services (Quick Reference)

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Amtrak owns 2,142 railway cars and 425 locomotives for revenue runs and service. Examples include the GE P42DC, the EMD AEM-7, the Amfleet car and the Superliner car. Occasionally, private cars are added to the roster.

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

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Photos of every Amtrak station – unofficial website

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Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Name	Ethan Allen
Birth place	Litchfield, Connecticut Colony
Death place	Burlington, Vermont Republic
Placeofburial	Burlington
Allegiance	Vermont Republic
Serviceyears	1757 Connecticut provincial militia 1770–1775 Green Mountain Boys 1778–1781 Continental Army 1779–1780 Vermont Republic militia
Rank	Major General (Vermont Republic militia)Colonel (Continental Army)
Branch	Continental ArmyVermont Republic militia
Commands	Green Mountain BoysFort Ticonderoga
Battles	American Revolutionary War Capture of Fort Ticonderoga Battle of Longue-Pointe (Montreal)
Laterwork	farmer, politician, land speculator, philosopher }}

Ethan Allen ( – February 12, 1789) was a farmer, businessman, land speculator, philosopher, writer, and American Revolutionary War patriot, hero, and politician. He is best known as one of the founders of the U.S. state of Vermont, and for the capture of Fort Ticonderoga early in the American Revolutionary War.

Born in rural Connecticut, Allen had a frontier upbringing but also received an education that included some philosophical teachings. In the late 1760s he became interested in the New Hampshire Grants, buying land there and becoming embroiled in the legal disputes surrounding the territory. Legal setbacks led to the formation of the Green Mountain Boys, whom Allen led in a campaign of intimidation and property destruction to drive New York settlers from the Grants. When the American Revolutionary War broke out, Allen and the Boys seized the initiative and captured Fort Ticonderoga in May 1775. In September 1775 Allen led a failed attempt on Montreal that resulted in his capture by British authorities. First imprisoned aboard Royal Navy ships, he was paroled in New York City, and finally released in a prisoner exchange in 1778.

Upon his release, Allen returned to the Grants, which had declared independence in 1777, and resumed political activity in the territory. In addition to continuing resistance to New York's attempts to assert control over the territory, Allen was active in efforts by Vermont's leadership for recognition by Congress, and he participated in controversial negotiations with the British over the possibility of Vermont becoming a separate British province.

Allen wrote accounts of his exploits in the war that were widely read in the 19th century, as well as philosophical treatises and documents relating to the politics of Vermont's formation. His business dealings included successful farming operations, one of Connecticut's early iron works, and land speculation in the Vermont territory. Land purchased by Allen and his brothers included tracts of land that eventually became Burlington, Vermont. He was twice married, fathering eight children.

Early life

Childhood

Ethan Allen was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, the first-born child of Joseph and Mary Baker Allen. The family moved to the town of Cornwall shortly after his birth. Seven siblings, all of whom survived to adulthood, joined the family between Allen's birth and 1751. His brothers Ira and Heman would also become prominent figures in the early history of Vermont.

Although not very much is known about Allen's childhood, the town of Cornwall was frontier territory in the 1740s. By the time Allen reached his teens, the area, while still a difficult area in which to make a living, began to resemble a town, with wood-frame houses beginning to replace the rough cabins of the early settlers. Joseph Allen died in 1755; at the time of his death he was one of the wealthier landowners in the area, ran a successful farm, and had previously served as town selectman. Allen had, before his father's death, begun studies under a minister in the nearby town of Salisbury with the goal of gaining admission to Yale College. Allen's brother Ira recalled that, even at a young age, Ethan was curious and interested in learning.

Marriage and early adulthood

Allen was forced to end his studies upon his father's death. While he volunteered for militia service in 1757 in response to French movements resulting in the Siege of Fort William Henry, his unit received word while en route that the fort had fallen, and turned back. Even though the French and Indian War continued over the next several years, Allen did not apparently participate in any further military activities, and is presumed to have tended his farm, at least until 1762. In that year, he became part owner of an iron furnace in Salisbury. He also married Mary Brownson, a woman five years his senior, from the nearby town of Roxbury, in July 1762. They first settled in Cornwall, but moved the following year to Salisbury with their infant daughter Loraine. Allen bought a small farm and proceeded to develop the iron works. The expansion of the iron works was apparently costly to Allen; he was forced to sell off portions of the Cornwall property to raise funds, and eventually sold half of his interest in the works to his brother Heman. The Allen brothers sold their interest in the iron works in October 1765.

By most accounts Allen's marriage was an unhappy one. His wife was rigidly religious, prone to criticizing him, and was barely able to read and write. In contrast Allen's behavior was sometimes quite flamboyant, and he maintained an interest in learning. In spite of these differences the marriage survived until Mary's death in 1783. Ethan and Mary had five children together, of whom only two reached adulthood.

Allen's exploits in those years introduced him to the wrong side of the justice system, which would become a recurring feature of his life. In one incident, he and his brother Heman went to the farm of a neighbor, some of whose pigs had escaped onto their land, and seized the pigs. The neighbor sued to have the animals returned to him; Allen pled his own case, and lost. Ethan and Heman were fined ten shillings, and the neighbor was awarded another five shillings in damages. He was also called to court in Salisbury for inoculating himself against smallpox, a procedure that at the time required the sanction of the town selectmen.

Thomas Young

When he moved to Salisbury, Allen met Thomas Young, a doctor living and practicing just across the provincial boundary in New York. The doctor, only five years older than Allen, taught the younger Allen a great deal about philosophy and political theory, while Allen was able to bring to Young his appreciation of nature and life on the frontier. Young and Allen eventually decided to collaborate on a book intended to be an attack on organized religion, as Young had convinced Allen to become a Deist. They worked on the manuscript until 1764, when Young moved away from the area, taking the manuscript with him.

It was not until many years later, after Young's death, that Allen was able to recover the manuscript. He expanded and reworked the material, and eventually published it as ''Reason: the Only Oracle of Man''.

Moving around

While Heman remained in Salisbury, where he ran a general store until his death in 1778, Ethan's movements over the next few years are poorly documented. He is known to have been living in Northampton, Massachusetts in the spring of 1766, where his son Joseph was born, and where he invested in a lead mine. He was asked to leave Northampton in July 1767 by the authorities; while no official reason is known, biographer Michael Bellesiles suggests that religious differences and Allen's tendency to be disruptive may have played a role in his departure. He then briefly returned to Salisbury before settling in nearby Sheffield, Massachusetts with his younger brother Zimri. It is likely that his first visits to the New Hampshire Grants occurred during these years. While Sheffield would be the family home for ten years, Allen was often absent for extended periods.

The New Hampshire Grants

As early as 1749, Benning Wentworth, New Hampshire's governor, was selling land grants in the area west of the Connecticut River, to which New Hampshire had always laid somewhat dubious claim. Many of these grants were sold at relatively low prices to land speculators, with some land kicked back to Wentworth. In 1764, King George issued an order resolving the competing claims of New York and New Hampshire in favor of New York. New York, which had also issued land grants that overlapped some of those sold by Wentworth, insisted that holders of the Wentworth grants pay a fee to New York to have their grants validated. As this fee approached the original purchase price, and many of the holders were land-rich and cash-poor, there was a great deal of resistance to this demand. By 1769 the situation in the Grants had deteriorated to the point where surveyors and other figures of New York authority were being physically threatened and driven from the area.

Allen asked for assistance

A number of the holders of Wentworth grants were originally from northwestern Connecticut, and some of them, including Remember Baker and Seth Warner, were relatives of Allen. In 1770, a group of Wentworth grant holders asked Allen to defend their case before New York's Supreme Court, a move that presented Allen with his first big stage. This move to leadership was not unusual; he was known among his contemporaries to be willing to step forward and take control. The trial, for which Allen hired Jared Ingersoll to represent the grantholder interest, began in July 1770, pitting Allen against politically powerful New York grant-holders, including New York's Lieutenant Governor Colden, James Duane (who was prosecuting the case), and Robert Livingston, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (who was presiding over the case). The trial was brief, and the outcome unsurprising, as the court, citing their fraudulently issued nature, refused to allow the introduction of Wentworth's grants as evidence. Before departing for Bennington with the news, Allen was visited by Duane, who offered Allen payments which Duane described in his diary as payment "for going among the people to quiet them". Allen denied taking any money; even if he did, none of his actions appeared to honor Duane's request. According to Allen's account he was outraged, and left his visitors with veiled threats, indicating that attempts to enforce the judgment would be met with resistance.

While many historians have believed that Allen took these actions because he already held Wentworth grants of his own, there is no evidence that he was issued any such grants until after he had been asked to take up the defense of grants held by others. Between May 1770, when he first began working on the defense, and the trial in July, he acquired, for the price of $50, grants from Wentworth to about of land in Poultney and Castleton.

Green Mountain Boys

On Allen's return to Bennington, the settlers met at the Catamount Tavern to discuss their options. These discussions resulted in the formation of the Green Mountain Boys, with local militia companies in each of the surrounding towns. Allen was named their Colonel Commandant, and cousins Seth Warner and Remember Baker were captains of two of the companies. Further meetings resulted in the creation of committees of safety, and laid down rules by which to resist attempts by the New York provincial government to establish its authority. These included denying surveyors sent by the province the ability to survey ''any'' land in the Grants, not just land owned through the Wentworth grants.

While Allen participated in some of the actions to drive surveyors away, he also spent much time exploring the entire territory, probably ranging as far north as the site of Burlington in his wanderings. After selling off some of his Connecticut properties, he began buying wild lands further north in the territory, which he sold at a profit as the southern settlements grew and people began to move further north.

Friction with the provincial government rose notably when, in October 1771, Allen and a company of Boys drove off a group of Scottish settlers near Rupert. Allen detained two of the settlers and forced them to watch the torching of their newly constructed cabins. He then ordered them to leave, saying, "Go your way now, and complain to that damned scoundrel your Governor, God damn your Governor, Laws, King, Council, and Assembly". When the settlers protested his language Allen continued the tirade, threatening to send any troops from New York to Hell. In response, New York's governor, William Tryon, issued warrants for the arrests of those responsible, and eventually put a price of £20 on the heads of six participants, including Allen. Allen and his cohorts countered by issuing offers of their own.

Over the next few years the situation deteriorated further. Governor Tryon and the Boys exchanged threats, truce offers, and other writings, which were frequently written by Allen in florid and didactic language, while the Boys continued to drive surveyors and incoming tenants on New York-granted lands away. Most of these incidents did not involve bloodshed, although individuals were at times manhandled, and the Boys sometimes did extensive property damage when driving tenants out. By March 1774, the harsh treatment of settlers and their property by Allen and the Boys prompted Tryon to increase some of the rewards to £100.

Onion River Company

Allen persisted with actions against the New York-issued grantholders and their tenants even though a number of the Wentworth proprietors were tiring of the business. In 1772 he, his cousin Remember Baker, and his brothers Ira, Heman, and Zimri, formed the Onion River Company, which was basically a land-speculation organization devoted to purchasing land in and around the Winooski River (known then as the Onion River). The success of this business depended on the successful defense of the Wentworth grants. Early purchases of the company included about of land from Edward Burling and his partners; land was sold at a profit to Thomas Chittenden among others, and the settlements on the company's land have grown to become the city of Burlington.

The outrage of the Wentworth proprietors was renewed in 1774 when Governor Tryon passed a law containing harsh provisions clearly targeted at the actions of the "Bennington Mob". Vermont historian Samuel Williams called it "an act which for its savage barbarity is probably without parallel in the legislation of any civilized country". Its provisions included the penalty of death for interfering with a magistrate, and the criminalization of meetings of more than three people "for unlawful purposes" in the Grants. The Boys countered with rules of their own, forbidding anyone in the Grants from holding "any office of honor or profit under the colony of N. York".

Allen spent much of the summer of 1774 writing a "pamphlet" entitled ''A Brief Narrative of the Proceedings of the Government of New York Relative to Their Obtaining the Jurisdiction of that Large District of Land to the Westward of the Connecticut River''. The length of the name was justified; it was a 200-page polemic arguing the position of the Wentworth proprietors. Allen had the work, which historian Charles Jellison describes as "rebellion in print", printed in Connecticut, and began selling and giving away copies in early 1775.

Westminster massacre

Allen traveled into the northern parts of the Grants early in 1775, as was his custom, for solitude and to hunt for game and land opportunities. A few days after his return, news came that blood had finally been shed over the land disputes. Most of the resistance activity had until then taken place on the west side of the Green Mountains; on March 13, a small riot in the shire town of Westminster, on the east side of the mountains, resulted in the death of two men. Allen and a troop of Boys traveled to Westminster where, under Allen's influence, the town's convention adopted a strongly worded resolution authorizing the drafting of a plea to the King to remove them "out of so oppressive a jurisdiction". The preparation of the petition was assigned to a committee which included Allen. Less than a week after the Westminster convention ended, while Allen and the committee worked on their petition, the American Revolutionary War began.

Early Revolutionary War

Capture of Fort Ticonderoga

In late April, following the battles of Lexington and Concord, Allen received a message from members of an irregular Connecticut militia that they were planning to capture Fort Ticonderoga, requesting his assistance in the effort. Allen, whether motivated by patriotic impulses (as he describes in his account of the events), or by the realization that the action might improve the political position of his side in the grants disputes, agreed to help, and began rounding up the Green Mountain Boys. On May 2, 60 men from Massachusetts and Connecticut met with Allen in Bennington, where they discussed the logistics of the expedition. By May 7, these men joined Allen and 130 Boys at Castleton. The next morning, Allen was elected to lead the expedition, and a dawn raid was planned for May 10. Two small companies were detached to procure boats, and Allen took the main contingent north to Hand's Cove in Shoreham to prepare for the crossing.

On the afternoon of May 9, Benedict Arnold quite unexpectedly arrived on the scene. Flourishing a commission from the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, he asserted his right to command the expedition. The assembled men refused to acknowledge his authority, insisting they would only follow Allen's lead. In a private discussion, Allen and Arnold reached an accommodation, the essence of which was that Arnold and Allen would both be at the front of the troops when the attack on the fort was made.

Around 2 am, a few boats were finally procured for the crossing. However, only 83 men made it to the other side of the lake before Allen and Arnold, concerned that dawn was approaching, decided to attack. In the early dawn, the small force marched on the fort, surprising the lone sentry. Allen went directly to the fort commander's quarters, seeking to force his surrender. Lieutenant Jocelyn Feltham, the assistant to the fort's commander, Captain William Delaplace, was awoken by the noise, and called to wake the captain. Stalling for time, he demanded to know by what authority the fort was being entered. Allen, who later claimed that he said it to Captain Delaplace, said, "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" Delaplace finally emerged from his chambers, fully dressed, and surrendered his sword. The rest of the fort's garrison surrendered without firing a shot.

Raids on St. John

A detachment of the boys under Seth Warner's command went to nearby Fort Crown Point and captured the small garrison there. On May 14, following the arrival of 100 men recruited by Arnold's captains, and the arrival of a schooner and some bateaux that had been taken at Skenesboro, Arnold and 50 of his men sailed north to raid Fort St. John, on the Richelieu River downstream from the lake, where a small British warship was reported by the prisoners to be anchored. Arnold's raid was a success; he seized the sloop HMS ''Royal George'', supplies, and a number of bateaux.

Allen, shortly after Arnold's departure on the raid, decided, after his successes at the southern end of the lake, to take and hold Fort St. John himself. To that end, he and about 100 Boys climbed into four bateaux, and began rowing north. After two days without significant food (which they had forgotten to provision in the boats), Allen's small fleet met Arnold's on its way back to Ticonderoga near the foot of the lake. Arnold generously opened his stores to Allen's hungry men, and tried to dissuade Allen from his objective, noting that it was likely the alarm had been raised and troops were on their way to St. John. Allen, likely both stubborn in his determination, and envious of Arnold, persisted.

When Allen and his men landed above St. John and scouted the situation, they learned that a column of 200 or more regulars was approaching. Rather than attempt an ambush on those troops, which significantly outnumbered his tired company, Allen withdrew to the other side of the river, where the men collapsed with exhaustion and slept without sentries through the night. They were awakened when British sentries discovered them and began firing grapeshot at them from across the river. The Boys, in a panic, piled into their bateaux and rowed with all speed upriver. When the expedition returned to Ticonderoga two days later, some of the men were greatly disappointed that they had nothing to show for the effort and risks they took.

Promoting an invasion

Following Allen's failed attempt on St. John, many of his men drifted away, presumably drawn by the needs of home and farm. Arnold then began asserting his authority over Allen for control of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Allen publicly announced that he was stepping down as commander, but remained hopeful that the Second Continental Congress was going to name "a commander for this department ... Undoubtedly, we shall be rewarded according to our merit". Congress, for its part, at first not really wanting any part of the affair, effectively voted to strip and then abandon the forts. Both Allen and Arnold protested these measures, pointing out that doing so would leave the northern border wide open. They both also made proposals to Congress and other provincial bodies for carrying out an invasion of Quebec. Allen, in one instance, wrote that "I will lay my life on it, that with fifteen hundred men, and a proper artillery, I will take Montreal". Allen also attempted correspondence with the people of Quebec and with the Indians living there in an attempt to sway their opinion toward the revolutionary cause.

On June 22, Allen and Seth Warner appeared before Congress in Philadelphia, where they argued for the inclusion of the Green Mountain Boys in the Continental Army. After deliberation, Congress directed General Philip Schuyler, who had been appointed to lead the Army's Northern Department, to work with New York's provincial government to establish (and pay for) a regiment consisting of the Boys, and that they be paid Army rates for their service at Ticonderoga. On July 4, Allen and Warner made their case to New York's Provincial Congress, which, despite the fact that the Royal Governor had placed a price on their heads, agreed to the formation of a regiment. Following a brief visit to their families, they returned to Bennington to spread the news. Allen went to Ticonderoga to join Schuyler, while Warner and others raised the regiment.

Allen loses command of the Boys

When the regimental companies in the Grants had been raised, they held a vote in Dorset to determine who would command the regiment. By a wide margin, Seth Warner was elected to lead the regiment. Brothers Ira and Heman were also given command positions, but Ethan was not given any position at all in the regiment. The thorough rejection stung; Allen wrote to Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull, "How the old men came to reject me I cannot conceive inasmuch as I saved them from the incroachments of New York."

The rejection likely had several causes. The people of the Grants were tired of the disputes with New York, and they were tired of Allen's posturing and egotistic behavior, which the success at Ticonderoga had enhanced. Finally, the failure of the attempt on St. John's was widely seen as reckless and ill-advised, attributes they did not appreciate in a regimental leader. Warner was viewed as a more stable and quieter choice, and was someone that also commanded respect. The history of Warner's later actions in the revolution (notably at Hubbardton and Bennington) may be seen as a confirmation of the choice made by the Dorset meeting. In the end, Allen took the rejection in stride, and managed to convince Schuyler and Warner to permit him to accompany the regiment as a civilian scout.

Capture

The American invasion of Quebec departed from Ticonderoga on August 28. On September 4, the army had occupied the Île aux Noix in the Richelieu River, a few miles above Fort St. John, which they then prepared to besiege. On September 8, Schuyler sent Allen and Massachusetts Major John Brown, who had also been involved in the capture of Ticonderoga, into the countryside between St. John and Montreal to spread the word of their arrival to the habitants and the Indians. They were successful enough in gaining support from the habitants that Quebec's governor, General Guy Carleton, reported that "they have injured us very much".

When he returned from that expedition 8 days later, Brigadier General Richard Montgomery had assumed command of the invasion due to Schuyler's illness. Montgomery, likely not wanting the troublemaker in his camp, again sent him out, this time to raise a regiment of French-speaking Canadiens. Accompanied by a small number of Americans, he again set out, traveling through the countryside to Sorel, before turning to follow the Saint Lawrence River up toward Montreal, recruiting upwards of 200 men.

On September 24, he and Brown, whose company was guarding the road between St. John's and Montreal, met at Longueuil, and, according to Allen's account of the events, came up with a plan in which both he and Brown would lead their forces to attack Montreal. Allen and about 100 men crossed the Saint Lawrence that night, but Brown and his men, who were to cross the river at Laprairie, did not. General Carleton, alerted to Allen's presence, mustered every man he could, and, in the Battle of Longue-Pointe, scattered most of Allen's force, and captured him and about 30 men. His capture ended his participation in the revolution until 1778, as he was imprisoned by the British. General Schuyler, upon learning of Allen's capture, wrote, "I am very apprehensive of disagreeable consequences arising from Mr. Allen's imprudence. I always dreaded his impatience and imprudence."

Imprisonment

Much of what is known of Allen's captivity is known only from his own account of the time; where contemporary records are available, they tend to confirm those aspects of his story.

Allen was first placed aboard , a brig anchored at Montreal. He was kept in solitary confinement and chains, and General Richard Prescott had, according to Allen, ordered him to be treated "with much severity". In October 1775, the ''Gaspée'' went downriver, and her prisoners were transferred to the ''Adamant'', which then sailed for England. Allen wrote of the voyage that he "was put under the power of an English Merchant from London, whose name was Brook Watson: a man of malicious and cruel disposition".

On arrival at Falmouth, England, after a crossing under filthy conditions, Allen and the other prisoners were imprisoned in Pendennis Castle, Cornwall. At first his treatment was poor, but Allen wrote a letter, ostensibly to the Continental Congress, describing his conditions and suggesting that Congress treat the prisoners it held the same way. Unknown to Allen, British prisoners now included General Prescott, captured trying to escape from Montreal, and the letter came into the hands of the British cabinet. Also faced with opposition within the British establishment to the treatment of captives taken in North America, King George decreed that the men should be sent back to America and treated as prisoners of war.

In January 1776, Allen and his men were put on board HMS ''Soledad'', which sailed for Cork, Ireland. The people of Cork, when they learned that the famous Ethan Allen was in port, took up a collection to provide him and his men with clothing and other supplies. Much of the following year was spent on prison ships off the American coast. At one point, while aboard HMS ''Mercury'', she anchored off New York, where, among other visitors, the captain entertained William Tryon; Allen reports that Tryon glanced at him without any sign of recognition, although it is likely the New York governor knew who he was. In August 1776, Allen and other prisoners were temporarily put ashore in Halifax, owing to extremely poor conditions aboard ship; due to food scarcity, both crew and prisoners were on short rations, and scurvy was rampant. By the end of October, Allen was again off New York, where the British, having secured the city, moved the prisoners on-shore, and, as he was considered an officer, gave Allen limited parole. With the financial assistance of his brother Ira, he lived comfortably, if out of action, until August 1777. He then learned of the death of his young son Joseph due to smallpox.

According to another prisoner's account, Allen wandered off after learning of his son's death. He was arrested for violating his parole, and placed in solitary confinement. There he remained while Vermont declared independence, and John Burgoyne's campaign for the Hudson River met a stumbling block near Bennington in August 1777. On May 3, 1778 he was transferred to Staten Island. He was admitted to General John Campbell's quarters, where he was invited to eat and drink with the general and several other British field officers. Allen stayed there for two days and was treated politely. On the third day Allen was exchanged for Colonel Archibald Campbell, who was conducted to the exchange by Colonel Elias Boudinot, the American commissary general of prisoners appointed by General George Washington. Following the exchange, Allen reported to Washington at Valley Forge. On May 14, he was breveted a colonel in the Continental Army in "reward of his fortitude, firmness and zeal in the cause of his country, manifested during his long and cruel captivity, as well as on former occasions," and given military pay of $75 per month. The brevet rank, however, meant that there was no active role, until called, for Allen. Allen's services were never requested, and eventually the payments stopped.

Vermont Republic

Return home

Following his visit to Valley Forge, Allen traveled to Salisbury, arriving on May 25, 1778. There he learned that his brother Heman had died just the previous week, and that his brother Zimri, who had been caring for Ethan's family and farm, had died in the spring following his capture. The death of Heman, with whom Allen had been quite close, hit him quite hard.

He then set out for Bennington, where news of his impending return preceded him, and he was met with all of the honor due a military war hero. There he learned that the Vermont Republic had declared independence in 1777, that a constitution had been drawn up, and that elections had been held. Allen wrote of this homecoming that "we passed the flowing bowl, and rural felicity, sweetened with friendship, glowed in every countenance". The next day he went to Arlington to see his family and his brother Ira, whose prominence in Vermont politics had risen considerably during Allen's captivity.

Politics

Allen spent the next several years involved in Vermont's political and military matters. While his family remained in Arlington, he spent most of his time either in Bennington or on the road, where he could avoid his wife's nagging. Shortly after his arrival, Vermont's Assembly passed the Banishment Act, a sweeping measure allowing for the confiscation and auction by the republic of property owned by known Tories. Allen was appointed to be one of the judges responsible for deciding whose property was subject to seizure under the law. (This law was so successful at collecting revenue that Vermont did not impose any taxes until 1781.) Allen personally escorted some of those convicted under the law to Albany, where he turned them over to General John Stark for transportation to the British lines. Some of these supposed Tories protested to New York Governor George Clinton that they were actually dispossessed Yorkers. Clinton, who considered Vermont to still be a part of New York, did not want to honor the actions of the Vermont tribunals; Stark, who had custody of the men, disagreed with Clinton. Eventually the dispute made its way to George Washington, who essentially agreed with Stark since he desperately needed the general's services. The prisoners were eventually transported to West Point, where they remained in "easy imprisonment".

While Allen's service as a judge in Vermont was brief, he continued to ferret out Tories and report them to local Boards of Confiscation for action. He was so zealous in these efforts that they also included naming his own brother Levi, who was apparently trying to swindle Ethan and Ira out of land at the time. This action was somewhat surprising, as Levi had not only attempted to purchase Ethan's release while he was in Halifax, but he had also traveled to New York while Ethan was on parole there, and furnished him with goods and money. Ethan and Levi engaged in a war of words, many of which were printed in the ''Connecticut Courant'', even after Levi crossed British lines. They would eventually reconcile in 1783.

Early in 1779, Governor Clinton issued a proclamation stating that the state of New York would honor the Wentworth grants, if the settlers would recognize New York's political jurisdiction over the Vermont territory. Allen wrote another pamphlet in response, entitled ''An Address to the Inhabitants of the State of Vermont; with Remarks on a Proclamation under the Hand of his Excellency George Clinton, Esq; Governor of the State of New York''. In typical style, he castigated the governor for issuing "romantic proclamations ... calculated to deceive woods people", and for his "folly and stupidity". Clinton's response, once he recovered his temper, was to issue another proclamation little different from the first. Allen's pamphlet circulated widely, including among members of Congress, and was successful in casting the Vermonters' case in a positive light.

In 1779 Allen published the account of his time in captivity, ''A Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen's Captivity ... Containing His Voyages and Travels, With the most remarkable Occurrences respecting him and many other Continental Prisoners of Observations. Written by Himself and now published for the Information of the Curious in all Nations''. First published as a serial by the ''Pennsylvania Packet'', the book was an instant best-seller; it is still available today. While largely accurate, it notably omits Benedict Arnold from the capture of Ticonderoga, and Seth Warner as the leader of the Green Mountain Boys.

Negotiations with the British

Allen appeared before the Continental Congress as early as September 1778 on behalf of Vermont, seeking recognition as an independent state. He reported that due to Vermont's expansion to include border towns from New Hampshire, Congress was reluctant to grant independent statehood to Vermont. Between 1780 and 1783 Allen participated, along with his brother Ira, Vermont Governor Thomas Chittenden, and others, in negotiations with Frederick Haldimand, the governor of Quebec, that were ostensibly about prisoner exchanges, but were really about establishing Vermont as a new British province and gaining military protection for its residents. The negotiations, once details of them were published, were often described by opponents of Vermont statehood as treasonous, but no such formal charges were ever laid against anyone involved.

Later years

As the war had ended with the 1783 Treaty of Paris, and the United States, operating under the Articles of Confederation, resisted any significant action with respect to Vermont, Allen's historic role as an agitator became less important, and his public role in Vermont's affairs declined. Vermont's government had also become more than a clique dominated by the Allen and Chittenden families due to the territory's rapid population growth.

In 1782, Allen's brother Heber died at the relatively young age of 38. Allen's wife Mary died in June 1783 of consumption, to be followed several months later by their first-born daughter Loraine. While they had not always been close, and Allen's marriage had often been strained, Allen felt these losses deeply. A poem he wrote memorializing Mary was published in the ''Bennington Gazette''.

Publication of ''Reason''

In these years he recovered the manuscript that he and Thomas Young had worked in his youth from Young's widow, who was living in Albany, and began to develop it into the work that was published in 1785 as ''Reason: the Only Oracle of Man''. The work was a typical Allen polemic, but its target was religious, not political. Specifically targeted against Christianity, it was an unbridled attack against the Bible, established churches, and the powers of the priesthood. As a replacement for organized religion, he espoused a mixture of deism, Spinoza's naturalist views, and precursors of Transcendentalism, with man acting as a free agent within the natural world. While historians disagree over the exact authorship of the work, the writing contains clear indications of Allen's style.

The book was a complete financial and critical failure. Allen's publisher had forced him to pay the publication costs up front, and only 200 of the 1,500 volumes printed were sold. (The rest were eventually destroyed by a fire at the publisher's house.) The theologically conservative future president of Yale, Timothy Dwight, opined that "the style was crude and vulgar, and the sentiments were coarser than the style. The arguments were flimsy and unmeaning, and the conclusions were fastened upon the premises by mere force." Allen took the financial loss and the criticism in stride, observing that most of the critics were clergymen, whose livelihood he was attacking.

Second marriage

Ethan met his second wife, a young widow by the name of Frances Montresor Brush Buchanan, early in 1784, and married her after a brief courtship on February 16, 1784. Fanny came from a notably Loyalist background (including Crean Brush, notorious for acts during the Siege of Boston, from whom she inherited land in Vermont), but they were both smitten, and the marriage was a happy one. They had three children: Fanny (1784), Hannibal (1786), and Ethan Junior (1787). Fanny had a settling effect on Allen; for the remainder of his years he did not embark on many great adventures.

The notable exception to this was when land claims by the Connecticut-based owners of the Susquehanna Company, who had been granted titles to land claimed by Connecticut in the Wyoming Valley, in an area that is now Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The area was also claimed by Pennsylvania, which refused to recognized the Connecticut titles. Allen, after being promised land, traveled to the area and began stirring up not just Pennsylvania authorities but also his long-time nemesis, Governor Clinton of New York, by proposing that a new state be carved out of the disputed area and several counties of New York. The entire affair was more bluster than anything else, and was resolved amicably when Pennsylvania agreed to honor the Connecticut titles.

Allen was also approached by Daniel Shays in 1786 for support in what became the Shays' Rebellion in western Massachusetts. He was unsupportive of the cause, in spite of Shays' offer to crown him "king of Massachusetts"; he felt that Shays was just trying to erase unpayable debts.

In his later years, independent Vermont continued to experience rapid population growth, and Allen sold a great deal of his land, but also reinvested much the proceeds in more land. A lack of cash, complicated by Vermont's currency problems, placed a strain on Fanny's relatively free hand on spending, which was further exacerbated by the cost of publishing ''Reason'', and of the construction of a new home near the mouth of the Onion River. He was threatened with debtor's prison on at least one occasion, and was at times reduced to borrowing money and calling in old debts to make ends meet.

Allen and his family moved to Burlington in 1787, which was no longer a small frontier settlement but a small town, and much more to Allen's liking than the larger community that Bennington had become. He frequented the tavern there, and began work on ''An Essay on the Universal Plenitude of Being'', which he characterized as an appendix to ''Reason''. This essay was less polemic than many of his earlier writings. He affirmed the perfection of God and His creation, and credited intuition as well as reason as a way to bring Man closer to the universe. The work was not published until long after his death, and is primarily of interest to students of Transcendentalism, a movement the work foreshadows.

Death

On February 11, 1789, Allen traveled with one of his workers to visit his brother Ebenezer, and to collect a load of hay. After an evening spent with friends and acquaintances, he spent the night there, and set out the next morning for home. While accounts of the return journey are not entirely consistent, Allen apparently suffered an apoplectic fit en route, and was unconscious by the time they returned home. Allen died at home several hours later, without ever regaining consciousness. He was buried four days later in the Green Mount Cemetery in Burlington. The funeral was attended by dignitaries from the Vermont government, and by large numbers of common folk who turned out to pay respects to a man many considered their champion. Allen's death made nationwide headlines. The ''Bennington Gazette'' wrote of the local hero, "the patriotism and strong attachment which ever appeared uniform in the breast of this ''Great Man'', was worth of his exalted character; the public have to lament the loss of a man who has rendered them great service". Although most obituaries were positive, a number of clergymen expressed different sentiments. "Allen was an ignorant and profane Deist, who died with a mind replete with horror and despair" was the opinion of Newark, New Jersey's Reverend Uzal Ogden. Yale's Timothy Dwight expressed satisfaction that the world no longer had to deal with a man of "peremptoriness and effrontery, rudeness and ribaldry". It is not recorded what New York Governor Clinton's reaction was to the news.

Allen's widow Fanny gave birth to a son, Ethan Alphonso, on October 24, 1789. She eventually remarried. Two of Allen's sons went on to serve in the United States military. His daughter Fanny achieved notice when she converted to Roman Catholicism and entered a convent. His grandson, Ethan Allen Hitchcock, served as a Union Army general in the American Civil War, and was claimed by his mother to bear a strong resemblance to her father.

Disappearance of his grave marker

Sometime in the early 1850s, the original plaque marking Allen's grave disappeared; its original text was preserved by early war historian Benson Lossing in the 1840s. In 1858, the Vermont Legislature authorized the placement of a 42 foot (13 m) column of Vermont granite in the cemetery, with the following inscription:

The exact location within the cemetery of his remains is unknown. While there is a vault beneath the 1858 monument, it contains a time capsule from the time of the monument's erection, and not Allen's remains.

Likenesses

No likenesses of Allen made from life have been found, in spite of numerous attempts to locate them. Efforts by members of the Vermont Historical Society and other historical groups through the years have followed up on rumored likenesses, only to come up empty. The nearest potential images included one claimed to be by noted Revolutionary War era engraver Pierre Eugene du Simitiere that turned out to be a forgery, and a reference to a portrait possibly by Ralph Earl that has not been found (as of Stewart Holbrook's writing in 1940). Alexander Graydon, with whom Allen was paroled during his captivity in New York, described him like this:

"His figure was that of a robust, large-framed man, worn down by confinement and hard fare; but he was now recovering his flesh and spirits; and a suit of blue clothes, with a gold laced hat that had been presented to him by the gentlement of Cork, enabled him to make a very passable appearance for a rebel colonel ... I have seldom met with a man, possessing, in my opinion, a stronger mind, or whose mode of expression was more vehement and oratorical. Notwithstanding that Allen might have had something of the insubordinate, lawless frontier spirit in his composition ... he appeared to me to be a man of generosity and honor."

Memorials

Ethan Allen's final home, on the Onion River (now called the Winooski River), is a part of the Ethan Allen Homestead and Museum. Situated in Burlington, Allen's homestead is available for viewing via guided tours.

Two ships of the United States Navy were named ''Ethan Allen'' in his honor, as were two 19th-century fortifications: a Civil War fort in Arlington, Virginia and a cavalry outpost in Colchester and Essex, Vermont. A statue of Allen represents Vermont in National Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol.

The ''Spirit of Ethan Allen III'' is a tour boat operating on Lake Champlain. Allen's name is the trademark of the furniture and housewares manufacturer, Ethan Allen Inc., which was founded in 1932 in Beecher Falls, Vermont. The Ethan Allen Express, an Amtrak train line running from New York City to Rutland, Vermont, is also named after him.

Publications

Allen is known to have written the following publications: The 1779 edition of Allen's ''Narrative'' An 1849 edition of Allen's ''Narrative''. A 2000 edition of Allen's ''Narrative'' available at Amazon in March 2009 The essay is reprinted in four sections in this bound edition of ''The Historical Magazine and Notes and Queries'': Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

Essay on natural religion by Allen: ''Reason: The Only Oracle of Man'', published 1784

Statue of Ethan Allen in the United States Capitol

Inventory of the Allen Family Papers, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library

Category:1738 births Category:1789 deaths Category:American Revolutionary War prisoners of war Category:American Revolution spies Category:Continental Army officers Category:Deaths from stroke Category:Militia generals in the American Revolution Category:People of Vermont in the American Revolution Category:Vermont militiamen in the American Revolution Category:Members of the Universalist Church of America Category:Deists Category:Military history of Vermont Category:18th-century Christian Universalists

af:Ethan Allen ar:إيثان ألين zh-min-nan:Ethan Allen de:Ethan Allen es:Ethan Allen fa:ایتن آلن fr:Ethan Allen it:Ethan Allen ja:イーサン・アレン pl:Ethan Allen pt:Ethan Allen

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Name	The Station Agent
Director	Thomas McCarthy
Producer	Robert MayMary Jane SkalskiKathryn Tucker
Writer	Thomas McCarthy
Starring	Peter DinklagePatricia ClarksonBobby CannavaleMichelle WilliamsRaven GoodwinPaul Benjamin
Music	Stephen Trask
Cinematography	Oliver Bokelberg
Editing	Tom McArdle
Distributor	Miramax Films
Released	October 3, 2003
Runtime	88 minutes
Country
Language	English
Budget	$500,000 (estimated)
Gross	$8,679,814 (worldwide)

''The Station Agent'' is a 2003 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Thomas McCarthy. McCarthy's script about a man who seeks solitude in an abandoned train station in Newfoundland, New Jersey won him the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.

Plot

Finbar McBride, a quiet, withdrawn, unmarried man with achondroplastic dwarfism, has a deep love of everything related to railroads. He works in a Hoboken model train hobby shop owned by his elderly and similarly taciturn friend Henry Styles. Because he feels ostracized by a public that tends to make fun of his size, Fin keeps to himself.

thumb|left|175px|The train station used in the movie.When Henry dies unexpectedly, Fin is told that the hobby shop is to be closed forever. However, he also learns that in Henry's will he had left him a piece of rural property with an abandoned train depot on it. He moves into the old building hoping for a life of solitude, but he quickly finds himself reluctantly becoming enmeshed in the lives of his neighbors. Joe Oramas, a Cuban American, is operating his father's roadside snack truck while the elder man recovers from an illness, and Olivia Harris is an artist trying to cope with the sudden death of her young son two years earlier and the ramifications it has had on her marriage to David, from whom she is separated. Cleo is a young African American girl who shares Fin's interest in trains and finally convinces him to lecture her class about them. Emily is the local librarian, a young woman dismayed to discover she is pregnant by her ne'er-do-well boyfriend.

Joe, relentlessly upbeat and overly talkative, soon cracks through Fin's reserve. The two begin to take daily walks along the tracks, and when Olivia gives Fin a movie camera to film the passing trains, Joe pursues them in his truck while Fin photographs them. Joe and Fin sleep over at Olivia's house after watching this footage and the next morning a flustered, unannounced David is greeted by the two of them. The three forge a tentative friendship that is threatened when Olivia descends into a deep depression. Meanwhile, Emily seeks solace from Fin, who slowly is realizing interaction with other humans may not be as unpleasant as he thought. Fin tries to protect Emily from her boyfriend at a bar, but he pushes Fin aside, causing Fin to lapse back into his antisocial behaviour. Fin spends the night drinking and, collapsing on the track, is passed over by a train, undamaged but for his pocket watch. As if feeling blessed by his gift of life (and symbolically upon his watch getting destroyed in the train mishap), Fin picks up the courage to talk to school kids about trains. Later Fin even walks up to Olivia's home (in spite of being humiliated the previous time) only to find she had attempted suicide. He takes care of her home while she recuperates in hospital. The last scene has Olivia, Joe, and Fin all watch the film of their trainspotting at Olivia's house, closing the movie with their small talk and reconciliation.

Production

According to screenwriter/director Thomas McCarthy's commentary on the DVD release of the film, it was shot on a shoestring budget in a limited amount of time. Locations used included Lake Hopatcong, Dover, Hibernia, Rockaway, Hoboken, and Newfoundland in New Jersey and Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival and the San Sebastián Film Festival before going into limited release in the US on October 3, 2003. Playing on three screens, it grossed $57,785 on its opening weekend. The film eventually earned $8,679,814, of which $5,739,376 was from the USA.

Cast

Peter Dinklage as Finbar McBride

Bobby Cannavale as Joe Oramas

Patricia Clarkson as Olivia Harris

Raven Goodwin as Cleo

Paul Benjamin as Henry Styles

Michelle Williams as Emily

Richard Kind as Louis Tiboni

Josh Pais as Carl

Joe Lo Truglio as Danny

John Slattery as David

Jayce Bartok as Chris

Critical reception

The film received a very positive response from critics. Elvis Mitchell of the ''New York Times'' observed, "Tom McCarthy has such an appreciation for quiet that it occupies the same space as a character in this film, a delicate, thoughtful and often hilarious take on loneliness . . . it's the kind of appetizing movie you want to share with others."

Roger Ebert of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' said, "[T]his is a comedy, but it's also sad, and finally it's simply a story about trying to figure out what you love to do and then trying to figure out how to do it . . . It is a great relief . . . that ''The Station Agent'' is not one of those movies in which the problem is that the characters have not slept with each other and the solution is that they do. It's more about the enormous unrealized fears and angers that throb beneath the surfaces of their lives."

Ruthe Stein of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' called it "as touching and original a movie as you're likely to see this year" and "a remarkably assured first film."

Peter Travers of ''Rolling Stone'' said, "Tom McCarthy has a gift for funny and touching nuances . . . The three actors could not be better. Huge feelings are packed into this small, fragile movie. It's something special."

James Christopher of ''The Times'' stated, "The brilliance of Peter Dinklage's performance as the ironclad loner is that he doesn’t much care. Yet there’s something deeply affecting about his stoicism and suspicion that has nothing to do with artificial sweeteners, Disney sentiment, or party political broadcasts on behalf of dwarfs. Dinklage just gets on with his performance like an actor who can't understand why he's got the lead role. It's this tension between the film and the unwilling Romeo that makes ''The Station Agent'' such a hypnotic watch."

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 95 percent Fresh rating on the Tomatometer and a 90 percent Liked It audience rating.

Awards and nominations

BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay (winner)

Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (Patricia Clarkson, winner)

Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Performer (Peter Dinklage, nominee)

Chlotrudis Award for Best Cast (winner)

Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor (Bobby Cannavale, winner)

Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress (Patricia Clarkson, winner)

Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor (Peter Dinklage, nominee)

Chlotrudis Award for Best Film (nominee)

Chlotrudis Award for Best Original Screenplay (nominee)

Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress (Patricia Clarkson, winner)

Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay (winner)

Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award (winner)

Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male (Peter Dinklage, nominee)

Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress (Patricia Clarkson, winner)

Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Screenplay (winner)

National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress (Patricia Clarkson, winner)

National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (Patricia Clarkson, winner)

Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay (nominee)

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (nominee)

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (Peter Dinklage, nominee)

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role (Patricia Clarkson, nominee)

Sundance Film Festival Audience Award (Dramatic) (winner)

Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize (Patricia Clarkson, winner)

Sundance Film Festival Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award (winner)

Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay (nominee)

Location

The abandoned train station is located on the active New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway.

References

External links

Official website

Why I Adore...The Station Agent

Location of Fin's train station in Newfoundland New Jersey

Category:2003 films Category:American films Category:Independent films Category:American comedy-drama films Category:Films set in New Jersey Category:Films shot in New Jersey Category:Films shot in Super 16 Category:English-language films Category:Miramax Films films Category:Directorial debut films Category:Rail transport films

de:Station Agent fr:The Station Agent it:Station Agent he:אנשי התחנה pl:Dróżnik (film) pt:The Station Agent sv:Station Agent zh:下一站，幸福 (電影)