For those who argue that trains aren't viable because they can't pay for themselves consider this: In 2010 nearly 50 percent of all road funding in the U.S. came from highway user fees (taxes). That amount was 30 percent more than the entire amount of taxes Amtrack has recieved since its creation in 1971.
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" The ten highest station figures for the corridor came at New York (9,493,414), D.C. (5,013,991), Philadelphia (4,068,540), Boston (1,447501), Baltimore (1,028,909), New Haven (755,669), Wilmington (737,846), BWI Airport (703,604), Newark (680,803), and Providence (669,576). Those are on-and-off passenger numbers for Acela and regional trains as well as others that traverse the sector. They add up to roughly 24.6 million riders, or about three-quarters of Amtrak's record-breaking 2012 total.
Still it's worth noting that the northeast isn't the only place where interest in Amtrak is growing. Passenger records were broken for 25 of Amtrak's 44 services in 2012. Ridership increased to previously unseen heights in the Midwest (particularly Chicago-St. Louis), the West Coast (Bakersfield-Oakland rose 7 percent), and the Mid-Atlantic (the Charlotte-Raleigh train is up 16 percent)."
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