As I'm a rail fan (but not to the exclusion of other modes of transport) I'll try to keep this short.

The study about the 'give them a first class ticket' has long been debunked.

People who are pro-rail like myself - TRULY pro-rail - want that as an OPTION.

But about privatizing things. The roads don't make money - so why not privatize all of them? The airports don't - so why not privatize them? The only reason the intercity busses in NH make money is because the state inexplicably bought the 6-figure busses FOR them! (And in THIS state, that's UNHEARD of)

Police? Fire? Libraries? Public parks? NONE of them make money.

I've often said that we COULD look to Canada or Europe and learn a few things from them. Especially when it comes to reining in health care costs. But one other thing we could learn is that privatizing transportation generally has bad results - as the UK has learned from privatizing their rail services.