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Between the lines: The politics of passenger rail service, 1958--1970

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Date Issued:
2001
Summary:
For many modern Americans, the passenger train is but a distant memory, an artifact of the past. In the postwar United States, the status of passenger rail service deteriorated significantly. There were many reasons for this decline, but large subsidies enabled by federal highway and air transportation policies greatly favored alternate forms of traffic at the passenger train's expense. Realizing that rail service in this country was either on the verge of extinction or nationalization, Congress and President Richard M. Nixon sought to preserve a modest network of passenger trains through the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970, which created the publicly subsidized corporation Amtrak. This study looks at changing transportation policies following World War II and ultimately identifies the role that politics played in the decline of the passenger train and the creation of Amtrak.
Title: Between the lines: The politics of passenger rail service, 1958--1970.
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Name(s): Alcorn, Aaron Luke
Florida Atlantic University, Degree Grantor
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Department of History
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 2001
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 103 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: For many modern Americans, the passenger train is but a distant memory, an artifact of the past. In the postwar United States, the status of passenger rail service deteriorated significantly. There were many reasons for this decline, but large subsidies enabled by federal highway and air transportation policies greatly favored alternate forms of traffic at the passenger train's expense. Realizing that rail service in this country was either on the verge of extinction or nationalization, Congress and President Richard M. Nixon sought to preserve a modest network of passenger trains through the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970, which created the publicly subsidized corporation Amtrak. This study looks at changing transportation policies following World War II and ultimately identifies the role that politics played in the decline of the passenger train and the creation of Amtrak.
Identifier: 9780493218137 (isbn), 12785 (digitool), FADT12785 (IID), fau:9662 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Adviser: Mark H. Rose.
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2001.
Subject(s): History, United States
Political Science, Public Administration
Transportation
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12785
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.