August 25, 2008 5:17PM 

# Great Moments in Subsidized Train Travel 

By [Daniel J. Mitchell](https://www.cato.org/people/daniel-mitchell) 

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I once ran out of gas in college, so I suppose I shouldn’t throw too many stones at Amtrak’s glass house, but presumably somebody actually gets paid to make sure that trains don’t leave stations without enough fuel to make it to their next destination. According to the AP [report](http://www.wtop.com/?nid=456&sid=1466005), Amtrak will be investigating how this happened on a trip from LA to San Diego. Needless to say, don’t expect anyone to be held accountable:

A quick train trip down the coast turned into a long haul for more than 80 Amtrak passengers when their train from Los Angeles to San Diego ran out of fuel Sunday night. …The train, which had left Los Angeles at 8:30 p.m., didn’t get there until 1:15 a.m. Monday, two hours late. A train running out of fuel is “an unusual occurrence” and Amtrak officials will be looking into how it happened, Cole said.

##### Related Tags 

[Energy and Environment](https://www.cato.org/research/energy-environment), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics) 

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