The government financing structures of Amtrak, Metrolink and other passenger rail services that utilize privately owned railroad rights of way and track systems narrowly confine the passenger services to sharing select rail routes with freight railroad companies and operations. Passenger rail services of this type are not funded or permitted to acquire their own rails or rights of way, and are afforded limited opportunity to develop stations and facilities for their exclusive use.
Forced to fit in, and make the best of existing rail systems and technology by the limitations of funding, passenger rail services tend to be ill-fitting patchworks of train tracks, routes and station locations served by antiquated railroad equipment. With government funding of passenger rail services limited to the support of such minimalist systems and technology, Amtrak, Metrolink and other government- sponsored rail services cannot be expected to perform above their current levels of service.
