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120-468: The National Railroad Passenger Corporation , doing business as Amtrak ( / ˈ æ m t r æ k / ; reporting marks AMTK , AMTZ ), is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. states and three Canadian provinces . Amtrak is a portmanteau of the words America and track. Founded in 1971 as

240-552: A quasi-public corporation to operate many U.S. passenger rail routes, Amtrak receives a combination of state and federal subsidies but is managed as a for-profit organization . The company's headquarters is located one block west of Union Station in Washington, D.C. Amtrak is headed by a Board of Directors, two of whom are the Secretary of Transportation and CEO of Amtrak, while the other eight members are nominated to serve

360-716: A "transitional CEO" who would reorganize Amtrak before turning it over to new leadership. On November 17, 2016, the Gateway Program Development Corporation (GDC) was formed for the purpose of overseeing and effectuating the rail infrastructure improvements known as the Gateway Program. GDC is a partnership of the States of New York and New Jersey and Amtrak. The Gateway Program includes the Hudson Tunnel Project, to build

480-682: A Boston to New York City service starting in 1672. A central postal organization came to the colonies in 1691, when Thomas Neale received a 21-year grant from the British Crown for a North American Postal Service. On February 17, 1691, a grant of letters patent from the joint sovereigns, William III and Mary II , empowered him: to erect, settle, and establish within the chief parts of their majesties' colonies and plantations in America, an office or offices for receiving and dispatching letters and pacquets, and to receive, send, and deliver

600-420: A DBA must be registered with a local or state government, or both, depending on the jurisdiction. For example, California, Texas and Virginia require a DBA to be registered with each county (or independent city in the case of Virginia) where the owner does business. Maryland and Colorado have DBAs registered with a state agency. Virginia also requires corporations and LLCs to file a copy of their registration with

720-467: A DBA statement, though names including the first and last name of the owner may be accepted. This also reduces the possibility of two local businesses operating under the same name, although some jurisdictions do not provide exclusivity for a name, or may allow more than one party to register the same name. Note, though, that this is not a substitute for filing a trademark application. A DBA filing carries no legal weight in establishing trademark rights. In

840-507: A business entrepreneur, W. H. Coltharp, used inexpensive parcel-post rates to ship more than eighty thousand masonry bricks some four hundred seven miles via horse-drawn wagon and train for the construction of a bank building in Vernal, Utah . The advent of parcel post also led to the growth of mail order businesses that substantially increased rural access to modern goods over what was typically stocked in local general stores . One of

960-563: A certain date, and contracted with Aubrey to carry it to the nearest post office (then Independence, Missouri), making his compensation conditional on the time consumed. He was supplied with a good horse, and an order on the outgoing trains for exchange. Though the whole route was infested with hostile Indians, and not a house on it, Aubrey started alone with his rifle. He was fortunate in meeting several outward-bound trains, and thereby made frequent changes of horses, some four or five, and reached Independence in six days, having hardly rested or slept

1080-543: A colony, Massachusetts Bay Colony for example, setting up a location in Boston where one could post a letter back home to England. Other attempts focused on a dedicated postal service between two of the larger colonies, such as Massachusetts and Virginia, but the available services remained limited in scope and disjointed for many years. For example, informal independently run postal routes operated in Boston as early as 1639, with

1200-476: A contract, invoice, or cheque, they must also add the legal name of the business. Numbered companies will very often operate as something other than their legal name, which is unrecognizable to the public. In Chile , a trade name is known as a nombre de fantasía ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called a razón social (social name). In Ireland , businesses are legally required to register business names where these differ from

1320-591: A crisis in the 1960s. Passenger service route-miles fell from 107,000 miles (172,000 km) in 1958 to 49,000 miles (79,000 km) in 1970, the last full year of private operation. The diversion of most United States Post Office Department mail from passenger trains to trucks, airplanes, and freight trains in late 1967 deprived those trains of badly needed revenue. In direct response, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway filed to discontinue 33 of its remaining 39 trains, ending almost all passenger service on one of

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1440-519: A crucial role in national expansion. It facilitated expansion of the western American frontier by creating an inexpensive, fast, convenient communication system. Letters from early settlers provided information and boosterism to encourage increased migration to the West, helped scattered families stay in touch and provide assistance, assisted entrepreneurs in finding business opportunities, and made possible regular commercial relationships between merchants in

1560-532: A duel with vice-president Aaron Burr . Two years earlier it was Burr who had shot and killed Alexander Hamilton . Many years later in 1852, Easton's son, Brevet Major-General Langdon Cheves Easton, was commissioned by William T. Sherman, at Fort Union to deliver a letter to Independence, Missouri. Sherman wrote: "In the Spring of 1852, General Sherman mentioned that the quartermaster, Major L.C. Easton, at Fort Union, New Mexico, had occasion to send some message east by

1680-763: A head on June 21, 1970, when the Penn Central , the largest railroad in the Northeastern United States and teetering on bankruptcy, filed to discontinue 34 of its passenger trains. In October 1970, Congress passed, and President Richard Nixon signed into law (against the objections of most of his advisors), the Rail Passenger Service Act. Proponents of the bill, led by the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP), sought government funding to ensure

1800-491: A key problem: "the rail system chronically operates in the red. A pattern has emerged: Congress overrides cutbacks demanded by the White House and appropriates enough funds to keep Amtrak from plunging into insolvency. But, Amtrak advocates say, that is not enough to fix the system's woes." Joseph H. Boardman replaced Kummant as president and CEO in late 2008. In 2011, Amtrak announced its intention to improve and expand

1920-425: A massive 94 billion passenger-miles. After the war, railroads rejuvenated their overworked and neglected passenger fleets with fast and luxurious streamliners. These new trains brought only temporary relief to the overall decline. Even as postwar travel exploded, passenger travel percentages of the overall market share fell to 46% by 1950, and then 32% by 1957. The railroads had lost money on passenger service since

2040-640: A necessary infrastructure. The Post Office in the 19th century was a major source of federal patronage. Local postmasterships were rewards for local politicians—often the editors of party newspapers. About three quarters of all federal civilian employees worked for the Post Office. In 1816 it employed 3,341 men, and in 1841, 14,290. The volume of mail expanded much faster than the population, as it carried annually 100 letters and 200 newspapers per 1,000 white population in 1790, and 2,900 letters and 2,700 newspapers per thousand in 1840. The Post Office Department

2160-634: A new tunnel under the Hudson River and rehabilitate the existing century-old tunnel, and the Portal North Bridge, to replace a century-old moveable bridge with a modern structure that is less prone to failure. Later projects of the Gateway Program, including the expansion of track and platforms at Penn Station New York, construction of the Bergen Loop and other improvements will roughly double capacity for Amtrak and NJ Transit trains in

2280-700: A post office in each town in Virginia . Massachusetts and the other colonies soon passed postal laws, and a very imperfect post office system was established. Neale's patent expired in 1710, when Parliament extended the English postal system to the colonies. The chief office was established in New York City, where letters were conveyed by regular packets across the Atlantic. Before the Revolution, there

2400-515: A reward for their patronage. These appointees rarely had prior experience in postal service and mail delivery. This system of political patronage was replaced in 1883, after passage of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act . In 1823, ten years after the Post Office had first begun to use steamboats to carry mail between post towns where no roads existed, waterways were declared post roads. Once it became clear that

2520-649: A right to personal privacy. Rufus Easton was appointed by Thomas Jefferson first postmaster of St. Louis under the recommendation of Postmaster General Gideon Granger . Rufus Easton was the first postmaster and built the first post office west of the Mississippi. At the same time Easton was appointed by Thomas Jefferson, judge of Louisiana Territory , the largest territory in North America. Bruce Adamson wrote that: "Next to Benjamin Franklin, Rufus Easton

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2640-586: A serious cash crunch. Under Downs, Congress included a provision in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 that resulted in Amtrak receiving a $ 2.3 billion tax refund that resolved their cash crisis. However, Congress also instituted a "glide path" to financial self-sufficiency, excluding railroad retirement tax act payments. George Warrington became the sixth president in 1998, with a mandate to make Amtrak financially self-sufficient. Under Warrington,

2760-434: A simpler name rather than using their formal and often lengthier name. Trade names are also used when a preferred name cannot be registered, often because it may already be registered or is too similar to a name that is already registered. Using one or more fictitious business names does not create additional separate legal entities. The distinction between a registered legal name and a fictitious business name, or trade name,

2880-484: A term of five years. Amtrak's network includes over 500 stations along 21,400 miles (34,000 km) of track. It directly owns approximately 623 miles (1,003 km) of this track and operates an additional 132 miles of track; the remaining mileage is over rail lines owned by other railroad companies. While most track speeds are limited to 79 mph (127 km/h) or less, several lines have been upgraded to support top speeds of 110 mph (180 km/h), and parts of

3000-413: A trade name is known as a nombre de fantasía ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called a razón social (social name). In Brazil , a trade name is known as a nome fantasia ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called razão social (social name). In some Canadian jurisdictions , such as Ontario , when a businessperson writes a trade name on

3120-626: Is called a razón social . United States Post Office Department The United States Post Office Department ( USPOD ; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail ) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service , established in 1792. From 1872 to 1971, it was officially in the form of a Cabinet department. It was headed by the postmaster general . The Postal Service Act , signed by U.S. president George Washington on February 20, 1792, established

3240-498: Is important because fictitious business names do not always identify the entity that is legally responsible . Legal agreements (such as contracts ) are normally made using the registered legal name of the business. If a corporation fails to consistently adhere to such important legal formalities like using its registered legal name in contracts, it may be subject to piercing of the corporate veil . In English , trade names are generally treated as proper nouns . In Argentina ,

3360-615: Is owned by New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Connecticut Department of Transportation as the New Haven Line .) This mainline became Amtrak's "jewel" asset, and helped the railroad generate revenue. While the NEC ridership and revenues were higher than any other segment of the system, the cost of operating and maintaining the corridor proved to be overwhelming. As a result, Amtrak's federal subsidy

3480-588: Is powered by overhead lines ; for the rest of the system, diesel-fueled locomotives are used. Routes vary widely in the frequency of service, from three-days-a-week trains on the Sunset Limited to several times per hour on the Northeast Corridor. For areas not served by trains, Amtrak Thruway routes provide guaranteed connections to trains via buses, vans, ferries and other modes. The most popular and heavily used services are those running on

3600-436: Is the largest host to Amtrak routes, with 6.3 million train-miles. Freight rail operators are required under federal law to give dispatching preference to Amtrak trains. However, Amtrak has accused freight railroads of violating or skirting these regulations, resulting in passenger trains waiting for freight traffic to clear the track. Trade name In a number of countries, the phrase " trading as " (abbreviated to t/a )

3720-499: Is used to designate a trade name. In the United States , the phrase " doing business as " (abbreviated to DBA , dba , d.b.a. , or d/b/a ) is used, among others, such as assumed business name or fictitious business name . In Canada , " operating as " (abbreviated to o/a ) and " trading as " are used, although " doing business as " is also sometimes used. A company typically uses a trade name to conduct business using

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3840-761: The California Zephyr between Oakland and Chicago via Denver and revived the Auto Train , a unique service that carries both passengers and their vehicles. Amtrak advertised it as a great way to avoid traffic along the I-95 running between Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.) and Sanford, Florida (near Orlando) on the Silver Star alignment. In 1980s and 1990s, stations in Baltimore, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. received major rehabilitation and

3960-501: The Pioneer Zephyr were popular with the traveling public but could not reverse the trend. By 1940, railroads held 67 percent of commercial passenger-miles in the United States. In real terms, passenger-miles had fallen by 40% since 1916, from 42 billion to 25 billion. Traffic surged during World War II , which was aided by troop movement and gasoline rationing . The railroad's market share surged to 74% in 1945, with

4080-1012: The COVID-19 pandemic , Amtrak continued operating as an essential service. It started requiring face coverings the week of May 17, and limited sales to 50% of capacity. Most long-distance routes were reduced to three weekly round trips in October 2020. In March 2021, following President Joe Biden's American Jobs Plan announcement, Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn outlined a proposal called Amtrak Connects US that would expand state-supported intercity corridors with an infusion of upfront capital assistance. This would expand service to cities including Las Vegas , Phoenix , Baton Rouge , Nashville , Chattanooga , Louisville , Columbus (Ohio) , Wilmington (North Carolina) , Cheyenne , Montgomery , Concord , and Scranton . Also in March 2021, Amtrak announced plans to return 12 of its long-distance routes to daily schedules later in

4200-481: The Great Depression , but deficits reached $ 723 million in 1957. For many railroads, these losses threatened financial viability. The causes of this decline were heavily debated. The National Highway System and airports , both funded by the government, competed directly with the railroads, which, unlike the airline, bus, and trucking companies, paid for their own infrastructure. American car culture

4320-634: The High Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965 to fund pilot programs in the Northeast Corridor , but this did nothing to address passenger deficits. In late 1969, multiple proposals emerged in the United States Congress , including equipment subsidies, route subsidies, and, lastly, a "quasi-public corporation" to take over the operation of intercity passenger trains. Matters were brought to

4440-532: The ICE 1 train from Germany, organizing the ICE Train North America Tour which started to operate on the Northeast Corridor on July 3, 1993. In 1993, Thomas Downs succeeded Claytor as Amtrak's fifth president. The stated goal remained "operational self-sufficiency". By this time, however, Amtrak had a large overhang of debt from years of underfunding. In the mid-1990s, Amtrak suffered through

4560-509: The Northeast Corridor support top speeds of 160 mph (260 km/h). In fiscal year 2022, Amtrak served 22.9 million passengers and had $ 2.1 billion in revenue, with more than 17,100 employees as of fiscal year 2021. Nearly 87,000 passengers ride more than 300 Amtrak trains daily. Nearly two-thirds of passengers come from the 10 largest metropolitan areas and 83% of passengers travel on routes shorter than 400 miles (645 km). In 1916, 98% of all commercial intercity travelers in

4680-634: The Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976. A large part of the legislation was directed to the creation of Conrail , but the law also enabled the transfer of the portions of the NEC not already owned by state authorities to Amtrak. Amtrak acquired the majority of the NEC on April 1, 1976. (The portion in Massachusetts is owned by the Commonwealth and managed by Amtrak. The route from New Haven to New Rochelle

4800-493: The Railway Mail Service was inaugurated in 1869. Rail cars designed to sort and distribute mail while rolling were soon introduced. RMS employees sorted mail "on-the-fly" during the journey, and became some of the most skilled workers in the postal service. An RMS sorter had to be able to separate the mail quickly into compartments based on its final destination, before the first destination arrived, and work at

4920-621: The Second Continental Congress . Benjamin Franklin headed it briefly. Before the Revolution, individuals like Benjamin Franklin and William Goddard were the colonial postmasters who managed the mails then and were the general architects of a postal system that started out as an alternative to the Crown Post. The official post office was created in 1792 as the Post Office Department (USPOD). It

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5040-466: The United Kingdom , there is no filing requirement for a "business name", defined as "any name under which someone carries on business" that, for a company or limited liability partnership, "is not its registered name", but there are requirements for disclosure of the owner's true name and some restrictions on the use of certain names. A minority of U.S. states, including Washington , still use

5160-426: The overhead power supply along the 454-mile (731 km) route, and several grade crossings were improved or removed. Ridership increased during the first decade of the 21st century after the implementation of capital improvements in the NEC and rises in automobile fuel costs. The inauguration of the high-speed Acela in late 2000 generated considerable publicity and led to major ridership gains. However, through

5280-663: The 10-cent stamp for deliveries to locations greater than 300 miles, or twice the weight deliverable for the 5-cent stamp. In 1847, the U.S. Mail Steamship Company acquired the contract which allowed it to carry the U.S. mails from New York, with stops in New Orleans and Havana , to the Isthmus of Panama for delivery in California. The same year, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company had acquired

5400-485: The 1910s to the 1960s, many college students and others used parcel post to mail home dirty laundry, as doing so was less expensive than washing the clothes themselves. After four-year-old Charlotte May Pierstorff was mailed from her parents to her grandparents in Idaho in 1914, mailing of people was prohibited. In 1917, the Post Office imposed a maximum daily mailable limit of two hundred pounds per customer per day after

5520-562: The 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling, the Comstock Act became a renewed matter of contention. The Biden administration stated that the Comstock Act does not prohibit mailing abortifacients intended for lawful use, and the law is the subject of an ongoing federal court case. In 1937 to 1941 The Post Office handled the shipment of gold from the New York City Assay office and Philadelphia Mint to

5640-492: The Bush administration "to privatize parts of the national passenger rail system and spin off other parts to partial state ownership" provoked disagreement within Amtrak's board of directors. Late in 2005, Gunn was fired. Gunn's replacement, Alexander Kummant (2006–08), was committed to operating a national rail network, and like Gunn, opposed the notion of putting the Northeast Corridor under separate ownership. He said that shedding

5760-559: The California corridor trains accounted for a combined 2.35 million passengers in fiscal year 2021. Other popular routes include the Empire Service between New York City and Niagara Falls , via Albany and Buffalo , which carried 613.2 thousand passengers in fiscal year 2021, and the Keystone Service between New York City and Harrisburg via Philadelphia that carried 394.3 thousand passengers that same year. Four of

5880-450: The DOT's analysis was far too optimistic, with director George Shultz arguing to cut the number of routes by around half. Nixon agreed with Shultz, and the public draft presented by Volpe on November 30 consisted of only 16 routes. The initial reaction to this heavily-cut-back proposed system from the public, the press, and congressmen was strongly negative. It made front-page headlines across

6000-677: The Empire Connection tunnel opened in 1991, allowing Amtrak to consolidate all New York services at Penn Station. Despite the improvements, Amtrak's ridership stagnated at roughly 20 million passengers per year, amid uncertain government aid from 1981 to about 2000. In the early 1990s, Amtrak tested several different high-speed trains from Europe on the Northeast Corridor. An X 2000 train was leased from Sweden for test runs from October 1992 to January 1993, followed by revenue service between Washington, D.C. and New York City from February to May and August to September 1993. Siemens showed

6120-641: The NEC, including the Acela and Northeast Regional . The NEC runs between Boston and Washington, D.C. via New York City and Philadelphia. Some services continue into Virginia . The NEC services accounted for 4.4 million of Amtrak's 12.2 million passengers in fiscal year 2021. Outside the NEC the most popular services are the short-haul corridors in California, the Pacific Surfliner , Capitol Corridor , and San Joaquins , which are supplemented by an extensive network of connecting buses. Together

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6240-471: The NRPC had hired Lippincott & Margulies to create a brand for it and replace its original working brand name of Railpax. On March 30, L&M's work was presented to the NRPC's board of incorporators, who unanimously agreed on the "headless arrow" logo and on the new brand name "Amtrak", a portmanteau of the words America and trak , the latter itself a sensational spelling of track . The name change

6360-599: The Navy and retired Southern Railway head William Graham Claytor Jr. came out of retirement to lead Amtrak. During his time at Southern, Claytor was a vocal critic of Amtrak's prior managers, who all came from non-railroading backgrounds. Transportation Secretary Drew Lewis cited this criticism as a reason why the Democrat Claytor was acceptable to the Reagan White House. Despite frequent clashes with

6480-696: The Northeast Corridor, some of which connect to it or are extensions from it. In addition to its inter-city services, Amtrak also operates commuter services under contract for three public agencies: the MARC Penn Line in Maryland, Shore Line East in Connecticut, and Metrolink in Southern California. Service on the Northeast Corridor (NEC), between Boston , and Washington, D.C. , as well as between Philadelphia and Harrisburg ,

6600-565: The Northeast Corridor, state-supported short-haul service outside the Northeast Corridor, and medium- and long-haul service known within Amtrak as the National Network. Amtrak receives federal funding for the vast majority of its operations including the central spine of the Northeast Corridor as well as for its National Network routes. In addition to the federally funded routes, Amtrak partners with transportation agencies in 18 states to operate other short and medium-haul routes outside of

6720-460: The November 30th draft. These required routes only had their endpoints specified; the selection of the actual routes to be taken between the endpoints was left to the NRPC, which had just three months to decide them before it was due to start service. Consultants from McKinsey & Company were hired to perform this task, and their results were publicly announced on March 22. At the same time,

6840-537: The Post Office Department to Cabinet status. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), postal services in the Confederate States of America were provided by the Confederate States of America Post-office Department , headed by Postmaster General John Henninger Reagan . It faced insurmountable obstacles, especially the requirement that it not run a deficit. The Postal Reorganization Act

6960-420: The Post Office Department to redeposit most of the money in the system in local banks, where it earned 2.5 percent interest. The system paid 2% interest per year on deposits. The half-percent difference in interest was intended to pay for the operation of the system. Certificates were issued to depositors as proof of their deposit. Depositors in the system were initially limited to hold a balance of $ 500, but this

7080-480: The Postal Savings System in designated post offices, effective January 1, 1911. The legislation aimed to get money out of hiding, attract the savings of immigrants accustomed to the postal savings system in their native countries, provide safe depositories for people who had lost confidence in banks, and furnish more convenient depositories for working people. The law establishing the system directed

7200-904: The President and Congress to give passenger trains a "last hurrah" as demanded by the public. They expected the NRPC to quietly disappear as public interest waned. After Fortune magazine exposed the manufactured mismanagement in 1974, Louis W. Menk , chairman of the Burlington Northern Railroad , remarked that the story was undermining the scheme to dismantle Amtrak. Proponents also hoped that government intervention would be brief and that Amtrak would soon be able to support itself. Neither view had proved to be correct; popular support allowed Amtrak to continue in operation longer than critics imagined, while financial results made passenger train service returning to private railroad operations infeasible. The Rail Passenger Service Act gave

7320-611: The Reagan administration over funding, Claytor enjoyed a good relationship with Lewis, John H. Riley , the head of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), and with members of Congress. Limited funding led Claytor to use short-term debt to fund operations. Building on mechanical developments in the 1970s, high-speed Washington–New York Metroliner Service was improved with new equipment and faster schedules. Travel time between New York and Washington, D.C.

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7440-458: The Secretary of Transportation, at that time John A. Volpe , thirty days to produce an initial draft of the endpoints of the routes the NRPC would be required by law to serve for four years. On November 24 Volpe presented his initial draft consisting of 27 routes to Nixon, which he believed would make a $ 24 million profit by 1975. The Office of Management and Budget , however, believed Volpe and

7560-455: The U.S. in 1896, and the inauguration of a domestic parcel post service by Postmaster General Frank H. Hitchcock in 1913, greatly increased the volume of mail shipped nationwide, and motivated the development of more efficient postal transportation systems. Many rural customers took advantage of inexpensive Parcel Post rates to order goods and products from businesses located hundreds of miles away in distant cities for delivery by mail. From

7680-418: The U.S., trademark rights are acquired by use in commerce, but there can be substantial benefits to filing a trademark application. Sole proprietors are the most common users of DBAs. Sole proprietors are individual business owners who run their businesses themselves. Since most people in these circumstances use a business name other than their own name, it is often necessary for them to get DBAs. Generally,

7800-509: The USPS began transporting First-Class mail by air on a routine basis. The Post Office was the first federal government departments to regulate obscene materials on a national basis. When the U.S. Congress passed the Comstock laws of 1873, it became illegal to send through the U.S. mail any material considered obscene or indecent, or which promoted abortion issues or birth control . Following

7920-435: The United States moved by rail, and the remaining 2% moved by inland waterways . Nearly 42 million passengers used railways as primary transportation. Passenger trains were owned and operated by the same privately owned companies that operated freight trains. As the 20th century progressed, patronage declined in the face of competition from buses , air travel , and the car . New streamlined diesel-powered trains such as

8040-400: The White House and more conservative members of Congress to support the bill. There were several key provisions: Of the 26 railroads still offering intercity passenger service in 1970, only six declined to join the NRPC. Nearly everyone involved expected the experiment to be short-lived. The Nixon administration and many Washington insiders viewed the NRPC as a politically expedient way for

8160-431: The busiest, most complex section of the Northeast Corridor. In June 2017, it was announced that former Delta and Northwest Airlines CEO Richard Anderson would become Amtrak's next President & CEO. Anderson began the job on July 12, assuming the title of President immediately and serving alongside Moorman as "co-CEOs" until the end of the year. On April 15, 2020, Atlas Air Chairman, President and CEO William Flynn

8280-528: The company tried to expand into express freight shipping, placing Amtrak in competition with the "host" freight railroads and the trucking industry . On March 9, 1999, Amtrak unveiled its plan for the Acela Express, a high-speed train on the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C. and Boston. Several changes were made to the corridor to make it suitable for higher-speed electric trains. The Northend Electrification Project extended existing electrification from New Haven, Connecticut , to Boston to complete

8400-409: The continuation of passenger trains. They conceived the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (NRPC), a quasi-public corporation that would be managed as a for-profit organization , but which would receive taxpayer funding and assume operation of intercity passenger trains – while many involved in drafting the bill did not believe the NRPC would actually be profitable, this was necessary in order for

8520-477: The country and it was quickly leaked that the DOT had wanted a far larger system than the White House would approve of. The ICC produced its own report on December 29, criticising the proposed draft and arguing for the inclusion of fifteen additional routes, giving further ammunition to the congressmen who wanted an expanded system. Further wrangling between the DOT and the White House produced the final list of routes on January 28, 1971, adding five additional routes to

8640-534: The county or city to be registered with the State Corporation Commission. DBA statements are often used in conjunction with a franchise . The franchisee will have a legal name under which it may sue and be sued, but will conduct business under the franchiser's brand name (which the public would recognize). A typical real-world example can be found in a well-known pricing mistake case, Donovan v. RRL Corp. , 26 Cal. 4th 261 (2001), where

8760-540: The department. Postmaster General John McLean , in office from 1823 to 1829, was the first to call it the Post Office Department rather than just the "Post Office." The organization received a boost in prestige when President Andrew Jackson invited his postmaster general, William T. Barry , to sit as a member of the Cabinet in 1829. The Post Office Act of 1872 (17  Stat.   283 ) elevated

8880-477: The ex- New York Central Railroad 's Water Level Route from New York to Ohio and Grand Trunk Western Railroad 's Chicago to Detroit route. The reduced passenger train schedules created confusion amongst staff. At some stations, Amtrak service was available only late at night or early in the morning, prompting complaints from passengers. Disputes with freight railroads over track usage caused some services to be rerouted, temporarily cancelled, or replaced with buses. On

9000-621: The high-speed rail corridor from Penn Station in NYC, under the Hudson River in new tunnels, and double-tracking the line to Newark, NJ , called the Gateway Program , initially estimated to cost $ 13.5 billion (equal to $ 18 billion in 2023). From May 2011 to May 2012, Amtrak celebrated its 40th anniversary with festivities across the country that started on National Train Day (May 7, 2011). A commemorative book entitled Amtrak: An American Story

9120-698: The job, he is the second-longest serving head of Amtrak since it was formed more than 40 years ago. On December 9, 2015, Boardman announced in a letter to employees that he would be leaving Amtrak in September 2016. He had advised the Amtrak Board of Directors of his decision the previous week. On August 19, 2016, the Amtrak Board of Directors named former Norfolk Southern Railway President & CEO Charles "Wick" Moorman as Boardman's successor with an effective date of September 1, 2016. During his term, Moorman took no salary and said that he saw his role as one of

9240-641: The largest organizations of the early 20th century, the Post Office Department is reported to have had nearly 350,000 employees in 1924. In 1912, carrier service was announced for establishment in towns of second and third class with $ 100,000 appropriated by Congress. From January 1, 1911, until July 1, 1967, the United States Post Office Department operated the United States Postal Savings System . An Act of Congress of June 25, 1910, established

9360-446: The largest railroads in the country. The equipment the railroads had ordered after World War II was now 20 years old, worn out, and in need of replacement. As passenger service declined, various proposals were brought forward to rescue it. The 1961 Doyle Report proposed that the private railroads pool their services into a single body. Similar proposals were made in 1965 and 1968 but failed to attract support. The federal government passed

9480-461: The late 1990s and very early 21st century, Amtrak could not add sufficient express freight revenue or cut sufficient other expenditures to break even. By 2002, it was clear that Amtrak could not achieve self-sufficiency, but Congress continued to authorize funding and released Amtrak from the requirement. In early 2002, David L. Gunn replaced Warrington as seventh president. In a departure from his predecessors' promises to make Amtrak self-sufficient in

9600-402: The law is to protect the public from fraud, by compelling the business owner to first file or register his fictitious business name with the county clerk, and then making a further public record of it by publishing it in a newspaper. Several other states, such as Illinois , require print notices as well. In Uruguay , a trade name is known as a nombre fantasía , and the legal name of business

9720-485: The lead, securing post office legislation that allowed them to reach their subscribers at very low cost, and to exchange news from newspapers between the thirteen states. Overthrowing the London-oriented imperial postal service in 1774–1775, printers enlisted merchants and the new political leadership, and created a new postal system. The United States Post Office (USPO) was created on July 26, 1775, by decree of

9840-576: The mail while the war was still in progress, but following the war operated mostly World War I surplus military de Havilland DH-4 aircraft. During 1918, the Post Office hired an additional 36 pilots. In its first year of operation, the Post Office completed 1,208 airmail flights with 90 forced landings. Of those, 53 were due to weather and 37 to engine failure. By 1920, the Air Mail service had delivered 49 million letters. Domestic air mail became obsolete in 1975, and international air mail in 1995, when

9960-461: The named defendant, RRL Corporation, was a Lexus car dealership doing business as " Lexus of Westminster ", but remaining a separate legal entity from Lexus, a division of Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. . In California , filing a DBA statement also requires that a notice of the fictitious name be published in local newspapers for some set period of time to inform the public of the owner's intent to operate under an assumed name . The intention of

10080-553: The nation. While the strike ended without any concessions from the Federal government, it did ultimately allow for postal worker unions and the government to negotiate a contract which gave the unions most of what they wanted, as well as the signing of the Postal Reorganization Act by President Richard Nixon on August 12, 1970. The act replaced the cabinet-level Post Office Department with a new federal agency,

10200-568: The newly constructed bullion depository at Fort Knox . On March 18, 1970, postal workers in New York City—upset over low wages and poor working conditions, and emboldened by the Civil Rights Movement— organized a strike against the United States government. The strike initially involved postal workers in only New York City, but it eventually gained support of over 210,000 United States Post Office Department workers across

10320-604: The other hand, the creation of the Los Angeles–Seattle Coast Starlight from three formerly separate train routes was an immediate success, resulting in an increase to daily service by 1973. Needing to operate only half the train routes that had operated previously, Amtrak would lease around 1,200 of the best passenger cars from the 3,000 that the private railroads owned. All were air-conditioned, and 90% were easy-to-maintain stainless steel. When Amtrak took over, passenger cars and locomotives initially retained

10440-432: The paint schemes and logos of their former owners which resulted in Amtrak running trains with mismatched colors – the "Rainbow Era". In mid-1971, Amtrak began purchasing some of the equipment it had leased, including 286 EMD E and F unit diesel locomotives, 30 GG1 electric locomotives and 1,290 passenger cars. By 1975, the official Amtrak color scheme was painted on most Amtrak equipment and newly purchased locomotives and

10560-536: The postal system in the United States needed to expand across the entire country, the use of the railroad to transport the mail was instituted in 1832, on one line in Pennsylvania. All railroads in the United States were designated as post routes, after passage of the Act of July 7, 1838. Mail service by railroad increased rapidly thereafter. An Act of Congress provided for the issuance of stamps on March 3, 1847, and

10680-399: The postmaster general immediately let a contract to the New York City engraving firm of Rawdon, Wright, Hatch, and Edson. The first stamp issue of the U.S. was offered for sale on July 1, 1847, in New York City, with Boston receiving stamps the following day and other cities thereafter. The 5-cent stamp paid for a letter weighing less than 1 oz (28 g) and traveling less than 300 miles,

10800-414: The rate of 600 pieces of mail an hour. They were tested regularly for speed and accuracy. Parcel Post service began with the introduction of International Parcel Post between the U.S. and foreign countries in 1887. That same year, the U.S. Post Office and the postmaster general of Canada established parcel-post service between the two nations. A bilateral parcel-post treaty between the independent (at

10920-692: The right to transport mail under contract from the United States Government from the Isthmus of Panama to California. In 1855, William Henry Aspinwall completed the Panama Railway , providing rail service across the Isthmus and cutting to three weeks the transport time for the mails, passengers and goods to California. This remained an important route until the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. Railroad companies greatly expanded mail transport service after 1862, and

11040-531: The rolling stock began appearing. Amtrak inherited problems with train stations (most notably deferred maintenance ) and redundant facilities from the competing railroads that once served the same communities. Chicago is a prime example; on the day prior to Amtrak's inception, intercity passenger trains used four different Chicago terminals: LaSalle , Dearborn , North Western Station , Central , and Union. The trains at LaSalle remained there, as their operator Rock Island could not afford to opt into Amtrak. Of all

11160-590: The same under such rates and sums of money as the planters shall agree to give, and to hold and enjoy the same for the term of twenty-one years. The patent included the exclusive right to establish and collect a formal postal tax on official documents of all kinds. The tax was repealed a year later. Neale appointed Andrew Hamilton , Governor of New Jersey, as his deputy postmaster. The first postal service in America commenced in February 1692. Rates of postage were fixed and authorized, and measures were taken to establish

11280-405: The schedule. Amtrak uses a sliding scale, with trips under 250 miles (400 km) considered late if they are more than 10 minutes behind schedule, up to 30 minutes for trips over 551 miles (887 km) in length. Outside the Northeast Corridor and stretches of track in Southern California and Michigan, most Amtrak trains run on tracks owned and operated by privately owned freight railroads. BNSF

11400-664: The short term, Gunn argued that no form of passenger transportation in the United States is self-sufficient as the economy is currently structured. Highways, airports, and air traffic control all require large government expenditures to build and operate, coming from the Highway Trust Fund and Aviation Trust Fund paid for by user fees, highway fuel and road taxes, and, in the case of the General Fund, from general taxation. Gunn dropped most freight express business and worked to eliminate deferred maintenance. A plan by

11520-518: The six busiest stations by boardings are on the NEC: New York Penn Station (first), Washington Union Station (second), Philadelphia 30th Street Station (third), and Boston South Station (fifth). The other two are Chicago Union Station (fourth) and Los Angeles Union Station (sixth). On-time performance is calculated differently for airlines than for Amtrak. A plane is considered on-time if it arrives within 15 minutes of

11640-771: The spring. Most of these routes were restored to daily service in late-May 2021. However, a resurgence of the virus caused by the Omicron variant caused Amtrak to modify and/or suspend many of these routes again from January to March 2022. Amtrak is required by law to operate a national route system. Amtrak has presence in 46 of the 48 contiguous states, as well as the District of Columbia (with only thruway connecting services in Wyoming and no services in South Dakota ). Amtrak services fall into three groups: short-haul service on

11760-459: The surname(s) of the sole trader or partners, or the legal name of a company. The Companies Registration Office publishes a searchable register of such business names. In Japan , the word yagō ( 屋号 ) is used. In Colonial Nigeria , certain tribes had members that used a variety of trading names to conduct business with the Europeans. Two examples were King Perekule VII of Bonny , who

11880-706: The system held almost $ 3.4 billion in deposits, with more than four million depositors using 8,141 postal units. On August 12, 1918, the Post Office Department took over airmail service from the United States Army Air Service (USAAS). Assistant Postmaster General Otto Praeger , appointed Benjamin B. Lipsner to head the civilian-operated Air Mail Service . One of Lipsner's first acts was to hire four pilots, each with at least 1,000 hours' flying experience, paying them an average of $ 4,000 per year ($ 81,027 today). The Post Office Department used new Standard JR-1B biplanes specially modified to carry

12000-428: The system with an aim to reduce costs, speed construction, and improve its corporate image. However, the cash-strapped railroad would ultimately build relatively few of these standard stations. Amtrak soon had the opportunity to acquire rights-of-way. Following the bankruptcy of several northeastern railroads in the early 1970s, including Penn Central, which owned and operated the Northeast Corridor (NEC), Congress passed

12120-450: The system's long-distance routes would amount to selling national assets that are on par with national parks, and that Amtrak's abandonment of these routes would be irreversible. In late 2006, Amtrak unsuccessfully sought annual congressional funding of $ 1 billion for ten years. In early 2007, Amtrak employed 20,000 people in 46 states and served 25 million passengers a year, its highest number since its founding in 1970. Politico noted

12240-469: The term trade name to refer to "doing business as" (DBA) names. In most U.S. states now, however, DBAs are officially referred to using other terms. Almost half of the states, including New York and Oregon , use the terms assumed business name or assumed name ; nearly as many, including Pennsylvania , use the term fictitious name . For consumer protection purposes, many U.S. jurisdictions require businesses operating with fictitious names to file

12360-556: The time) Kingdom of Hawaii and the USA was signed on December 19, 1888 and put into effect early in 1889. Parcel-post service between the U.S. and other countries grew with the signing of successive postal conventions and treaties. While the Post Office agreed to deliver parcels sent into the country under the UPU treaty, it did not institute a domestic parcel-post service for another twenty-five years. The advent of Rural Free Delivery (RFD) in

12480-636: The trains serving Dearborn Station, Amtrak retained only a pair of Santa Fe trains, which relocated to Union Station beginning with the first Amtrak departures on May 1, 1971. Dearborn Station closed after the last pre-Amtrak trains on the Santa Fe arrived in Chicago on May 2. None of the intercity trains that had served North Western Station became part of the Amtrak system, and that terminal became commuter-only after May 1. The trains serving Central Station continued to use that station until an alternate routing

12600-509: The west and wholesalers and factories back east. The postal service likewise assisted the army in expanding control over the vast western territories. The widespread circulation of important newspapers by mail, such as the New York Weekly Tribune, facilitated coordination among politicians in different states. The postal service helped integrate established areas with the frontier, creating a spirit of nationalism and providing

12720-444: The whole way." To cover long distances, the Post Office used a hub-and-spoke system, with Washington as the hub and chief sorting center. By 1869, with 27,000 local post offices to deal with, it had changed to sorting mail en route in specialized railroad mail cars, called railway post offices , or RPOs. The system of postal money orders began in 1864. Free mail delivery began in the larger cities in 1863. The postal system played

12840-466: Was adopted in March 1972. In New York City , Amtrak had to maintain two stations ( Penn and Grand Central ) due to the lack of track connections to bring trains from upstate New York into Penn Station; a problem that was rectified once the Empire Connection was built in 1991. The Amtrak Standard Stations Program was launched in 1978 and proposed to build a standardized station design across

12960-400: Was also on the rise in the post-World War II years. Progressive Era rate regulation limited the railroad's ability to turn a profit. Railroads also faced antiquated work rules and inflexible relationships with trade unions. To take one example, workers continued to receive a day's pay for 100-to-150-mile (160 to 240 km) workdays. Streamliners covered that in two hours. Matters approached

13080-466: Was based on the Constitutional authority empowering Congress "To establish post offices and post roads ". The 1792 law provided for a greatly expanded postal network, and served editors by charging newspapers an extremely low rate. The law guaranteed the sanctity of personal correspondence, and provided the entire country with low-cost access to information on public affairs, while establishing

13200-405: Was enlarged during the tenure of President Andrew Jackson . As the Post Office expanded, difficulties were experienced due to a lack of employees and transportation. The Post Office's employees at that time were still subject to the so-called "spoils" system, where faithful political supporters of the executive branch were appointed to positions in the post office and other government corporations as

13320-798: Was increased dramatically. In subsequent years, other short route segments not needed for freight operations were transferred to Amtrak. In its first decade, Amtrak fell far short of financial independence, which continues today, but it did find modest success rebuilding trade. Outside factors discouraged competing transport, such as fuel shortages which increased costs of automobile and airline travel, and strikes which disrupted airline operations. Investments in Amtrak's track, equipment and information also made Amtrak more relevant to America's transportation needs. Amtrak's ridership increased from 16.6 million in 1972 to 21 million in 1981. In February 1978, Amtrak moved its headquarters to 400 North Capitol Street NW, Washington D.C. In 1982, former Secretary of

13440-553: Was known as Captain Pepple in trade matters, and King Jubo Jubogha of Opobo , who bore the pseudonym Captain Jaja . Both Pepple and Jaja would bequeath their trade names to their royal descendants as official surnames upon their deaths. In Singapore , there is no filing requirement for a "trading as" name, but there are requirements for disclosure of the underlying business or company's registered name and unique entity number. In

13560-545: Was named Amtrak President and CEO. In addition to Atlas Air, Flynn has held senior roles at CSX Transportation , SeaLand Services and GeoLogistics Corp. Anderson would remain with Amtrak as a senior advisor until December 2020. As Amtrak approached profitability in 2020, the company undertook planning to expand and create new intermediate-distance corridors across the country. Included were several new services in Ohio, Tennessee, Colorado, and Minnesota, among other states. During

13680-614: Was one of the most colorful people in United States Postal History." It was Easton who educated Abraham Lincoln's attorney general, Edward Bates. In 1815 Edward Bates moved into the Easton home and lived there for years at Third and Elm. Today this is the site of the Jefferson Memorial Park. In 1806 Postmaster General Gideon Granger wrote a three-page letter to Easton, begging him not to partake in

13800-552: Was only a trickle of business or governmental correspondence between the colonies. Most of the mail went back and forth to counting houses and government offices in London. The revolution made Philadelphia, the seat of the Continental Congress, the information hub of the new nation. News, new laws, political intelligence, and military orders circulated with a new urgency, and a postal system was necessary. Journalists took

13920-436: Was publicly announced less than two weeks before operations began. Amtrak began operations on May 1, 1971. Amtrak received no rail tracks or rights-of-way at its inception. All of Amtrak's routes were continuations of prior service, although Amtrak pruned about half the passenger rail network. Of the 366 train routes that operated previously, Amtrak continued only 184. Several major corridors became freight-only, including

14040-507: Was published, a documentary was created, six locomotives were painted in Amtrak's four prior paint schemes , and an Exhibit Train toured the country visiting 45 communities and welcoming more than 85,000 visitors. After years of almost revolving-door CEOs at Amtrak, in December 2013, Boardman was named "Railroader of the Year" by Railway Age magazine, which noted that with over five years in

14160-425: Was raised to $ 1,000 in 1916 and to $ 2,500 in 1918. The initial minimum deposit was $ 1. In order to save smaller amounts for deposit, customers could purchase a 10-cent postal savings card and 10-cent postal savings stamps to fill it. The card could be used to open or add to an account when its value, together with any attached stamps, amounted to one or more dollars, or it could be redeemed for cash. At its peak in 1947,

14280-461: Was reduced to under 3 hours due to system improvements and limited stop service. This improvement was cited as a reason why Amtrak grew its share of intercity trips between the cities along the corridor. Elsewhere in the country, demand for passenger rail service resulted in the creation of five new state-supported routes in California, Illinois, Missouri, Oregon and Pennsylvania, for a total of 15 state-supported routes. Amtrak added two trains in 1983,

14400-600: Was signed by President Richard Nixon on August 12, 1970. It replaced the cabinet-level Post Office Department with the independent United States Postal Service on July 1, 1971. The regulatory role of the postal services was then transferred to the Postal Regulatory Commission . In the early years of the North American colonies , many attempts were made to initiate a postal service. These early attempts were of small scale and usually involved

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