Amtrak Case
Christopher Johansen
Yelena
Nicole
FIN 465
Amtrak Case
Introduction
Amtrak was formed in 1970 by the U.S. Congress in order to ensure that rail service would remain an “integral part of the national transportation system.” Amtrak has become the main provider of all passenger rail services in the U.S. and as of 2002 Amtrak has become completely self sufficient and is no longer allowed to use federal subsidies to cover their operating expenses. In order to become self sufficient Amtrak has developed a high-speed rail service, called Acela, which is projected to bring in revenues over $100 million a year.
The Issue
Due to the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act passed by Congress in 1997 the corporation is now forced to “eliminate its reliance on federal subsidies by 2002.” This poses a very serious and detrimental problem for Amtrak as they have never been profitable in the past 30 years since the company’s inception. This has caused the firm to be very creative and develop some innovative and profitable solutions. The leading solution to their economic problems is a radical new business plan which focuses on the creation and development of a high-speed rail service. In …show more content…
The first is to borrow money from investors to fund the purchase and the second is to lease the needed equipment from a financial institution like BNYCF. They currently have an offer from a bank to borrow the money and acquire more debt or to take out a leveraged financial lease with BNYCF. In a financial lease Amtrak would obtain the needed funds from BNYCF and make semi-annual payments until the lease was paid off and at the end of the lease term Amtrak would have the opportunity to buy the equipment at the higher of terminal or fair market value. One advantage of a lease over acquiring more debt is that it wouldn’t further saturate the public market with additional bonds as the company has recently issued
Yelena
Nicole
FIN 465
Amtrak Case
Introduction
Amtrak was formed in 1970 by the U.S. Congress in order to ensure that rail service would remain an “integral part of the national transportation system.” Amtrak has become the main provider of all passenger rail services in the U.S. and as of 2002 Amtrak has become completely self sufficient and is no longer allowed to use federal subsidies to cover their operating expenses. In order to become self sufficient Amtrak has developed a high-speed rail service, called Acela, which is projected to bring in revenues over $100 million a year.
The Issue
Due to the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act passed by Congress in 1997 the corporation is now forced to “eliminate its reliance on federal subsidies by 2002.” This poses a very serious and detrimental problem for Amtrak as they have never been profitable in the past 30 years since the company’s inception. This has caused the firm to be very creative and develop some innovative and profitable solutions. The leading solution to their economic problems is a radical new business plan which focuses on the creation and development of a high-speed rail service. In …show more content…
The first is to borrow money from investors to fund the purchase and the second is to lease the needed equipment from a financial institution like BNYCF. They currently have an offer from a bank to borrow the money and acquire more debt or to take out a leveraged financial lease with BNYCF. In a financial lease Amtrak would obtain the needed funds from BNYCF and make semi-annual payments until the lease was paid off and at the end of the lease term Amtrak would have the opportunity to buy the equipment at the higher of terminal or fair market value. One advantage of a lease over acquiring more debt is that it wouldn’t further saturate the public market with additional bonds as the company has recently issued