Were commuter trains ever profitable?

[SouthernRailway]

As I understand it, intercity passenger trains in the US were never really profitable after the 1920s, except during WWII, although some individual trains made plenty of money until the 1960s, when ridership fell and the railroads lost US mail contracts.

 

Were the LIRR and other NY-area commuter railroads ever profitable after the 1920s? If not, did they have expense recovery rates from fares about the same as today, or did they come a lot closer to at least breaking even? And why did private railroads even invest a cent in commuter trains if they weren't profitable?

 

Thanks.

[checkmatechamp13]

I believe that the MNRR's New Haven Line and NJT's Northeast Corridor break even. Both of those lines have Amtrak regional service on the Northeast Corridor Line (between Washington and Boston) and I believe that's the only Amtrak line to turn a profit.

 

The Hudson Line serves some fairly dense towns along the Hudson River, and the Harlem Line serves White Plains, which is a large hub for reverse-commuters, so both of those lines might see a fairly high farebox recovery ratio as well. (Also, the Hudson Line has Amtrak service, so it probably shares the maintainance costs with Amtrak)

[Amtrak7]

The NHL has a very high operating ratio, don't know exactly what it is.

 

On LIRR, Huntington, Port Washington, and Long Beach turn a profit in the rush hour. None do when looked at from a whole.

[Truckie]

There is currently no part of Metro North's service that the fare box recovery exceeds the operating costs, not New Haven Line, not White Plains, nada. In fact the New Haven Lines fares are far below its Harlem and Hudson Line counterparts due to CDOT not raising its fares in five years! Once the increase is implemented in November it will be a little closer to operating in the black but I doubt it. I'm not going to pull up specific #'s but all of the financial reports are available on the MTA's website.

 

Currently the only part of Metro North that nets any profit is the commissary (bar carts/bar cars).

[SouthernRailway]

Were NY-area commuter railroads profitable overall in the past (at any time after the 1920s)? They have an operating cost recovery ratio below Amtrak, so I assume that commuter railroads were in worse shape financially than intercity trains before Amtrak was created, too?

[Nova RTS 9147]

Were NY-area commuter railroads profitable overall in the past (at any time after the 1920s)? They have an operating cost recovery ratio below Amtrak, so I assume that commuter railroads were in worse shape financially than intercity trains before Amtrak was created, too?

 

Probably, and if so it was up until the 1950s.

 

If it helps, Erie Lackawanna was profitable for some point in the 60s, before becoming worth more dead than alive.

[Nexis4Jersey]

The Question is will they become profitable again and the Answer is yes. Removing some pork in Management , increasing Rail Capacity / Improving Infastrature will make the MNRR and other RR's turn a profit like there Euro Counter parts. There are European Railroads with ridership between 140-260,000 Daily that turn a profit and can expand with there profits with the exception of the huge projects. Ridership increases are also what allows the system once in the black to expand.