Frequently Asked Questions
Amtrak operates a national rail network, serving over 500 stations in 46 states on 22,000 miles of track with 20,000 employees. In addition to operating 265 daily intercity trains, over 1.45 million commuters each day depend on operating agreements with Amtrak, Amtrak-owned infrastructure, or shared operations.
In 1988, Congress established an Office of Inspector General ("OIG") within Amtrak. Congress established the OIG within Amtrak under the Inspector General Act of 1988, which amended the Inspector General Act of 1978 5 U.S.C.App. 3 §§ 1-12 that created inspector generals throughout the federal government in order to combat fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in federal programs and operations.
Amtrak was created by Congress in 1970 to take over the money-losing passenger rail servicepreviously operated by private freight railroad companies in the United States. More than half of all rail passenger routes were eliminated when Amtrak began service on May 1, 1971. Although Amtrak’s route system has remained essentially the same size, it represents a mere skeleton of what was once the United States’ passenger rail network.