Suburban light rail was purchased for disposal as a way to destroy competition in some areas.

General Motors streetcar conspiracy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That's among the many reasons you can't get around the US efficiently by passenger rail. Since that option is dead forever, it's just an interesting historic footnote.

The Chrysler/Mitsubishi 2.6 engines were garbage. Melling sold a lot of balance shaft eliminator kits and cast iron oil pumps to cure some of their problems.

 

It was more than likely inevitable anyway. Such passenger light rail transport would have been highly unionized and went bust due to overly high costs. Just look at the financials of companies like Amtrak. The majority of public transport as it exists today in the US is a financial black hole and a burden on the taxpayer.

 

Public transport relieves vehicle burdens on crowded roads, and often continues to run when those roads are slowed or blocked. It facilitates access to urban areas where autos are already overloading road systems and available parking.

A comparison of taxpayer cost should take into account ALL direct and indirect subsidies, expenses, costs, and economic benefits. Cars and trucks are massively "subsidised" by tax-funded buildouts of infrastructure to support them.

Road v rail: Amtrak's true costs | The Economist

All our oil-powered vehicles (non-electric trains included) are literally "subsidised" by perpetual war and military deployments to protect oil trade routes and regional stability near producing countries. Trains are extremely efficient ways to move people and goods. That's less oil we much purchase for a given result.

No fair pretending that isn't real, and (outside the politics and the own-side casualties) it's stunningly expensive. We should remember our taxes pay for it

Amtrak gets a bit more than the annual US military aid to Egypt. That's chicken feed, and as gas prices rise rail will become even more economically important in getting workers to their jobs. Put them in cars and higher-capacity ROADS will be required. Those aren't free, and require disrupting crowded cities and towns, buying out property owners, and routing traffic around construction. Nothing is simple.

Amtrak ridership, revenue up - Washington Business Journal