The amtrak yearly subsidy is in the neighborhood of 1.3B a year (<a href="http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/bg2072es.cfm" rel="nofollow">http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/bg2072es.cfm</a>) while congress generally passes highway bills which number in the 100s of billions every other year or so.<p>Incomplete story as it's totally ignoring state/local roads and city-level metros -- but that's one data point for you.