Willing to agree to that Willie?
No, you agreed to a toll on highways,
So there's no need to increase the federal gas tax.
The gas tax should be eliminated and all funding provided by tolls.
Under those conditions (all limited access highways funded by tolls), I would agree that all passenger rail would be funded by fares... but I also think that your $32 dollar figure is arbitrary and excessive. In fact, I think the increase in ridership would be so dramatic, Amtrak may even be able to be more profitable with reduced ticket prices!!!
Actually it's pretty accurate. So how about it, Willie? Want to bump up the cost of each ticket by $32?
And why tolls? Why not a gas tax? We have the entire infrastructure in place, a raise of $0.076 per gallon is easy to calculate, and it's inherently fair; travel less or with a high MPG (typically lighter - less wear and tear on the roads) car and you pay less. People drove plenty when gas was at $3.50 per gallon, adding this extra tax would still result in fuel costs below that level.
Don't think your trains as they exist now can compete when tickets are upped by $32 each?