RailPAC: Rail Passenger Association of CA & NV

Month: March 2013

  • March Trip report with video to Riverside, Los Angeles and Santa Monica

    Report by Noel T. Braymer  What a way to celebrate my 61st birthday, but I’m still too young for a Metrolink senior discount. I got to the Oceanside Station in time to get my ticket to Riverside for Metrolink train 850 and get on board before the 7:35 AM departure.  I still had the same…

  • eNewsletter for March 25, 2013

    Corbett reaches deal to pay to maintain Amtrak route to Pittsburgh Tribune-Review-Mar 21, 2013 Tom Corbett said the state will pay $3.8 million a year to subsidize Amtrak’s Pennsylvanian route, a daily round-trip that provides the only …California is already paying over $30 million to run each of their existing State services and each produce much more…

  • Capitol Corridor Monthly Report (February, 2013)

    By David B. Kutrosky, Managing Director, CCJPA For February 2013, once again we find Capitol Corridor’s monthly performance report to be a mixed bag of results. Ridership in the month of February was 8.2% below February 2011 and revenue was down 2.7%. On a positive note, on-time performance (OTP) was 97%, the best in the…

  • Report of the First Ever San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority

    Report by Mike Barnbaum, Associate Director of the Rail Passenger Association of California & Nevada, on Sunday 24 March 2013 The New San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority, created by legislation from Cathleen Galgiani (AB 1779) and signed into law by Governor Edmund G. Jerry Brown on September 29, 2012, held its first meeting on March…

  • Should High Speed Rail Share the Tehachapis?

    Analysis by Noel T. Braymer The most expensive part of running any railroad is not above the rails but below the rails on the right of way. With any capital intensive investment the way to recoup the cost is to use it as much and generate the most income as possible. This is particularly true…

  • eNewsletter for March 13, 2013

    Excerpt from the March 7, 2013 LOSSAN TAC Meeting Agenda. The Coast Starlight has maintained positive ridership growth since September 2011 including a significant increase of 19.3 percent in January due to a combination of improved reliability, fare actions, and maintaining the summer consist with more cars . March 18, 2013 Part 1  March 18, 2013 Part…

  • Passenger Trains Make Money

    Report by Noel T. Braymer To often we hear in this county about how passenger trains lose money. The fact is many passengers trains cover their costs for trains crews, fuel and direct operations of the trains. It is the passenger railroads that are losing money. To draw an analogy compare a passenger railroad to…

  • eNewsletter for March 11, 2013

    SPRINTER Rail Service To Shut Down Due To Bad Brake Rotors KPBS- Mar 8, 2013 North County Transit District’s SPRINTER rail line, which runs between Escondido and Oceanside carrying 7,800 passengers a day, will be taken off the tracks at midnight Friday for 60 to 120 days to replace worn brake rotors. The NCTD said…

  • Speed and Ridership

    Report by Noel T. Braymer In 1913 the airplane had only been invented ten years earlier. Few planes in 1913 could fly faster than 100 miles per hour. Race cars and trains attempting to set speed records in 1913 could travel just over 100 miles per hour as well. The Ford Model T car by…

  • eNewsletter for March 4, 2013

    The report by the Brooking Institute that this story is based on concludes that Amtrak can make “money” by running corridor trains and having the States subsidize operations instead of the Federal Government. So where is this State Money suppose to come from and what will keep the States from running these services themselves and…