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Another close call and Metrolink comes through again
Editorial by Noel T. Braymer On a wet Friday October 12th night we relearned how vulnerable California’s transportation system is. In a truck by-pass tunnel underneath the I-5 freeway one truck hit another truck which created a chain reaction causing several trucks to catch fire. The good news was “only” three people were killed. Working…
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Southern Californian Rail Connections: the good and the bad.
By Noel T. Braymer The reality of most travel without a car is you have to transfer to get to where you want to go. Good rail passenger sevice depends on quick and easy connections. Perhaps the best feature of BART is it is designed to allow passengers to transfer easily within BART. Connections are…
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Editorial: Now would be a good time to raise Gas Taxes
By Noel T. Braymer The recent collapse of the I-35W Freeway Bridge in Minneapolis highlights a problem that has been growing for years: the deferred maintenance of much of America’s infrastructure. There is an old saying in Economics: “There is no such thing as a free lunch“. The “free lunch” referred to was the practise…
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Editorial: What really happened at Williams Junction?
By Noel T. Braymer I think everyone was shocked at news reports that an Amtrak crew left a diabetic man stranded in the middle of an Arizona forest near the Grand Canyon. News reports like this said “PHOENIX–A 65-year-old St. Louis man is missing after Amtrak personnel, mistaking his diabetic shock for drunk and disorderly…
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Californians don’t love their cars, many have no choice.
June 1 Editorial by Noel Braymer In mid June of this year there were several news stories about a U.S. Census survey which showed that Americans, particularly Californians where driving alone more than ever. This is despite millions of dollars being spent to encourage car-pooling and ride sharing. Many of the stories in the papers…
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Has California finally turned the corner on oil?
Editorial By Noel T. Braymer This article was in a recent edition of the Los Angeles Times: STATE BUCKS TREND Californians buying less gas By Elizabeth Douglass “THE PRICE of gas really does matter after all. California added cars and drivers in 2006, but we bought less gasoline than the year before for the first…
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Mom was right: We get more done when we work together
Commentary by Noel T. Braymer The great success of the combined RailPAC, NARP and The Transit Coalition meeting in Los Angeles on March 17th can be credited to the co-operation and sharing of resources by the different groups. Also shared by the groups is a general consensus for the importance of and need for expanded…
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Amtrak needs leadership, not more managers
Commentary by Noel Braymer, Editor, Western Rail Passenger Review On January 30th of this year, train 50, the CARDINAL, departed Chicago with 6 cars, one locomotive and one working toilet. Over the protests of the train’s conductor, the Chicago trainmaster ordered the train out of Chicago. The train had gone no further than Dyer, Indiana,…
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February’s RailPAC Editorial: Growth is Amtrak’s only option
Editorial Growth is Amtrak’s only option By Noel T. Braymer Last month we republished excerpts from an article from the NEW YORK TIMES with the headline Surprising Forecast for Amtrak: Growth. This is a sad commentary on the current state of Amtrak that the media would consider a marketing plan for Amtrak surprising. But in…