Paul Dyson writes: A combination of illness and other distractions has caused this site to be neglected for too long. In addition the 1st Quarter edition of Steel Wheels has only just arrived at the printers. And to add insult to injury Noel Braymer’s weekly eNews has been blocked thanks to a minor typing error. …
I attended the November 14 Capitol Corridor JPA Board meeting in Oakland. Here is a summary: Election of Chair Rebecca Saltzman and Vice-Chair Don Saylor for 2-year term: 2019-2020. Approved 2019 meeting schedule, next meeting February 13, 2019, 10AM, in Suisun City. Capitol Corridor FY2018 Performance: o Records were set for annual ridership (1.71M passengers;…
I attended the November 16, 2018 San Joaquin JPA Board Meeting in Merced. Here is a summary: Administrative items were approved including moving expense items from one budget account to another. The Board gave recognition to board members Don Tatzin and Tom Blalock who will be leaving the Board due to retirements. The City of…
CHSRA Board Meeting November 15, 2018 Burbank While I was not able attend the recent Board meeting of the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) I did view the video and as President of the Rail Passenger Association of California (RailPAC) I wanted to provide my impressions of the meeting and public comments. The overall emotion…
Some of you may have received a post from Jim Mathews of RPA claiming a victory in the fight for the Southwest Chief. We urge caution and continued vigilance. Here’s a more realistic assessment from Evan Stair from Passenger Rail Kansas: THE TRUTH COMES OUT – BUS BRIDGE WAS NOT FOR SAFETY Apparently, and we…
https://youtu.be/LWHDzS1sec4
Don’t miss this year’s conference! We have over 60 people registered and it will be sure to be an interesting day. Coffee and light refreshments and registration/check in will be available from about 9.30am at the Stanford Gallery. The event itself is in the Museum Auditorium which opens at 10, the program will start at…
This was our first attempt for many years to obtain legislative support for our position re the National Network interstate trains. It was heavily amended by Assembly staff and some of the stronger language removed. I would have pushed back on some of the changes but we had only two weeks to line up support…
2018 has become a critical year for passenger rail in California. The threat to the interstate network trains, California Zephyr, Sunset Limited, Southwest Chief and Coast Starlight, puts them on the brink of fading into history barring radical action by Amtrak management and the Federal government. Two decades of under-investment would have been enough to…
In this letter I tried to be polite, and not as hostile as I might have been. At about the same time as this was sent the New Jersey ARP wrote specifically calling for Anderson’s dismissal. There is now a clear pattern, as reported by Bill Vantuono of Railway Age, of simply ignoring the media…