Reported by Bruce Jenkins, RailPAC Director The San Joaquin Valley Rail Committee met in Merced Thursday, January 8, 2009. RailPAC Associate Director George Gaekle, from Modesto, who also is a SJVRC committee member, introduced the new committee member for Stanislaus County, County Supervisor Vito Chiesa. Ty Holscher from Tulare County reported that “in view of the economic situation…
By Noel T. Braymer The simple fact is most intercity passenger trains make money, on their direct operating costs. The problem at Amtrak is it doesn’t run enough trains to bring in enough money to cover all its overhead costs. Amtrak has some large overhead costs, centered mostly in the Midwest and East Coast. Yet…
RailPAC President Paul Dyson writes to NARP Chairman George Chilson: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RAILROAD PASSENGERS, 900 Second Street NE Suite 308, Washington, DC 20002, Via E-Mail, hard copy by US Mail Dear George: I am writing on behalf of RailPAC to express our deep concern at the future of Amtrak’s western routes. The trains west…
. . . Photos and Commentary by Russ Jackson… January, 2009. Happy New Year, everyone! Let’s start with some good news from the Capitol Corridor’s holiday message to its riders: “You have spoken…and we listened. Back by popular demand is the pot roast sandwich on an onion roll. Visit the Cafe Car today and enjoy…
Editorial by Noel T. Braymer “In my view, a national intercity, interconnected passenger rail service is critically important for the mobility and energy independence of the United States.” Joseph Boardman The above comments are from a letter to Amtrak Employees shortly after Mr. Boardman took over as Amtrak President back in late November. These are…
RAIL PASSENGER ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA 1017 L Street PMB 217, Sacramento, CA 95814 www.railpac.org Danger in “Signal Gaps”? Your article today about signal gaps and the Chatsworth collision requires response. The facts about the locations of the signals in the Chatsworth vicinity are clear from your map yet your “experts” draw the wrong conclusions. For the…
RAIL PASSENGER ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA 1017 L Street PMB 217, Sacramento, CA 95814 New Year message from Paul Dyson, RailPAC President: I think it’s fair to say that RailPAC has had a moderately successful year in 2008, a year that has involved a lot of swimming upstream and around all sorts of obstacles. We pass a…
From Phoenix, Arizona; Santa Fe, New Mexico, Dallas-Ft. Worth Texas, and California. Comments by Russ Jackson, RailPAC Secretary-Emeritus. Photos by contibuting photographers with our thanks. This year’s Christmas tree is from Phoenix on December 13. (Photo by Gene Holmerud) After the tree lighting ceremony “the second act was free rides that left the Central &…
Reported by Chuck Robuck, CC Riders President, RailPAC Member from Auburn FYI, I attended this meeting as a CC Rider rep and wanted to give you a brief recap. BACKGROUND The purpose of the meeting was to reconstitute the Funding Strategy Steering Committee that had been established several years ago to look at Placer County…
Reported by Gene Skoropowski In spite of the big Thanksgiving weekend travel surge, ridership growth for November 2008 in all of California was quite modest, likely reflecting the impacts of both the economic downturn, as well as falling gas prices. Sustained on-time performance on the Capitol Corridor has helped keep riders, and improved on-time performance…