By Noel T. Braymer In 1978 I was in my mid-twenties, single, the rent for my apartment in Los Angeles was $160 a month, and my car was paid for thanks to my parents. About the last thing on my mind were trains. Other than amusement park rides the only train ride I had been…
16th January, 2009, Mr. Joseph H. Boardman, President and Chief Executive Officer, NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER CORPORATION, Re: Amtrak Rolling Stock Investment Plans. Dear Mr. Boardman: As you take up your new duties as President of Amtrak, albeit so far on temporary assignment, we’d like to draw your attention to some distressing tendencies in Amtrak policy over…
Reported by Eugene K. Skoropowski, Managing Director, Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority After the relatively modest November growth in Capitol Corridor riders (+2.7%), we were expecting to see a significant slowing of ridership growth on the Capitol Corridor in December, reflecting the impacts of both the economic downturn, as well as falling gas prices. It did…
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…