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…
Amtrak’s Route Accounting: Fatally Flawed, Misleading & Wrong August 23, 2018 The Rail Passengers Association (RPA) strongly believes that the ongoing debate concerning the future shape of Amtrak’s national network has been distorted by its use of fully allocated costs rather than avoidable costs as required by statute. The adverse outcome of using fully allocated…
In their recent employee bulletin Amtrak management, (Anderson and crew) upped the ante by demanding over $100 million for the route of the Southwest Chief between Kansas and New Mexico, including “full PTC”. If you want to hold politicians to ransom you wave the safety flag. An elected official can be no more be against…
If you want to help RailPAC preserve and expand the National Network of passenger trains, and grow the regional services in California you should attend this important event. Registration is open at eventbrite.com. railpac2018.eventbrite.com The event will be held at the California State Railroad Museum from 10.00am and we have a number of experts who…
Just heard from an unimpeachable source that Anderson has told employees that the current operation of the Southwest Chief is unacceptable and will be changed. Here’s the full text, bold or italics are mine: We know many of you have concerns about the status of the Southwest Chief. Here’s an update: We are considering changes…
RailPAC initiates California State Legislature Resolution to support the National Network and invest in new rolling stock. Senator Mark McGuire today (Thursday August 9th, 2018) introduced Senate Joint Resolution 30 (SJR 30), drafted by RailPAC, with language that calls for an end to the Amtrak plans to break up the National Network into short corridors…
RailPAC invited Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson to present his vision for Amtrak in the 21st Century at the Annual Steel Wheels Conference in Sacramento, Saturday 29th September. A brief (terse?) response from his PA informed us that he is “unavailable”. No offer, as in the past, to send a senior officer in his stead. It…