COAST RAIL COORDINATING COUNCIL, TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE. “What about the FEMA cars stored outside New Orleans?” San Luis Obispo, January 18, 2008 Reported by Paul Dyson, RailPAC President The CRCC TAC met at San Luis Obispo last Friday, January 18, 2008. Amtrak, Caltrans, SLOCOG, Ventura, Santa Barbara County and City, Monterey County, Caltrain (our own…
Report from Gene Skoropowski, CCJPB Managing Director We have just received the December 2007 stats from Amtrak, the third month of our FY08 federal fiscal year. For the Capitol Corridor, and indeed for all of California, the ridership and revenue numbers show continued substantial growth. The San Joaquins nudged out the Capitol Corridor for ‘top…
NEW INFORMATION 1/7/08 RailPAC President Paul Dyson says a big crowd is expected! Note that the meeting will end in time to take trains 11, 14, or 799 or some of the connecting buses! Spend a Saturday on California’s beautiful Central Coast! Train798/799 at SLO station. COME TO this meeting Saturday, January 19, in the…
Notes submitted by Bill Kerby, January 10, 2008 Commissioners were relieved when Executive Director John Barna corrected the minutes from the past meeting that stated “no members were present†to “no members were absent.†Today, the newly elected chair of the California Transportation Commission, John Chalker of San Diego, efficiently led the commissioners and witnesses…
The Transportation Agency for Monterey County Rail Policy Meeting, held on January 7, 2008 “Progress is being made on the Monterey Branch Line service!” Reported by Chris Flescher, RailPAC Associate Director During public comments, one person said that he had rode the Sprinter once, and he was impressed at how high quality the train was.…
Commentary By Paul Dyson, RailPAC President On Friday January 11th I had a quick turnaround trip to Oceanside on a RailPAC errand that resulted in my spending about 90 minutes at the Transit Center. My observations are about the Transit Center rather than the trainride and I’m trying to look at it from the point…
January 10, 2008 Merced, California Reported by Bruce Jenkins, RailPAC Director The meeting was abbreviated because train #701 (north) was delayed due to a grade crossing accident south of Merced. The SJVRC Board entertained a request to change the meeting date to the 3rd Thursday of the month. However, because of schedule conflicts with a…
By Noel T. Braymer George Skelton of the Capital Journal from Sacramento wrote some rather discouraging things about what is being proposed for the California High Speed Rail Project. This is what he wrote as published in the December 24 issue of the Los Angeles Times.”Turns out, as a Sacramentan, I wouldn’t be allowed to…
By Noel T. Braymer Back in November 4th of last year PARADE Magazine ran a story about Amtrak entitled “With high gas prices and airport delays, could we make our trains…A Better Way To Travel?” With this story PARADE Magazine ran a poll of its readers asking “Should America Invest more in Trains? In the…
Special Amtrak release sent to RailPAC by Ed von Nordeck BLIZZARDS IN CALIFORNIA AFFECTING SERVICE . EXTREME BLIZZARD CONDITIONS WILL AFFECT THE SIERRA NEVADA AND SISKIYOU MOUNTAINS IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA THE NEXT FEW DAYS, WITH HEAVY SNOWFALL CLOSING THE HIGHWAYS. . ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 4 AND SATURDAY, JANUARY 5: – ALL THRUWAY BUSES BETWEEN SACRAMENTO…