Commentary by Paul Dyson, RailPAC President Those of you who are NARP members will have received a letter from Matt Melzer, former RailPAC director and now Communications Associate at NARP HQ. Matt points out the ongoing threat to the Sunset Limited and calls for action by NARP members to draw attention to the danger to…
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY RAIL COMMITTEE Meeting Report, October 11, 2007 Bakersfield, California Reported by Russ Jackson RailPAC was well represented at the quarterly meeting of the San Joaquin Valley Rail Committee, led by Director Bruce Jenkins, and Associate Directors George Gaekle, Mike Barnbaum, and this writer. What made the meeting important was some news that…
From Sacramento to Bakersfield: two round trips daily on Amtrak California’s San Joaquin Valley trains. Here’s a look at all 10 intermediate stations, Lodi to Wasco, on this route. Photos were (mostly) taken 10/11/07 from the door of train 702, southbound, which departs Sacramento at 6:35 AM. That day ridership was light until Modesto. Photos…
TAMC Rail Policy Committee meeting October 1, 2007, Salinas Reported by Chris Flescher, RailPAC Associate Director Most of the meeting consisted of two presentations. The first was from a planner who worked on the Sprinter project in North San Diego County. The second one was from a planner who works for Monterey Salinas Transit (MST),…
September 2007 Results- and FY 2006-07 Capitol Corridor and California stats (our best year yet) By Gene Skoropowski Progress continues on the Capitol Corridor. We have just received the September 2007 stats from Amtrak, and the end-of-fiscal year stats as well. For California, they are very good. For the Capitol Corridor, the numbers continue to…
By Noel T. Braymer The reality of most travel without a car is you have to transfer to get to where you want to go. Good rail passenger sevice depends on quick and easy connections. Perhaps the best feature of BART is it is designed to allow passengers to transfer easily within BART. Connections are…
CRCC Policy Committee Meeting September 29, 2007 Paraiso Winery, Soledad, CA Reported by Chris Flescher, RailPAC Associate Director, Salinas NOTE: This article contains many news items of statewide interest RailPAC President, Paul Dyson, and Director Dennis Story attended the meeting, also. There are three categories of actions needed to start the Coast Daylight train: track…
How has Amtrak train 3/4, the Southwest Chief, (and others) been doing lately? Commentary by Russ Jackson When a long distance train has a very good on time performance it’s a time to celebrate, and while the Southwest Chief regularly has one of Amtrak’s best records it’s good to look once in a while. Southwest…
Summary of August 2007 ridership and ticket revenue on the California Corridors As received from Amtrak. Reported by Gene Skoropowski These results are good news for all intercity passenger rail services across California, and particularly good news for the Capitol Corridor service. After 11 months, with every month in the fiscal year setting a new…
Transportation Agency for Monterey County Rail Policy Committee, September 10, 2007. Salinas Reported for RailPAC by Chris Flescher There is a strong interest in trying to reduce the cost for the Branch Line Project (the light rail and/or bus rapid transit from Castroville to Monterey). Parsons has come up with a list of options to…