HELP KEEP AMTRAK GOING Los Angeles City Council Member Tom LaBonge and Paul Dyson, president of the Rail Passenger Assn. of California, held a joint press conference at LA Union Station on July 13. Councilmember LaBonge received unanimous council support on July 13 for a City resolution supporting U.S. Senate bill S 294 that would…
provided by Eugene K. Skoropowski, Managing Director, Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority We have received the ridership and revenue results for June 2007 from Amtrak, and, once again, the Capitol Corridor is setting records. After 9 months in our fiscal year, we continue to AVERAGE a +13% growth rate in riders and more than +21%…
Issues Commentary by Russ Jackson, RailPAC We all know that Amtrak trains 5 and 6, the California Zephyr, have been late regularly. From August, 2006 to June, 2007, the combined on time performance of both trains at their endpoints, Chicago and Emeryville, was 0.0%. On June 21, 2007, after arduous negotiations with the Union Pacific…
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the “summer of love?” 🙂 Go to a ball game? Go to Fishermans Wharf/Pier 39? Ride the cable cars? Let’s go! Here’s a photo story of rail in San Francisco in the summer of 2007. Photos and comments by RailPAC website Editor Russ Jackson A rail journey to San…
June 1 Editorial by Noel Braymer In mid June of this year there were several news stories about a U.S. Census survey which showed that Americans, particularly Californians where driving alone more than ever. This is despite millions of dollars being spent to encourage car-pooling and ride sharing. Many of the stories in the papers…
From Modern Railways with Comments added by RailPAC President, Paul Dyson The following is an extract from the June 2007 edition of Modern Railways, the leading UK railway magazine. It was written by Roger Ford, a former traction engineer with the English Electric Company, and now technical editor of MR. It is reproduced with his…
LOSSAN Board Meeting, Los Angeles, 06/13/07 Report and IMPORTANT COMMENTARY by Paul Dyson, RailPAC President Although the meeting took place there was no quorum as Chairman Art Brown was taken ill en route to the meeting and there were too many other absences. The meeting could not therefore make any Board decisions, but heard the…
Report and commentary from the TAC meeting, Santa Barbara, 6/8/07 by Paul Dyson Including news about the new car order! The CRCC Technical Advisory Committee met at Santa Barbara last week, led by the indefatigable Peter Rodgers of SLOCOG. Also there were Royce Gotcher and Clem Bomar of Caltrans Division of Rail, Eileen Low from…
June 4, 2007, Transportation Agency for Monterey County Rail Policy Committee meeting Report and commentary by Chris Flescher, RailPAC, Salinas There is an interest in awarding Parsons another contract for planning work on the Monterey Branch Line. The contract would involve aerial photography to create more detailed maps of the area. There would be enough…
Photos from Southern California include the LA Gold Line, Santa Ana, Fullerton, and Santa Barbara. Posted mid-June, 2007. A Los Angeles Gold Line train is at the Lincoln Heights/Cypress Park station. Notice the “transit oriented development” condos adjacent to this station. (Noel Braymer photo) Quad gates at this Heritage Park station intersection provide increased safety…