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L.A. Welcomes Two New Transit Chiefs
Los Angeles’ two major transportation agencies announced this week the hires of new CEOs to take their respective helms — one involves a new hire from Denver while the other is only moving a few floors up.
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Ken Ruben
It is with great sadness that I report the death of longtime RailPAC member and Associate Director Ken Ruben. Ken suffered a serious stroke on New Year’s Day from which he never recovered. He died yesterday morning, Thursday 12th March, 2015, aged 72.
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States for Passenger Rail Coalition Comments on Indiana’s Decision to Stop Sponsoring the Hoosier State
Portland, ME – March 6, 2015 – “It is a sad day when the federal agency which administers federal funding for Amtrak, and who has played such a critical role in providing grants to States to help develop and improve intercity passenger rail services, also is determined to require States and intercity passenger service sponsors…
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Amtrak Statement in Response to the Hoosier Announcement
Indiana is fighting back against the FRA ruling, which is excellent news. The whole idea of the ruling is ridiculous. If a State hires a qualified operator to do a job it should not have to become certified to do the job itself. Boardman is again trying to use PRIIA and now the FRA to…
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Hoosier State Passenger Rail Service to End April 1
RailPAC is still gathering information about new proposed rulings by the Federal Railroad Administration which would appear to have a profound effect on State rail programs. This has the hallmarks of a Washington DC power play involving FRA, Amtrak and others to ensure that the states do not use non-Amtrak operators. However, the burden placed…
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Thoughts on the February Oxnard Metrolink Accident
The Steel Wheels Column An occasional commentary by Paul Dyson, RailPAC President
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Taking the Train to and from the San Diego Airport
This February I took my vacation in Dublin, Ireland. As an experiment I decided to try taking the train from Oceanside where I live to the San Diego International Airport and back. One of the problems with taking public transportation is that the airports are often busy when there is little bus and rail transit…
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Some Observations on the Oxnard Metrolink Crash
Train wrecks are great breaking news stories for television because they are spectacular. I saw this happen first hand. I was in Dublin, Ireland at a McDonalds in the early afternoon on the 24th when it was still morning in California. A breaking live video feed was on the TV of what turned out to…
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Farewell to Mike Scanlon
Mike Scanlon has done a hell of a good job with Caltrain in comparison to the shape it was in before (awful). Also under his purview is SAMTRANS and San Mateo Transportation Authority. Some of the many improvements made under his watch are: Improved station platforms and elimination of “holdout stations”, 96 trains/day, increased bike…
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Breaking News!
Approval has just been granted to form a State Assembly Select Committee for Passenger Rail. More details to come…