RailPAC: Rail Passenger Association of CA & NV

eNewsletter for February 3, 2014

There are many places that would benefit from extended rail service. The limiting factor as always is funding. The 8.5 mile Crenshaw Line is costing 2 Billion dollars. What would greatly improve this line as a service would be to extend it south of Imperial Highway on the existing Green Line. In the future this…

February 7, 2014
RailPAC rail PHOTOS of the month (January, 2014)

Here are this month’s photos by RailPAC photographers. Click on each photo to see it full size! Contributions to this page are welcome. Send your jpg rail photos to Russ Jackson, RailPAC Photo Editor, at [email protected]. 1. This is the LaJunta, Colorado, station with Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, one of the endangered stations on that route…

February 3, 2014
Notes on the February 1st RailPAC/NARP Conference in Los Angeles

By Noel T. Braymer On my way to Los Angeles on the train I could see much progress recently on the railroad. It looks like the long delayed bridge over the Santa Margarita River in Camp Pendleton is now almost finished. I recently rode the train to San Diego and found the new mile of…

February 2, 2014
eNewsletter for January 27, 2014

Amtrak was in trouble because of growing deficits by 1978 which had grown to $578 million dollars. Based on the then RPS accounting, to save money Amtrak cut 4 long distance trains in 1979. Instead of saving money and reducing the deficit which RPS predicted, Amtrak’s deficit rose to $729 million by 1981. It was…

January 31, 2014
Neil Bjornsen, 1945 – 2014

Photo from about 2010 with RailPAC Director Neil Bjornsen on the left with then Chairman of SCRRA (Metrolink) Keith Mullhouse of Moorpark at center and at right RailPAC President Paul Dyson. The passenger rail advocacy community, the Los Angeles Count Metropolitan Transportation Agency (“Metro”) and the Citizens’ Advisory Council (CAC) are dealt a great loss…

January 29, 2014
LOSSAN”s Top Priority

By Noel T. Braymer Increasing ridership and passenger revenues on the LOSSAN Corridor, particularly on the Surfliners should be the priority for LOSSAN. The question is how to do this? What is needed to get passenger growth is a combination of faster running times for trains with better on-time performance for better connections by train…

January 24, 2014
eNewsletter for January 21, 2014

There is talk that Amtrak is planning to soon eliminate the Pacific Parlour Cars on the Coast Starlight. The rational behind this is to save money by eliminating one attendant on board. That attendant sells alcohol. How Amtrak is able to lose money selling alcohol is a mystery to me. Also on the Coast Starlight…

January 24, 2014
Capitol Corridor Statistics for December, 2013

by David B. Kutrosky, Managing Director Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority Ridership on Capitol Corridor in December 2013 was 111,722, an increase of three percent over December 2012. This was the first time in FY2014 that for a given month was higher than the ridership of its prior year month. As a result, revenues for…

January 21, 2014
People Want More Rail Passenger Service

By Noel T. Braymer A quick check of news stories finds many about local efforts to expand rail passenger service across America. These efforts are not just in the major urban areas on the West or East Coasts either. These include local groups calling for returning service on the Sunset east of New Orleans back…

January 18, 2014
eNewsletter for January 13, 2014

Despite the often misleading headlines about the court’s rulings, it doesn’t shut down the (CA-HSR) project or ask for a funding plan for the entire project. Current construction in the San Joaquin Valley is about 6 billion dollars. To build a new right of way between Bakersfield and Palmdale is estimated to cost 10 billion…

January 17, 2014