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…
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…
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…
By Andrew Selden, President, Minnesota Rail Passenger Association The great Amtrak myth is that long distance trains cost a ton of money (one recent report we saw, which loaded them up with shares of every cost imaginable, including NEC costs and all the non-cash ones like depreciation of fully-depreciated Superliners, alleged a net loss last…
By Noel T. Braymer In the last 6 months of 2013 there were 4 explosive accidents with fires in the US and Canada of unit oil trains carrying unconventional oil made from shale or tar sands. The latest accident in North Dakota on December 30th involved an 104 car train of oil tanker cars. While…
The 2014 Annual Steel Wheels Conference Saturday, February 1, 2014 Los Angeles Metro Board Room at Union Station, Los Angeles 9:30 am – 3:30 pm • Doors Open 9:00 am with a break for lunch (not provided) Once again RailPAC and NARP are presenting the annual Steel Wheels Conference, a must for rail advocates. Conveniently located at…
Complied by Noel T. Braymer There is a great deal of construction that will be finished as well as started during 2014 along the LOSSAN Rail Corridor. This is largely centered in the Counties of San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles. This is a quick review of some of these project underway now. August 2013…