RailPAC: Rail Passenger Association of CA & NV

Amtrak opens the Los Angeles Metropolitan Lounge

Report by Paul J. Dyson, RailPAC President Los Angeles, December 19, 2013 Today I attended the opening ceremony of the new Amtrak lounge for sleeping car and Business class passengers. In spite of being Amtrak’s 5th busiest, Los Angeles Union Station has never had a facility of this kind and it is much to be…

December 20, 2013
Getting Derailed on the Crescent for Thanksgiving!

Story and Photos by RailPAC member Alexander Friedman I love traveling cross-country by train and I have done so every year for over a decade. For this Thanksgiving holidays I decided to take, for the first time the Sunset Limited. Then after visiting New Orleans for a day, I planned to transfer onto the Crescent…

December 20, 2013
I Hate Driving in LA!

By Noel T. Braymer I Love LA, and I love going to LA. But most people, particularly those who live in LA know that its traffic is a mess. I and others would love rail alternatives to driving to get around to more of LA. But the worst traffic in LA is where there are…

December 19, 2013
eNewsletter for December 16, 2013

To try to reduce the number of homeless at LAUS, LA Metro now only allows ticketed passengers to sit in the station for 2 hours max with separate sections for Amtrak and Metrolink passengers. Transit passengers can’t sit in the main station. December 16, 2013 The above copy of this enewletter is on a PDF…

December 19, 2013
Amtrak Monthly Performance Report

Reported by Anthony Lee, RailPAC Associate Director Each month Amtrak compiles a Performance Report, covering many financial and financial items. Their full (unaudited) report can be found on www.amtrak.com by going to the list of items at the bottom of the home page and selecting “News & Media” then select “Reports & Documents” and then…

December 16, 2013
Filling Up Passenger Trains with On-Line Ticketing

By Noel T. Braymer Even the busiest passenger train lines don’t have full trains all of the time. More passengers on trains translates into more support for improved rail passenger service. It also brings in more money which is always needed for passenger rail service. So how can rail passenger providers fill up trains that…

December 14, 2013
eNewsletter for December 9, 2013

A 220-mph NEC? A contrarian weighs in RailwayAge Magazine (blog)-Dec 3, 2013 But as a contrarian points out, the infrastructure improvement costs of upping maximum Northeast Corridor speeds to 220 mph is equivalent to almost $1 billion per minute saved, and when one arrives a half-hour earlier at origin to await boarding, and then stands in a…

December 12, 2013
Why Does it Take So Long to Get More and Faster Trains?

By Noel T. Braymer The short answer is money: or rather the lack of money. Things looked much brighter back in 2000. In 2000 the State of California had a budget surplus of 12.3 billion dollars! The Federal Government also had a budget surplus and the Federal Debt was shrinking. Unemployment was low and economic…

December 5, 2013
eNewsletter for December 2, 2013

Editorial: High-speed rail proceeds in fits and start Sacramento Bee – Nov 27, 2013 In a mixed ruling on Monday, Kenny did not question going forward with the project. So the gleeful comment that “The high-speed rail project is derailed,” by Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, is an extravagant exaggeration. The judge…

December 5, 2013
RailPAC PHOTOS of the Month (November, 2013)

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 RailPAC Photo Editor, at [email protected]. Russ Jackson, Photo page editor. 1. How’s this for an historic photo? Is that really Mr. & Mrs. Leland Stanford speaking…

December 2, 2013