Opinion by Noel T. Braymer For over 30 years the goal has been to run rail passenger service the 128 miles between Los Angeles and San Diego through Orange County in under 2 hours. To do this will require speeds of 110 miles per hour with PTC signalling as well as run-through tracks at Los…
Opinion By Noel T. Braymer At the end of July LA Supervisor Michael Antonovich as Chairman of LA Metro introduced a motion which passed unanimously calling for more rail and bus connections to the regional airports in the Los Angeles area. The following are some excepts from that motion. Los Angeles County, home to 10.2…
Report (with PHOTOS) and Comments by Russ Jackson How is Train #3 doing into Los Angeles Union Station this summer? The short answer is, not bad, but with a few exceptions. On May 24, 2012, the Southwest Chief departed Chicago Union Station on time, with three non-regular consist cars on the end and Amtrak CEO,…
Opinions and Facts from Noel T. Braymer During the ongoing debate over High Speed Rail and improved rail passenger service in general such projects are generally dismissed as Boondoggles by its critics. The term Boondoggle implies something is wasteful, expensive and corrupt. The California High Speed Rail Project has gone through several evolutions and has…
By: Dick Spotswood. Originally published in the Steel Wheels newsletter, May/June 2012. THE DILEMMA: In the past decade it has become obvious that Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, regards its principal responsibility as making the Northeast Corridor America’s first true high-speed rail route. That’s a worthy goal and no easy task. Running from Boston…
Opinion by Noel T. Braymer Amtrak’s problem is the same problem the railroads had for most of the 20th Century: too much overhead costs and not enough revenue. After the Civil War to just before World War I the railroads built many lines of questionable value. Local governments also often subsidized railroad construction to build…