By Mike Barnbaum, RailPAC Associate Director, Sacramento Cal State University Stanislaus, Turlock, California, Thursday 13 August 2009 Merced County Supervisor John Pedrozo called the meeting to order on-time at 11:15 A.M. Host Supervisor, Vito Chiesa, introduced the CUS Stanislaus Campus President, who gave a short address on Rail, High Speed Rail, and Education. Matt Machado…
. . . Commentary by Russ Jackson, and PHOTOS by Trainweb’s Carl Morrison and Russ Jackson August, 2009. . . . California. . . . Santa Barbara’s RailPAC co-sponsored Train Day, delayed because of the May fires, was successfully held on July 18. (left) The “Santa Barbara” was on the private car track west of…
August 6, 2009 Report by Bill Kerby, RailPAC Treasurer Spilling out into the hallway from the Sacramento Area Council of Government’s board room, prospective contractors, local government officials and the media largely remained for nearly four hours of a two part meeting August 6th. Regular business included the ratification of agreements with the governments of…
A Special Event Report and PHOTOS by Bill Kerby, RailPAC Treasurer July 22, 2009 Building on a theme that greener technology is better technology, Amtrak California unveiled at the Sacramento Valley Station the first FP 59 locomotive to be EPA certified emissions standard at Tier 2. With this certification, NOX emissions are cut in half…
Editorial By Noel T. Braymer From the beginning freight has always been the main business of American Railroads. Passenger Trains generally are profitable, but not as much as freight. In many cases passenger service was mostly used to develop land owned by the railroads. The railroads up until the 1940’s had enough freight business to…
THOUGHTS ON THE BOARDMAN CORRESPONDENCE Commentary by Paul Dyson, RailPAC President RailPAC has consistently supported daily service and restoration of the Sunset Route to Florida. A lot of the Amtrak people we talk to agree that thrice weekly service just doesn’t work; the 7 day a week costs are still there but the revenue isn’t!…
TRANSCRIPT OF NOTE FROM JOE BOARDMAN TO PAUL DYSON 7/14/09 Paul: I have your letter of the 13th. I understand your interest, mine too frankly but we are not ready to pull the trigger on the changes that you want right now. Equipment has become a very complex issue and we are making progress. We…
Opinion by Noel T. Braymer Since the late 1970’s there has been talk off and on of raising taxes on gasoline as much as 50 cents more a gallon. The reason for this would be to raise money for alternatives to driving such as better rail and transit service, for alternative energy, infrastructure repairs and…
THE SCHEDULE 9:00 am Ventura County electeds meet on the Oxnard Station platform 9:00 am Santa Barbara County electeds meet on the Santa Barbara Station platform 9:20 am Train Departs Santa Barbara Station Southbound for Carpinteria with electeds 9:21 am Train Departs Oxnard Station Northbound for Santa Barbara with electeds 9:35 am Southbound train arrives…
13th July, 2009 Dear Mr. Crosbie: Many thanks for taking the time for a meeting with me last Thursday (8th July, 2009). I have written today to Mr. Boardman concerning the Sunset route and RailPAC’s support for positive steps by Amtrak. I’d like to expand upon some other topics that we covered briefly. Regarding the…