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Our Most Important RailPAC Steel Wheels Conference Ever
2018 has become a critical year for passenger rail in California. The threat to the interstate network trains, California Zephyr, Sunset Limited, Southwest Chief and Coast Starlight, puts them on the brink of fading into history barring radical action by Amtrak management and the Federal government. Two decades of under-investment would have been enough to…
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Another unanswered letter – RailPAC to Amtrak Chair Coscia
In this letter I tried to be polite, and not as hostile as I might have been. At about the same time as this was sent the New Jersey ARP wrote specifically calling for Anderson’s dismissal. There is now a clear pattern, as reported by Bill Vantuono of Railway Age, of simply ignoring the media…
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Amtrak’s Accounting – George Chilson
Amtrak’s Route Accounting: Fatally Flawed, Misleading & Wrong August 23, 2018 The Rail Passengers Association (RPA) strongly believes that the ongoing debate concerning the future shape of Amtrak’s national network has been distorted by its use of fully allocated costs rather than avoidable costs as required by statute. The adverse outcome of using fully allocated…
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Anderson and crew have it all wrong about Raton Pass
In their recent employee bulletin Amtrak management, (Anderson and crew) upped the ante by demanding over $100 million for the route of the Southwest Chief between Kansas and New Mexico, including “full PTC”. If you want to hold politicians to ransom you wave the safety flag. An elected official can be no more be against…
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Steel Wheels Conference Sacramento September 29
If you want to help RailPAC preserve and expand the National Network of passenger trains, and grow the regional services in California you should attend this important event. Registration is open at eventbrite.com. railpac2018.eventbrite.com The event will be held at the California State Railroad Museum from 10.00am and we have a number of experts who…
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Anderson to California, Congress, and Amtrak Employees – ********
Just heard from an unimpeachable source that Anderson has told employees that the current operation of the Southwest Chief is unacceptable and will be changed. Here’s the full text, bold or italics are mine: We know many of you have concerns about the status of the Southwest Chief. Here’s an update: We are considering changes…
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Anderson turns down RailPAC invitation
RailPAC invited Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson to present his vision for Amtrak in the 21st Century at the Annual Steel Wheels Conference in Sacramento, Saturday 29th September. A brief (terse?) response from his PA informed us that he is “unavailable”. No offer, as in the past, to send a senior officer in his stead. It…
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ATK, CEO, OTP, PTC, F&B, BLT, UP, etc. Challenges, challenges.
Commentary by Russ Jackson Here we are in August, 2018. What a summer it has been on the nerves of rail advocates! Just how different has it been from August in 2008, 1998, 1988 or 1978? Not much. Each of the symbols in the title of this article are just as important to the future…
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RPA Staff Fact Check of Amtrak Statements re Southwest Chief
Fact Checking the Amtrak Proposal to Replace the Southwest Chief with Bus Service in Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico The Southwest Chief would effectively cease to exist if the proposed bus bridge from Dodge City, KS or La Junta, CO to Albuquerque is implemented. While presented as a decision based in concern for passenger…
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Amtrak debt free says Anderson – Amtrak FY17 audited balance sheet says otherwise
At the now notorious Los Angeles Rail Summit in April one of Anderson’s most extraordinary comment was that Amtrak is, or shortly will be, “debt-free”. The FY’17 audited balance sheet, thoughtfully posted on their website, reports current liabilities of $1.6 billion, of which $136 million is the current maturities of long term debt and capital…