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May Day means Amtrak Day #1
Commentary By Bruce Richardson, URPA Once again, for the 43rd time, here we are on May Day, the anniversary of the official day of Amtrak operations beginning on May 1, 1971. It was the day most of the still-operating passenger trains in the country disappeared, and the freight railroads breathed a sigh of relief because…
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A trip on the Eagle-Sunset to Tucson, a joyful experience of surprises
Report and Photos by Russ Jackson, RailPAC Associate Director Tower 55 Ft. Worth TX. No BNSF trains waiting to cross, no UP traffic moving across it? No problem? Astounding. But, what happens when a westbound UP freight has a disabled car and blocks access to the Ft. Worth Intermodal Center for the southbound Texas Eagle,…
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Paul Dyson Testifies at Senate Transportation and Housing Committee
On March 27th, Paul Dyson represented RailPAC and NARP while testifying before the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee.
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Paul Dyson Testifies at Senate Select Committee on Passenger Rail
On March 19th, Paul Dyson represented RailPAC and NARP while testifying before the Senate Select Committee on Passenger Rail.
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Amtrak budget request hits the Long Distance trains with a cost shift that doesn’t make sense
Report and Commentary by Russ Jackson and Andrew C. Selden, URPA Amtrak published its budget request for the year beginning October, 2014, on March 18. To read the full document, go to this site: http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/412/537/Amtrak-FY2015-Federal-Budget-Request-ATK-14-028,0.pdf In summary, here is what Amtrak has in store for the western Long Distance Business Line, which includes the Coast…
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Amtrak drops amenities on long distance trains, and there’s bad news for the Southwest Chief
Commentary by Russ Jackson, RailPAC Associate Director On February 1, 2014, Amtrak’s General Manager Long Distance Services, Mark Murphy, spoke to the RailPAC-NARP meeting in Los Angeles. While this writer was unable to attend the meeting I have viewed the video of his presentation. In it, Mr. Murphy spoke of the future of the long…
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Neil Bjornsen, 1945 – 2014
Photo from about 2010 with RailPAC Director Neil Bjornsen on the left with then Chairman of SCRRA (Metrolink) Keith Mullhouse of Moorpark at center and at right RailPAC President Paul Dyson. The passenger rail advocacy community, the Los Angeles Count Metropolitan Transportation Agency (“Metro”) and the Citizens’ Advisory Council (CAC) are dealt a great loss…
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What Do The Long Haul Trains Really Cost?
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…
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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…
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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…