Report by Robert Manning, RailPAC Director It was suggested that I attend the TEMPO meeting which was held Saturday, September 26, 2009 in Temple, Texas. I had heard of this group, but their web site which I thought was rather bland did not give much detail or an agenda regarding this meeting. I was also…

Reply to a Los Angeles Times report by Paul Dyson We should be grateful to the Los Angeles Times for bringing up the topic of rail safety, even though the pieces that filled your columns last Sunday 27 September seemed to be more concerned with causing a sensation rather than examining the causes of the…

Reported by Mike Barnbaum, RailPAC Associate Director Wednesday, 16 September 2009, in Suisun City. The CCJPA FY 10 Budget was passed by all members present as was the CCJPA/Amtrak FY 10 Fixed Price Operating Agreement. In Legislative Matters, this writer approached RailPAC VP North, Arthur Lloyd, over concern of a bill brewing in Sacramento by…

Commentary by Paul Dyson, RailPAC President The September 9th LOSSAN Board meeting at Oceanside may well be regarded as a turning point in bringing some rationality and common sense to the governance and operation of this corridor. And it perhaps was appropriate that the meeting was held at Oceanside, the site of the “Berlin Wall”…

Reported by Eugene K. Skoropowski Managing Director, Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority I apologize for the ‘combined July and August reports’. Future reports should return to their usual month-by-month issuance. Ridership numbers in California and across the nation continue to be lower than a year ago (2008).However, upon further comparison to 2007, the 2009 numbers…

Commentary by Paul Dyson You may have read detailed critiques of the California High Speed Rail project in various publications from so called rail advocacy groups and environmentalists. It’s the wrong route, the wrong technology, the wrong decision makers, or words to that effect. In the north the apparent cause celebre is the Pacheco Pass…

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!…

Reported by Eugene K. Skoropowski Managing Director, Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority June ridership numbers in California and across the nation continue to be disappointing. The California economy and high unemployment rate are manifesting themselves in uncertainty and reduction in travel, particularly discretionary travel. The Capitol Corridor still handled 131, 670 passengers in June 2009,…

Reported by Eugene K. Skoropowski Managing Director Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority May ridership numbers on the Capitol Corridor, San Joaquins and Pacific Surfliners all were disappointing. We were awaiting the May numbers to see if there would be an upswing in riders and revenue, but the opposite seems to be emerging. This is likely…

Reported by Eugene K. Skoropowski Managing Director, Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority April numbers on the Capitol Corridor were somewhat improved from March, and a strong showing on the San Joaquins and positive numbers on the Pacific Surfliners were among the few corridor services to show improvement nationally. It is likely that we will have…