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The Lesson for Today of Fred Harvey
Opinion By Noel T. Braymer I recently finished the book “Appetite for America” by Stephen Fried. This book is more than a history of Fred Harvey the man, his family or his company but uses all three as the context of a social history of the United States roughly between 1850 to 1950. Fred Harvey…
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I Would Ride Trains More if they Went More Places
Opinion By Noel T. Braymer I would love to ride trains more often, but I literally can’t because I can’t get there by train. For example I can take Metrolink from Oceanside to San Bernardino once a day leaving Oceanside at 4:20 PM. I would have to leave San Bernardino at 4:48 AM the next…
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PASSENGER RAIL ADVOCACY GROUPS COMBINE TO LAUNCH PETITION FOR “COAST DAYLIGHT” SERVICE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MAY 11, 2012 – The Rail Passenger Association of California (RailPAC), the Coast Starlight Communities Network and the Steel Wheels Coalition® are working together to step up the campaign for an additional passenger train along the California Coast. To be known as the Coast Daylight, this train will provide daily service between the…
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Does California need Tilting Turbine Trains?
Opinion By Noel T. Braymer The heyday for Turbine powered passenger trains was back in the 1960’s and 70’s. The conventional wisdom is rising oil prices and high fuel consumption with Turbine Trains caused their days to be numbered. One reason for the decline was the leader in building Turbine Trains was France. The prototype…
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Building High Speed Rail while making friends and not enemies
Opinion by Noel T. Braymer Transportation is a very political issue since it usually depends on public monies. But rarely is it a partisan issue. This is because everyone needs good transportation. In a disaster if transportation is cut off most stores will run out of inventory in a week or less. Most gas station…
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Latest episode of the California High Speed Rail Soap Opera.
Opinion by Noel T. Braymer At the end of February and start of March there were confusing headlines about the California High Speed Rail Project. Based on a memo by the chief counsel of the California High Speed Rail Authority Thomas Fellenz, there were headlines saying start of construction was being delayed from this Summer…
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Why The Capitol Corridor Works, and What is Wrong with the Pacific Surfliners
Opinion by Noel T. Braymer When the Capitol Corridor service began in 1991 it was with 3 round trips between San Jose and Sacramento. On time performance then for the trains was typical of Amtrak corridor service in the plus or minus 70 to 80 percent range. Today there are 16 round trips and these…
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How to Please Almost Everyone on California High Speed Rail
Opinion by Noel T. Braymer The opposition of the California High Speed Rail Project is largely to the cost of the project and the amount of private land being considered for condemnation to build it. These problems were created by language in Prop 1A which calls for service between Los Angeles and San Francisco in…
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Why Amtrak loses money and why eliminating trains doesn’t save money
By Noel T. Braymer (W. Graham Claytor, Amtrak President 1982-1993) was credited with helping to revive the ailing passenger railroad by many experts, and even some critics of its operations. By the time he retired, fares and other revenues covered 80 percent of Amtrak’s expenses, up from 42 percent in 1980. Mr. Claytor predicted that…
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How High Speed Rail is like Rail Rapid Transit
Opinion of Noel T. Braymer I grew up in Orange County in the 1960’s. In Orange County all the TV stations were in Los Angeles and my family subscribed to a local newspaper and the Los Angeles Times. Even as a child I followed the news and read the newspapers. I remember all through out…