Amtrak has finished its management reorganization which means laying off many competent and highly experienced employees. Standing out in this group leaving Amtrak is Brian Rosenwald best known for his introduction of the Pacific Parlor Car among many upgrades on the Coast Starlight. Despite Amtrak’s PR and misleading accounting, it has been in a slow…

Metrolink has hired additional security to check passengers for valid tickets before allowing them to board trains. Only half of the doors are opened for boarding where security and train crew inspects tickets at  half opened doors. Many trains have security on board to check tickets for boarding at intermediate stations. This is an attempt…

Francisco Jose Garzon Amo the operator of the Spanish train that crashed killing 79 people and injured at least 130 of the 247 on board was recorded telling dispatchers shortly after the crash. ” I’ve derailed, What do I do? What am I supposed to do? I ****ed up. I want to die.” The train…

LIRR watchdog group: Amtrak board lacks commuter rep Newsday Jul 19, 2013 Mark Epstein, chairman of the LIRR Commuter Council, said Thursday that a vacancy on Amtrak’s seven-member board should be filled by a New York commuter. No Way! Amtrak was never suppose to be involved with commuter rail in the first place because it is…

What is being proposed are elevated tubes 5 feet in diameter. In them a pressurized mag-lev pod weighing 400 pounds carrying 6 passengers and luggage would travel in a vacuum with almost no friction and needing little energy for propulsion. A single High Speed Train can easily carry 600 passengers with between 6 to 20…

Amtrak Barred From Rulemaking Power For Freight Railroad Bloomberg- Jul 3, 2013 The court threw out a law passed to enforce a requirement, dating to Amtrak’s creation in 1970, that freight trains give priority to passenger trains on tracks they share, which they do in most of the U.S. In other words if we want Long Distance Trains,…

L.A. County cities fight over Metro plans for new trains San Gabriel Valley Tribune Jun 21, 2013 The fight to see which parts of Los Angeles County are more train-worthy than others pits the city of Los Angeles against the suburbs, with the proposed westside subway to the sea, Green Line addition to LAX and…

Re: Rising Train Fares. With Metrolink’s board voting to increase the fares to ride on Metrolink Trains do you ever think we will see Metrolink’s fares being at or even higher then Amtrak’s fares? With all the increases we have with Metrolink fares it seems like the fares will match Amtrak’s fares. Jerry Martin. My…

These comments from Rep. Denham like much that comes out of Washington are nonsense but perfect for making headlines. There is little chance that the current money for California High Speed Rail will be diverted. To do this would require the cooperation of the administration which is unlikely. To do this through legislation would have…

This contract may not be the bargain the bid for it would lead you to believe. But this doesn’t mean High Speed Rail service will be unsafe. …Rail structures are built to much higher standards than most construction. While buildings and freeways collapsed both during the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 and the Northridge Earthquake…