Crowded San Joaquin route needs more Amtrak trains Visalia Times-Delta-Jul 22, 2014 And I’m not the only person who is riding. Amtrak publishes annual ridership statistics, and for several years in a row, the numbers have been going up for all of Amtrak California’s trains. But don’t take Amtrak’s word for it, see for yourself. The trains which…

Fresno supervisors reject call to renounce high-speed rail  ABC30.com-Jul 16, 2014  FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) A local attack on the California high-speed rail program fizzled in Fresno. An effort to get the Fresno County Board of Supervisors to renounce their support for the project died. It was backed by just one supervisor. July 21, 2014 The above…

The sorry state of Amtrak’s on-time performance, mapped Washington Post (blog)-Jul 10, 2014 Eight of the 33 routes, including most of the long-distance cross-country lines, experienced on-time arrivals less than 50 percent of the time over the past 12 months. The Empire Builder, running from Chicago to Washington, ran on time only 21 percent of the time…

Bullet Train Officials Wants to Start Work in LA County ASAP Curbed LA – ?July 1, 2014 …now the authority hopes to build the Palmdale-Burbank section somewhat concurrently with the Central Valley section … There is still uncertainty over the exact route the train would take between the two cities; the authority is considering a request from…

Corridor Capital: The Indiana Department of Transportation on June 24, 2014 selected Corridor Capital as its preferred vendor to manage and operate the current Amtrak Hoosier State route between Indianapolis and Chicago. Indiana DOT and Corridor Capital are now in discussions towards an agreement for a changeover in operations commencing October 1, 2014. June 30, 2014 The…

Amtrak Sees Delays Increase Wall Street Journal Jun 18, 2014 Amtrak is slowing down. Even as airlines increasingly are getting to their destinations on time, the nation’s passenger train system averaged only 73.1% on-time arrivals at endpoints in the six months ended in April. That’s down from 85.8% in the same period a year earlier. One particular Amtrak…

Morning Transportation Politico-Jun 11, 2014  Amtrak changes: The House voted for several restrictions on Amtrak funds, but rejected another. Members approved a change from Pete Sessions to block funds for the route that loses the most money — the Sunset Limited that runs from New Orleans to Los Angeles. Another amendment from Reps. Phil Gingrey and…

Behold Union Station’s Huge Plans: Sub-Train Concourse, New Terminal, Fred Harvey Revived Curbed Los Angeles Jun 3, 2014 Much of the impetus for the new plans is an expected increase in patronage; today’s 70,000 daily riders could explode to 140,000 by 2040, assuming the high-speed rail line ever gets built. Should that happen, *California High-Speed Rail (not…

Union Station to get $350 million in track upgrades Los Angeles Times-May 27, 2014 The Southern California Regional Interconnector Project is designed to benefit travelers by installing four sections of track that will enable Amtrak and Metrolink trains to run straight through the terminal, eliminating the 15 to 20 minutes it now takes to enter and exit…

Brown doubles down on high-speed rail amid calls for restraint  SFGate-May 16, 2014  Preparing for looming budget battles with the Democratic-controlled Legislature, Gov. Jerry Brown warned Friday that lawmakers must balance “desire and need” for expensive social programs – even as he defiantly doubled down on support for the increasingly unpopular high-speed rail system, saying it remains…