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Coast Rail Coordinating Council Meeting Report
September 25, 2009, Monterey Reported by Chris Flescher, RailPAC Associate Director, Salinas There is currently a capacity study being made for the Coast Daylight train. San Luis Obispo and TAMC have each given $500,000 to help fund the study. There is still an issue of UP and Caltrans lacking an agreement on what capacity improvements…
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San Francisco Bay Bridge reopens
What was the effect on Amtrak? September 9, 2009. Report by Gene Poon The closure of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge over the Labor Day weekend for scheduled construction forced Amtrak to make adjustments to all of its schedules that utilize Thruway Bus service to reach San Francisco from Oakland or Emeryville. Normal Thruway service…
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San Joaquin Valley Rail Committee Report
By Mike Barnbaum, RailPAC Associate Director, Sacramento Cal State University Stanislaus, Turlock, California, Thursday 13 August 2009 Merced County Supervisor John Pedrozo called the meeting to order on-time at 11:15 A.M. Host Supervisor, Vito Chiesa, introduced the CUS Stanislaus Campus President, who gave a short address on Rail, High Speed Rail, and Education. Matt Machado…
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Packed High Speed Rail Authority Meeting
August 6, 2009 Report by Bill Kerby, RailPAC Treasurer Spilling out into the hallway from the Sacramento Area Council of Government’s board room, prospective contractors, local government officials and the media largely remained for nearly four hours of a two part meeting August 6th. Regular business included the ratification of agreements with the governments of…
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Cleaner Passenger Train Action in Sacramento from Head end Power to Rear End Varnish
A Special Event Report and PHOTOS by Bill Kerby, RailPAC Treasurer July 22, 2009 Building on a theme that greener technology is better technology, Amtrak California unveiled at the Sacramento Valley Station the first FP 59 locomotive to be EPA certified emissions standard at Tier 2. With this certification, NOX emissions are cut in half…
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TAMC May Meeting Report
TAMC Rail Policy Committee meeting May 4, 2009. Reported by Chris Flescher TAMC is trying to find a consultant to write the environmental documents relating to the Monterey Branch Line (MBL) service. TAMC released a request for proposals, but Parsons-Brinkerhoff was the only group that responded. Parsons has already performed some work on both the…
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COAST RAIL COORDINATING COUNCIL
(“CRCC”) MEETING Report Santa Barbara, May 29, 2009 Reported by Paul Dyson The Meeting was Chaired by Dave Potter, Monterey County Supervisor RailPAC was represented by Paul Dyson, Dennis Story and Mike Barnbaum. Katherine Holland of Coast Rail Now and ASERT represented local pro transit interests. Good news, Jacki Bacharach was on the ‘phone representing…
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RailPAC-NARP Meeting Report
William “Bill” Lindley of Scottsdale, Arizona attended the joint RailPAC/NARP meeting in Los Angeles and files this report and personal observations. Mr. Lindley is an Associate Director/website maintainer for RailPAC. Saturday, May 2, 2009 in Los Angles, Amtrak Interim President and CEO Joseph Boardman and longtime and well-respected Vice President Brian Rosenwald laid out the…
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LAUS Celebrates its 70th
Reported by Paul Dyson, with PHOTOS! Monday, May 4, was the 70th anniversary of the opening of Union Station. This view is 20 years old (Noel Braymer photo) L.A. City Council member Tom LaBonge, who is a great promoter of passenger rail and of the city, made sure that the occasion was honored with a…
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San Joaquin Valley Rail Committee
Meeting Report April 30, 2009. and a retirement salute to Marguerite Monahan Reported by Bruce Jenkins, RailPAC Director The San Joaquin Valley Rail Committee met in Martinez April 30, 2009. 1. Chairman Pedrozo reported that he and a few members of the committee met with Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman. He said the meeting was very…