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MORE UNACCEPTABLE SERVICE FAILURES ON PACIFIC SURFLINER 12/05/09: Letter to Amtrak
RAIL PASSENGER ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA 1017 L Street PMB 217, Sacramento, CA 95814 www.railpac.org 5th December, 2009 Mr. Joseph H. Boardman President and Chief Executive Officer NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER CORPORATION 60 Massachusetts Avenue NE Washington DC 20002 Dear Mr. Boardman: Once again I must write to you about the catastrophic service failures on the Pacific…
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AMTRAK SERVICE FAILURE – NOVEMBER 25, 2009 A letter to LOSSAN
RAIL PASSENGER ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA 1017 L Street PMB 217 Sacramento, CA 958114-3805 www.railpac.org 1st December, 2009 Hon. Art Brown, Chairman, LOSSAN Corridor JPB And members of the Board Dear Chairman Brown: Once again the travel plans of hundreds, possibly thousands of Amtrak passengers were severely disrupted by a locomotive failure on the LOSSAN corridor,…
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What happened on the weekend of October 24-25 on the Surfliners?
Report by Noel T. Braymer Train 571 left San Diego on time at 10:35 A.M. from San Diego on Saturday October 24, 2009. But by the time the train got to San Clemente around 11:40 the brakes locked up on the Business Class Car bringing the train to a halt. This was just the start…
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The Never Ending Battle for Truth, Justice and Rational Rail Service
Editorial By Noel T. Braymer What rail passengers want is very simple. They want trains that are clean, comfortable, safe and convenient. Convenient means trains that run on time at times people want to travel and arrive at times they want to get to were they are going. Convenient means stations that are easy to…
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WE ARE DEEPER IN DEBT, SO WE MUST THINK EVEN HARDER
Commentary by Paul Dyson I have previously quoted New Zealand scientist Ernest Rutherford, “We had no money so we had to think”, and this struck a chord with a lot of readers. Regardless of the field of human endeavor to which you might apply this aphorism it is a good starting point. Try to do…
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1999 RailPAC Annual Meeting in photos!
January 23, 1999 Report by Steve Grande of Trainweb Today the Rail Passenger Association of California (RailPAC) held its 19th annual meeting/luncheon at the Old Spaghetti Factory Restaurant here in Fullerton, next to the Amtrak station. Speaking to the capacity crowd first was Michael McGinley, Director of Engineering & Construction for Metrolink. Then John Barna,…
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Boardman response to Dyson 10-30-09
October 30, 2009 Mr. Paul J. Dyson President Rail Passenger Association of California 1017 L Street #217 Sacramento, CA 95814 Dear Mr. Dyson: (Paul) Thank you for your letters dated October 28 and 29, 2009. I concur that last weekend’s service disruption was unacceptable. Simply stated, the situation was a combination of unfortunate circumstances. First,…
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RailPAC Testimony before the Assembly Select Committee on Rail Transportation
October 22, 2009 By Paul Dyson, President of the Rail Passengers Association of California Photos by Bill Kerby, RailPAC Treasurer Chairman Davis, Vice Chairman Fletcher, and Committee members: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have no money, therefore we must think”. These are the words of distinguished New Zealand Scientist Ernest Rutherford when asked how he would…
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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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LOSSAN BREAKTHROUGH?
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”…