Month: January 2012

  • San Joaquin Valley Rail Committee takes stand on Closing the HSR Gap

    January 26 Meeting Report by Mike Barnbaum, RailPAC Associate Director Part 1 of 2 reports from that day. Headlines: SJVRC Passes Resolution Supporting Closure of the Southern Gap Caltrans’ Bill Bronte drops a bombshell SJVRC is urged to revive the idea of a JPA for the Corridor Rail was all over the Northern California Map…

  • Capitol Corridor considers Draft Business/Operating Plan

    Report and a Commentary by Mike Barnbaum, RailPAC Associate Director Part 2 from January 26, 2011 day of two meetings. Headlines: Implement additional service to Placer County Reduce number of trains from 16 roundtrips to 15 After riding Train #521 from Sacramento to Oakland at 4:30am and Train #712 from Oakland to “Atwater”/Merced for the…

  • eNewsletter for January 23, 2012

    In the media the rule for running a story is “If it bleeds it leads”. The High Speed Rail project has bled a great deal. That doesn’t mean it is dead. There is still major support for this project by powerful interests. There is also strong support by the public for better and economical rail…

  • RailPAC tells LOSSAN: Position on Governance

    Comments to the LOSSAN Board, January 25, 2012 by Paul J. Dyson, RailPAC President. Back in the 80s an ad hoc coalition of elected representatives and advocates including RailPAC were successful in bringing about an increase in frequency of the San Diegan trains as they were called then, and their extension to Santa Barbara. What…

  • eNewsletter for January 16, 2012

    Amtrak admits that the average age of its equipment is older now than it was when it “inherited” its original equipment from the railroads in 1971. Most of the Superliner equipment is now 32 years old and even the newest is 19 years old. Of the 479 Superliner cars originally ordered at least 49 over…

  • Amtrak to the West: Forget the future

    Commentary by Russ Jackson, and a few photos The future of Amtrak’s western long-distance trains became clearer after Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman issued his “Aggressive Agenda for 2012” on January 11, 2012. The future is bleak. Isn’t there an old adage that it’s not what you say it’s what you don’t say? Or is it…

  • President’s commentary: Amtrak CEO Gives Up On AMTRAK

    By Paul J. Dyson, RailPAC President, January 13, 2012 Joe Boardman condemns the long distance trains to a lingering death. Sunset Limited in “immediate danger”. Someone needs to tell Mr. Boardman that he is CEO of the NATIONAL Railroad Passenger Corporation. It seems that since he took the CEO position a couple of years ago…

  • eNewsletter for January 9, 2012

    Mr. Boardman (Amtrak President) is on record saying that there are no plans to eliminate Long Distance Trains in the face of reductions of Federal subsidies for Amtrak. Also on the record are claims by Mr. Boardman that the Long Distance Trains are the cause of much of Amtrak’s deficits. There are also reports that…

  • RailPAC writes Brown, Feinstein, and Boxer: Peer Review Committee Is Right On High Speed Rail

    NOTE: Identical letters were also faxed to Senators Feinstein and Boxer 11th January, 2012 Governor Jerry Brown State Capitol Suite 1173 Sacramento CA 95814 PEER REVIEW COMMITTEE IS RIGHT ON HIGH SPEED RAIL Dear Governor Brown: Our organization has consistently advocated the creation of a network of modern passenger trains for the State of California…

  • eNewsletter for January 3, 2012

    The State of California owns the locomotives and cars used on the San Joaquins, has paid with local governments for improvements or replacements of the stations on the route and paid for Amtrak’s maintenance base in Oakland which services the San Joaquins. And Amtrak thinks the San Joaquins are their trains? January 3, 2012 The…