Month: July 2013

  • San Joaquin JPA; a trip and meeting report

    Reported, with an editorial, by Paul Dyson, RailPAC President I traveled to Fresno Friday 26th July for the San Joaquin JPA meeting, the third of this newly formed corridor agency. Travel both ways from Burbank Airport via Thruway bus and San Joaquin train was on time and uneventful. The trains were well loaded, about 95%…

  • It’s Hard to get Around California by Train

    By Noel T. Braymer                                                                                                      …

  • eNewsletter for July 22, 2013

    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…

  • Capitol and other CA Corridor Statistics (June, 2013)

    By David B. Kutrosky, Managing Director, Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority Capitol Corridor Service Performance: Ridership for June 2013 was down 4% compared to June 2012 with Year to Date (YTD) ridership 3% lower than last year. YTD revenue is slightly below last year by 0.7%; however, YTD system operating ratio is 54% thanks to…

  • Why is it so Hard to get More Passenger Trains on the Coast Line?

    By Noel T. Braymer The Coast Line between Los Angeles and San Jose is a natural for more passenger rail service. The demand is there to fill up more passenger trains. For over 15 years there have been plans to start up day service between Los Angeles and San Francisco on the Coast Line. Yet…

  • eNewsletter for July 15, 2013

    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…

  • The Grim Prospects ahead for our Long Distance Trains

    By Noel T. Braymer The recent court decision to throw out a part of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act (PRIIA) of 2008 means that the railroads no longer have to give priority to Amtrak Trains on their tracks. This overturns years of precedent which has given passenger trains priority over freight. Since the…

  • eNewsletter for July 8, 2013

    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,…

  • Cheaper to go Over than Through the Mountains

    By Noel T. Braymer Recently I was looking at a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Environmental Impact Report (EIR) from 2009 for the Las Vegas to California High Speed Rail project. What struck me about it was it seemed the people planning improvements for the Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) learned a great deal from the Las…

  • How to build California High Speed Rail While Making Almost Everyone Happy

    By Noel T. Braymer The California High Speed Rail Authority put off decisions back at their June 7th Board meeting over the final routes through Hanford and Bakersfield. At this meeting the CHSRA’s board did approve the contract for the first 29 miles of construction between Fresno and Madera. It also handed over most of…