Month: November 2013

  • What’s the Future of California High Speed Rail?

    Opinion by Noel T. Braymer The impact of the recent court decision on the use of voter approved bonds for High Speed Rail is unknown. This ruling doesn’t stop current construction which for now is being paid with Federal Funds. What the judge ruled is that the California High Speed Rail Authority CHSRA) according to…

  • Rail Service We Need Before High Speed Rail in California

    Opinion by Noel T. Braymer The most optimistic deadline for the start up of High Speed Rail in California is 2022 between Burbank and Merced. This includes connecting feeder trains to most of Southern California and from the San Joaquin Valley to the Bay Area and Sacramento. There are many improvements needed for conventional rail…

  • eNewsletter for November 25, 2013

    Boardman fires more Amtrak upper managers Trainorders.com Nov 19, 2013 On Monday Nov. 18, Amtrak fired more upper managers, eliminating twenty senior positions. Causalities reportedly included a 40-year Amtrak veteran and visionary whose last two decades were directly involved with the long distance trains and customer service, with many innovations to his credit. Comment: The person who Gene Poon…

  • What’s Up with the Coaster?

    By Noel T. Braymer                                                                                                      …

  • eNewslettter for November 18, 2013

    Amtrak Serving Free Wine to Steak Loses Millions on Food Bloomberg-Nov 14, 2013 …Almost all of last year’s $72 million in food-service losses were from providing meals on long-distance trains, Inspector General Ted Alves said in testimony at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing today. I remember at least 30 years ago I heard the…

  • New Amtrak Cars, But (sigh) Not For The West

    Commentary by Russ Jackson, URPA/RailPAC On October 24, 2013, Amtrak rolled out the new low-level Viewliner cars at the manufacturer CAF’s plant in Elmira, New York. The order is for 130 cars: 25 sleeper cars, 25 dining cars, 25 baggage/dormitory cars and 55 baggage cars, and Amtrak is excited. They should be. This is the…

  • Capitol Corridor Statistics (October, 2013)

    By David B. Kutrosky, Managing Director Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority Service Performance Overview FY2013 Projected Results Year-over-year ridership on the Capitol Corridor trains was even with last September. 132,937 passengers rode the Capitol Corridor trains in September 2013, closing out FY 2013 with a total of 1.70 million riders and representing a ridership decrease…

  • Like it or Not, Here Comes California High Speed Rail

    By Noel T. Braymer Despite numerous predictions of the imminent death of the California High Speed Rail Project it is still chugging along and even picking up speed now. Not that it hasn’t had a few near death experiences along the way since the voters approved nearly 10 billion dollars in Bonds for it in…

  • eNewsletter for November 12, 2013

    At the November 7th Board Meeting of the California High Speed Rail Authority in Sacramento the board approved the HSR route between Bakersfield and Fresno. The route shown above in red is still subject to possible changes before construction. Most of the approved alternatives have local acceptance in the San Joaquin Valley. The route in…

  • Our Biggest Problem is The Weather

    By Noel T. Braymer It is now just over a year since Hurricane Sandy caused record breaking damage along the East Coast. There was wind and flood damage which disrupted electrical power, fuel supplies, destroyed homes while damaging roads, railroads and rail transit. For the first time 100 plus year old river tunnels to Manhattan…