OCEANSIDE TRANSIT CENTER – A GOOD FACILITY LET DOWN BY POOR EXECUTION
Commentary, January 15th, 2008
Commentary By Paul Dyson, RailPAC President
{ Category Archives }
Commentary
What is the final word for California High Speed Rail?
Commentary, January 6th, 2008
By Noel T. Braymer
George Skelton of the Capital Journal from Sacramento wrote some rather discouraging things about what is being proposed for the California High Speed Rail Project. This is what he wrote as published in the December 24 issue of the Los Angeles Times.”Turns out, as a Sacramentan, I wouldn’t be allowed to use the train for a very long time. Neither would people in San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Modesto or Stockton. We’d only get to watch from a distance as the bullet became the plaything of people in San Francisco, San Jose, Fresno, Bakersfield, Palmdale, Los Angeles and Anaheim… This happened when the authority approved a Pacheco Pass route from the San Joaquin Valley to the Bay Area- a path through rural Los Banos roughly 60 miles south of an alternative Altamont Pass line near fast-growing Tracy. If the bullet line had been extended north to Tracy, it could also have served Modesto and Stockton. And then it might have been feasible to lay another 40 miles of track to the state capital. But the Pacheco Pass route was more direct to San Francisco, less expensive and a detour around enviromental slow-downs.”
America wants more Rail Passenger Service
Commentary, January 5th, 2008
By Noel T. Braymer
Back in November 4th of last year PARADE Magazine ran a story about Amtrak entitled “With high gas prices and airport delays, could we make our trains…A Better Way To Travel?” With this story PARADE Magazine ran a poll of its readers asking “Should America Invest more in Trains? In the December 9th issue PARADE published the results of this poll in which its responding readers replied an overwhelming 97% in favor of spending for more rail passenger service. While hardly a scientific finding, it does show there is a strong demand for rail passenger service nation wide. PARADE Magazine is about as Middle Amerincan as a publication can be and is in most Sunday newspapers around the country. It is no secret that letters in support of Amtrak often run second only for support of Social Security in Congressional Mailboxes.
Pacific Surfliner – A failing service
Commentary, November 27th, 2007
Commentary by Paul Dyson, RailPAC President
24 November, 2007
LOSSAN OTP, AND SCHEDULE ISSUES AND STRATEGIES
COMMENTS ON DRAFT MEMO AND ON MEMO FROM JONATHAN HUTCHISON, AMTRAK
The omissions from these documents are as significant as the content.
Another close call and Metrolink comes through again
Commentary, November 6th, 2007
Editorial by Noel T. Braymer
On a wet Friday October 12th night we relearned how vulnerable California’s transportation system is. In a truck by-pass tunnel underneath the I-5 freeway one truck hit another truck which created a chain reaction causing several trucks to catch fire. The good news was “only” three people were killed. Working feverishly Caltrans crews were able to clean out the tunnel and shore it up so the main freeway overhead could be reopended for the Monday rush hour. The fire damaged tunnel could take months to repair. It could have been worse and the entire freeway would have been closed for months. Even so, the already often jammed freeway has lost capacity which means more trucks will have to share the freeway with cars on the steep downhill slope of the southbound lanes.
Well we made it!!! A trip report on the Coast Starlight, the Cascades, and the Empire Builder
Commentary, November 4th, 2007
Travel was from Los Angeles to Portland on October 15-16, then Portland to Seattle on October 17, and Seattle to Spokane October 18, 2007. Here are some notes about our “little” journey, with a few comments about the California Zephyr, too!
By John Dornoff, RailPAC/InterMountainRail Associate Director
LOOK! IT’S THE SUNSET LIMITED!!!
Commentary, October 22nd, 2007
How’s the timekeeping on Amtrak trains 1 and 2?
A Report and commentary by Russ Jackson 
Each month we have been charting on time performances of the Amtrak long distance trains that enter/leave California. This month its the Sunset Limited’s turn.
LOSSAN TAC Meeting Report and Commentary
Reports
Commentary,
October 18th, 2007
October 16, 2007, Los Angeles
Report and Commentary by Paul Dyson
RailPAC President
NOTE: An important letter from Mr. Dyson to Caltrans Division of Rail Chief Bill Bronte is included in this report.
The technical Advisory Committee for LOSSAN met at Los Angeles on Tuesday 16th October. This was the first full meeting of the TAC since June, which is a statement in itself.
Why we need to protect the Sunset route
Issues
Commentary,
October 18th, 2007
Commentary by Paul Dyson, RailPAC President
Those of you who are NARP members will have received a letter from Matt Melzer, former RailPAC director and now Communications Associate at NARP HQ. Matt points out the ongoing threat to the Sunset Limited and calls for action by NARP members to draw attention to the danger to this service.
Southern Californian Rail Connections: the good and the bad.
Commentary, October 3rd, 2007
By Noel T. Braymer
The reality of most travel without a car is you have to transfer to get to where you want to go. Good rail passenger sevice depends on quick and easy connections. Perhaps the best feature of BART is it is designed to allow passengers to transfer easily within BART. Connections are repeatedly announced at transfer stations where the wait between trains is usually on the same platform and often last no more than 5 minutes. While such levels of connectivity are still off in the future for Southern California, simple steps can be made to publicize the connections that exist and improve or create more connections with little effort.
