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Why I oppose the plan to reopen the Santa Paula Line
By Paul J. Dyson, RailPAC President — It may come as a surprise that a 40 year veteran of passenger and freight rail advocacy is opposed to the idea of reopening the former Southern Pacific line linking Santa Clarita with Ventura (“the Santa Paula line”). The line parallels the busy state highway 126 for most…
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San Joaquin Valley Rail Committee
Sacramento — Reported by Russ Jackson. Highlights: Improvement seen in on time performance of San Joaquins (photo) New engineer crew districts Two new studies in the works, and an interesting possibility of a new rail line south of Bakersfield Yosemite service to return New ACE train starts August 28, connecting with San Joaquins Liz O’Donoghue…
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Connections, Connections, Connections
By Noel Braymer, Editor, Western Rail Passenger Review — The biggest turn-off for most people using public transportation is the need to transfer between services to make connections to get to where they want to go. It has been estimated that half the potential ridership on a trip is lost each time people have to…
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Trip Report: Commentary and Comparisons
By Ralph James Railroad Operations.All three routes we used, California Zephyr, Empire Builder and Coast Starlight, incurred very substantial delays enroute. The causes of delay, however, were very different on each route, as were the operating responses of the host railroad.
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Trip Report: The Zephyr, the Builder, and the Starlight
By Ralph James, RailPAC member Trip Overview My wife and I booked a one week cruise on Lake Michigan, which created the opportunity to include Amtrak in our travel plans between California and Chicago. We booked an economy sleeper between Sacramento and Chicago arriving two days before the cruise date with return from Chicago to…
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Coast Rail Coordinating Committee
San Luis Obispo — Reported by Bruce Jenkins, RailPAC director — Discussion of a slot for the proposed Coast Daylight train on CT (Caltrain) led to a probable solution (suggested by RailPAC VP North Art Lloyd, who also represented Caltrain at the meeting) in that the morning train, #799, would depart San Francisco at 8:15am…
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RailPAC Opposed AB 1699, the Anti-Push-Pull legislation
Below are three documents RailPAC published which helped defeat this legislation on June 27. Grade Crossing Basics Commentary by Noel Braymer The high cost of grade separation makes it impossible to fully grade separate all rail crossings in California, let alone the United States. Not all grade crossings are the same. Modern grade crossing protection…
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Capitol Corridor JPA Board Meeting Report
Suisun City Hall — Reported by Russ Jackson — The good news is the expansion to 16 daily round trips between Sacramento and Oakland will take place August 28.CCJPB Chairman, Roger Dickenson, opened the meeting with comments about the Bond issue package which the Governor and the Legislature have placed on the November ballot, and…
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Passenger Train Service To The Coachella Valley
RailPAC Policy, June, 2006. Story by Paul Dyson, RailPAC President — RailPAC has long advocated the extension of Southern California regional passenger services to the Coachella Valley, and indeed into the Imperial Valley and to Yuma and Phoenix. The line is an Amtrak route and so the tracks are maintained to passenger standards. However, the…
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TAMC Rail Policy Committee
Reported By Chris Flescher, RailPAC Associate Director — The RPC will release a RFP (request for proposals) for legal services related to the easement negotiation. This is about the proposed water pipeline that would go underground, in the Monterey branch line row (around Marina). The water agency is doing an appraisal for the easement value,…