About Us
Our Mission
RailPAC’s mission is passenger rail advocacy.
Key Priorities
LOSSAN Corridor
Preserving and unlocking the potential of the LOSSAN Corridor (Amtrak Pacific Surfliner) between San Diego – Los Angeles – San Luis Obispo by completing current state of good repairs and double track projects as well as moving forward with line relocation projects and tunnel to avoid threats from sea level rise, beach erosion and storm driven wave action.
Sunset Limited
A daily Amtrak Sunset Limited, providing daily through service on the Texas Eagle to Chicago.
Refleeting of Amtrak
A compete re-fleeting of Amtrak, including new Bi-Level equipment, is critical. RailPAC will work with California and Nevada legislators and congressional leaders to stress the need to appropriate capital funds each fiscal year to complete a full replacement of Amtrak’s aging equipment.
CA High Speed Rail
A focus on completing the Interim Operating Segment (Merced – Bakersfield) and utilizing resources and programs in the Infrastructure Bill to begin work on the Chowchilla – San Jose line segment.
Nevada
RailPAC will support the efforts for rail initiatives as outlined in the Nevada State Rail Plan.
- Support and grow the Nevada Rail Coalition
- Extension of selected Amtrak Capitol Corridor frequencies to Reno
- Construction of Brightline from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga and Palmdale in California
- Reinstate the Amtrak Desert Wind service from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, with connections to Brightline high-speed rail service between Las Vegas and Southern California and the California Zephyr at Salt Lake City to Chicago.
- Support for transit initiatives in the Reno and Las Vegas metropolitan areas
Arizona
In addition, RailPAC will continue to coordinate with All Aboard Arizona on rail initiatives in Arizona including the Sun Corridor passenger rail between Phoenix and Tucson, the daily Sunset Limited and additional regional trains between Nogales, Tucson, Phoenix and Los Angeles.
Issues & Proposals
Amtrak has neglected California for too long and relied too heavily on state support.
We need:
The Coast Daylight daily train to start immediately, between downtown San Francisco and Los Angeles- A Daily Sunset Limited, providing through service to Chicago
- An immediate order of passenger rolling stock for the overnight and California corridor trains
- California High Speed rail
The Coast Daylight daily train to start immediately, between downtown San Francisco and Los AngelesCONNECTIONS! It’s all about connections. Depending on your journey you may live close to a station that has a direct service to your destination. But there’s a good chance that you’ll need to transfer, from bus to train, light rail to high speed rail, Surfliner to long distance Amtrak.
RailPAC’s campaign is all about connections between these modes so that all of us can enjoy mobility without the automobile.
Our maps attempt to portray the projects underway to improve California’s rail system that we want to see over the next two decades. Of equal importance is the electronic ticketing and information system that is needed to make passenger rail easy to use for 40 million Californians.
RailPAC is working with Caltrans, Amtrak, and all agencies involved in achieving the following goals for expanding and extending safe, reliable rail passenger service.
We support adequate funding for these services and vigorous promotion of them so they may achieve economic stability through increased ticket sales.
Events
RailPAC’s regional meetings offer an opportunity to interact with fellow advocates and view presentations by other RailPAC members, agency staff, and legislators.
Become a member and you’ll be the first to know about upcoming events!
Board of Directors
Current
Steve Roberts, Concord, President
Doug Kerr, Healdsburg, Vice President North
Brian Yanity, Fullerton, Vice President South
James Smith, Los Angeles, Vice President – Long Distance Trains
Marcus Jung, San Francisco, Treasurer
Dennis Story, Santa Barbara
Donald Bing, Moorpark
Geoff McLennan, Rocklin
George Chilson, San Diego
Paul Dyson, Burbank
Robert Frampton, Pasadena
Robert Manning, Palm Springs
Emeritus
Noel Braymer, President Emeritus
William Kerby, Sacramento Treasurer, Emeritus
Russ Jackson, Texas, Steel Wheels Editor Emeritus
Contact Us
Write to us at:
RailPAC
c/o Marcus Jung
PO Box 22344
San Francisco, CA 94122
Email us at info@railpac.org
Help Support Us!
Becoming a member helps increase our strength in presenting the case for passenger rail to policymakers at all levels.