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Coast Daylight/CRCC Policy Meeting Report
By Bruce Jenkins, RailPAC Director The Coast Rail Coordinating Council (Coast Daylight) held it’s Policy Meeting on Friday, Dec. 16th in Monterey. The foremost concern now is to achieve a satisfactory capacity model. The initial capacity modeling resulted in unrealistic and unobtainable scheduling. The Coast Route remains a strategic line for Union Pacific freight operations,…
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Southwest Chief and the snow delays
Report by Russ Jackson, RailPAC The first major snow storm of the winter affected Amtrak trains 3 and 4, the Southwest Chief starting December 19, and is still affecting the train’s on time performance as of this writing. As the winter progresses we will see how prepared this season the Amtrak system is for this…
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Amtrak Advisory: Coast Starlight Train 14 and Amtrak Cascades Schedules
From Amtrak.com 12/19/11: Coast Starlight Train 14 and Amtrak Cascades Trains 508 and 1514: Track Work Affects Schedules and Service Effective January 3 through February 8, 2012 Track work being performed by Union Pacific Railroad will affect the northbound Coast Starlight and Amtrak Cascades on select dates, as described below: Train 14 Operates Two Hours…
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We hear you, Mr. Boardman, now let’s see some Action!
Commentary by Russ Jackson, RailPAC There has been much discussion in the past month or so about the immediate fate of the Amtrak long-distance trains. This writer provided his share of the verbiage in an article posted on www.railpac.org, titled “Amtrak long distance trains, the kinda good, the pretty bad, the really ugly,” which explained…
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RailPAC’s Bob Manning Goes to Washington, Meets with Senator Boxer and others!
Report and Photo provided by Robert Manning, RailPAC Executive VP Often we complain about things but fail to correct the problem. Yes, I’m referring to the underserved passenger train service in the west. This conveys the sad possibility that some service may be cut while we are attempting to inaugurate daily service between Los Angeles…
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Congratulations Union Pacific: Steam arrives in Indio, Thursday November 17, 2011
Report and photos by Robert Manning, RailPAC Executive VP The temporary Transportation Center in the heart of downtown Indio, witnessed more people then anyone could have imagined on this special day. Two temporary modular buildings now house the Greyhound bus station and the future passenger train facility which will be built. Today the Union Pacific…
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Capitol Corridor November 16 meeting report: changes are coming
Report by Mike Barnbaum, RailPAC Associate Director The Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Board of Directors met for the final time in 2011 on November 16 in the City Council Chambers at the City of Suisun City. Chair Bob Franklin (San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District) opened the meeting with his “Report of the Chair”…
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September 2011 Amtrak California Trip Report, Part I
Traveling The Web Of California Bus/Rail Connections Report and Comments by Ralph James I. Trip Overview A fairly unusual circumstance set up the opportunity for a round trip on Amtrak California beginning and ending at the “away” terminal of Grover Beach and turning at the “home” terminals of Auburn and Colfax. Due to the limited…
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September 2011 Amtrak California Trip Report, Part II
Traveling The Web Of California Bus/Rail Connections Report and Comments by Ralph James II. Perspective from the Foothills Given the difficulties of using Amtrak and Amtrak California between the foothills east of Sacramento and the Central Coast illustrated in the preceding trip report (Part I), what would acceptable service look like and how might it…
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Amtrak long-distance trains: the kinda good, the pretty bad, the really ugly
Commentary by Russ Jackson We passenger rail advocates prefer traveling cross-country on one or more of Amtrak’s long-distance trains whenever possible. We do it because we love it. We do it because we want them to be a part of the continuing heritage of this great country. We do it because we want that transportation…