The derailment by a speeding Amtrak train this May in Philadelphia resulting in 8 deaths and over a hundred injuries of passengers has recently dominated the headlines. As spectacular and avoidable as such train accidents are, the majority of the damage and deaths occur on the railroads at grade crossings and trespassers on railroad rights…
Begun in 1967 with one commuter rail line, Go Transit now has 7 lines. Daily ridership on Go Transit trains is 215,000. This is carried with 1,500 train trips a week. The Province of Ontario this April announced a 13.5 billion dollar plan which will electrify 5 of the 7 rail lines by 2024.By 2020…
It is no secret that for 44 years Amtrak’s long distance trains have had a target firmly placed upon them. From the nitpicking of the Congress to the war against growth within Amtrak, we have to ask who is standing up for these trains besides us in the rail advocacy community? If it weren’t for…
Sacramento is the State Capitol of California. If not just for that reason alone there is quite a bit of travel to Sacramento for government related business and tourism. Sacramento is also a major metropolitan area of almost 2 million people. Sacramento because of geography is a natural transportation hub. But despite all of this…
Since the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC) opened late last year, some local media in Orange County have been complaining about it not being an overnight success. To get some prospective we need to look at some of the problems the old Amtrak station had in Anaheim and what the future holds for ARTIC.…
I’ve seen this before, and it didn’t go well the other times it was tried. Congress is pressuring Amtrak to “save money” again. This is particularly true on food service and long distance trains. We will likely see Amtrak raising prices and cutting back on food service. We will continue to see Amtrak running shorter…
Although Amtrak will not be sponsoring National Train Day this year RailPAC, together with a number of local groups, is continuing the tradition at Santa Barbara. Train Day will take place Saturday May 9th at the historic depot. County Supervisor Salud Carbajal will emcee the event and State Senator Jackson and Mayor Helene Schneider are confirmed attendees. The…
Outlined below are some key takeaways I found noteworthy from the March 27th San Joaquin JPA Board meeting: The Fresno City and County presentation was an overview of the new 2-year pilot Thruway bus initiative linking Fresno with Yosemite National Park and Fresno with Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. This 2-year pilot project is…
For the last few years Amtrak has had online ticketing. This means that when you get your “ticket” from an Amtrak agent, you actually get a piece of paper with a bar code. You could also print out such a “ticket” at home online with Amtrak on your computer. On the train the conductors carry…
When proposing a new High Speed Rail project, everything looks so sweet and simple when talking about artist’s conceptions and lines on a map. But as soon as property owners see those lines going through their property, then things stop looking so easy for promoters of High Speed Rail.