RailPAC: Rail Passenger Association of CA & NV

What’s Up with the Coaster?

By Noel T. Braymer …

November 22, 2013
eNewslettter for November 18, 2013

Amtrak Serving Free Wine to Steak Loses Millions on Food Bloomberg-Nov 14, 2013 …Almost all of last year’s $72 million in food-service losses were from providing meals on long-distance trains, Inspector General Ted Alves said in testimony at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing today. I remember at least 30 years ago I heard the…

November 22, 2013
New Amtrak Cars, But (sigh) Not For The West

Commentary by Russ Jackson, URPA/RailPAC On October 24, 2013, Amtrak rolled out the new low-level Viewliner cars at the manufacturer CAF’s plant in Elmira, New York. The order is for 130 cars: 25 sleeper cars, 25 dining cars, 25 baggage/dormitory cars and 55 baggage cars, and Amtrak is excited. They should be. This is the…

November 21, 2013
Capitol Corridor Statistics (October, 2013)

By David B. Kutrosky, Managing Director Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority Service Performance Overview FY2013 Projected Results Year-over-year ridership on the Capitol Corridor trains was even with last September. 132,937 passengers rode the Capitol Corridor trains in September 2013, closing out FY 2013 with a total of 1.70 million riders and representing a ridership decrease…

November 21, 2013
Like it or Not, Here Comes California High Speed Rail

By Noel T. Braymer Despite numerous predictions of the imminent death of the California High Speed Rail Project it is still chugging along and even picking up speed now. Not that it hasn’t had a few near death experiences along the way since the voters approved nearly 10 billion dollars in Bonds for it in…

November 15, 2013
eNewsletter for November 12, 2013

At the November 7th Board Meeting of the California High Speed Rail Authority in Sacramento the board approved the HSR route between Bakersfield and Fresno. The route shown above in red is still subject to possible changes before construction. Most of the approved alternatives have local acceptance in the San Joaquin Valley. The route in…

November 15, 2013
Our Biggest Problem is The Weather

By Noel T. Braymer It is now just over a year since Hurricane Sandy caused record breaking damage along the East Coast. There was wind and flood damage which disrupted electrical power, fuel supplies, destroyed homes while damaging roads, railroads and rail transit. For the first time 100 plus year old river tunnels to Manhattan…

November 9, 2013
eNewsletter for November 4, 2013

One thing that needs to be made clear; much of the funding recently approved for projects such as Caltrain electrification, run through tracks at LAUS, the LA Metro Regional Connector, track upgrades for ACE and Capitol Corridor among others were part of the package for High Speed Rail. Last year the legislature approved 13 Billion…

November 8, 2013
Six RailPAC PHOTOS of the Month (from October, 2013)

Here are this month’s 6 photos by RailPAC photographers. Click on each photo to see it full size! Contributions to this page are welcome. Send your jpg rail photos to RailPAC Photo Editor, at info@xg1.b3e.myftpupload.com. Russ Jackson, Photo page editor. 1. Amtrak opened its Metropolitan Lounge at Los Angeles Union Station in early October. First…

November 2, 2013
Is It Time to Franchise the Long Distance Passenger Trains?

By Noel T. Braymer What’s the answer for America’s Long Distance Passenger Trains? Since W. Graham Claytor retired as Amtrak President in 1993 the Long Distance Trains have been slowly decaying. New and more equipment is needed now just for current demand. The equipment is now not being properly maintained which often causes problem on…

October 31, 2013