RailPAC: Rail Passenger Association of CA & NV

The Railroad Destroying Santa Margarita River

Story by Noel T. Braymer Finally this year, 2013 (due to the need to redo more work on this bridge the opening date now is in 2014.)the new double track railroad bridge over the Santa Margarita River will replace the old single track bridge there since 1916. Well not exactly, the current bridge is a…

April 5, 2013
eNewsletter for April 1, 2013

U.S. Report Backs Bullet Train Revenue Forecasts Los Angeles Times Mar 29, 2013 The GAO study says that the project’s ridership and revenue forecasts are reasonable but it renews concerns about future funding. The lesson from this is you may not like what your asked for. The GAO admits that the current Cal HSR project…

April 5, 2013
RailPAC PHOTOS of the Month (March, 2013)

Here are 5 photos by RailPAC photographers. Click on each photo to see it full size! Contributions to this page each month are welcome. Send your jpg rail photos to RailPAC Photo Editor, at info@xg1.b3e.myftpupload.com 1. Riverside, CA, station on March 22, 2013. A long BNSF container train is on the double tracks in the…

April 4, 2013
March Trip report with video to Riverside, Los Angeles and Santa Monica

Report by Noel T. Braymer What a way to celebrate my 61st birthday, but I’m still too young for a Metrolink senior discount. I got to the Oceanside Station in time to get my ticket to Riverside for Metrolink train 850 and get on board before the 7:35 AM departure. I still had the same…

March 30, 2013
eNewsletter for March 25, 2013

Corbett reaches deal to pay to maintain Amtrak route to Pittsburgh Tribune-Review-Mar 21, 2013 Tom Corbett said the state will pay $3.8 million a year to subsidize Amtrak’s Pennsylvanian route, a daily round-trip that provides the only …California is already paying over $30 million to run each of their existing State services and each produce much more…

March 29, 2013
Capitol Corridor Monthly Report (February, 2013)

By David B. Kutrosky, Managing Director, CCJPA For February 2013, once again we find Capitol Corridor’s monthly performance report to be a mixed bag of results. Ridership in the month of February was 8.2% below February 2011 and revenue was down 2.7%. On a positive note, on-time performance (OTP) was 97%, the best in the…

March 25, 2013
Report of the First Ever San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority

Report by Mike Barnbaum, Associate Director of the Rail Passenger Association of California & Nevada, on Sunday 24 March 2013 The New San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority, created by legislation from Cathleen Galgiani (AB 1779) and signed into law by Governor Edmund G. Jerry Brown on September 29, 2012, held its first meeting on March…

March 25, 2013
Should High Speed Rail Share the Tehachapis?

Analysis by Noel T. Braymer The most expensive part of running any railroad is not above the rails but below the rails on the right of way. With any capital intensive investment the way to recoup the cost is to use it as much and generate the most income as possible. This is particularly true…

March 23, 2013
eNewsletter for March 13, 2013

Excerpt from the March 7, 2013 LOSSAN TAC Meeting Agenda. The Coast Starlight has maintained positive ridership growth since September 2011 including a significant increase of 19.3 percent in January due to a combination of improved reliability, fare actions, and maintaining the summer consist with more cars . March 18, 2013 Part 1 March 18, 2013 Part…

March 23, 2013
Passenger Trains Make Money

Report by Noel T. Braymer To often we hear in this county about how passenger trains lose money. The fact is many passengers trains cover their costs for trains crews, fuel and direct operations of the trains. It is the passenger railroads that are losing money. To draw an analogy compare a passenger railroad to…

March 15, 2013