Still no car order for long-distance trains.

It’s always time to reprise this story.  This map was published first in Steel Wheels in 2020, but it’s actually a revised version from an earlier map published in 2018.  The sad truth is it could have been used any time since the 1980s.  The first Superliners were entered service in 1979 and over the next 17 years  479 were built, a fleet that was barely adequate to operate the existing network.  From 1996 to 2002 the concept was continued with the California car and the Surfliner, but after the last Surfliner the production line in Hornell NY went quiet.   So, nothing has changed since I joined RailPAC in April 1980.  It’s all about rolling stock.  We can participate in FRA planning sessions forever and a day but without trains it’s just an intellectual exercise.

If the current government’s policy for American industry is anything more than hot air one would expect to see the encouragement of rolling stock manufacturing.  How about it, Mr. President?  Job creation, steel consumption, skills development? 

Chad Edison Moves On

Chad Edison, formerly Chief Deputy Secretary, Rail and Transit, California State Transportation Agency, has resigned to take up a position, Rail and Transit Practice Leader, with consulting firm Kimley Horn based in Sacramento.  Chad issued the following statement:

“I have been honored to serve for nearly twelve years at the California State Transportation Agency (joining 6 months after its founding), helping to advance rail and transit within California and partnering with a large number of our state’s rail and transit agencies. I am so proud of all that we have accomplished together and cannot come close to writing a complete list of the many who have helped get the work done along the way. After my last day on Monday, November 17th, (2025) I look forward to sharing about my next chapter which will continue to allow me to help advance rail and transit within California and beyond. Thanks to all who have worked alongside me over these years.”

I met Chad in 2013 just after he took up his leadership of rail and transit within the newly created Calsta agency.  It’s impossible not to be impressed by Chad’s energy and depth of knowledge.  I wondered at the time how long the enthusiasm and dynamism would last, and would it be sufficient to move the needle within the confines of Sacramento politics and bureaucracy.  Unfortunately, we shall never know what might have been accomplished.  To quote two British politicians, (Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan) when asked about obstacles that thwarted their plans, their answer was “events”.  The unforeseen Covid-19 epidemic had a near catastrophic impact on every public transportation agency at a time when real progress was being made.  The pandemic caused many to question whether public transportation had any future if such events were to become commonplace.  Fortunately, Federal and State governments put most rail and transit services on life support that has enabled them to rebuild post Covid, but the lost years, together with the change in travel habits that Covid brought about, have left passenger rail with a steep mountain to climb to return to the relative prosperity of 2018.  There’s no doubt that Chad has made a major contribution to the recovery process, as well as continuing initiatives for a statewide ticketing system and fully integrated and connected intercity and regional services.  We can only conjecture how much further along we would be without the Covid “event”.

We thank Chad for listening to our comments, suggestions and concerns, and for speaking at Steel Wheels events.  We wish him well in his new role, and good wishes to his successor at Calsta.  Chad’s shoes will be tough to fill.