Tommy should speak up on rail project

News from Wisconsin.

Tommy should speak up on rail project.

Filed under: Passenger Rail Politics, Regional USA Passenger Rail

Arizona plan calls for new, improved rail services – Yahoo! Finance

Arizona transportation planners consider improved freight and passenger rail operations. Among these are restoring Amtrak service to downtown Phoenix and a daily Sunset.

Those include intercity rail between Phoenix and Tucson, commuter trains in the two metro areas and a possible high-speed rail connecting Phoenix with Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Albuquerque.

Arizona plan calls for new, improved rail services – Yahoo! Finance.

Filed under: Amtrak, Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy, Regional USA Passenger Rail, United States High Speed Rail

Off track / LJWorld.com

A bit of informed commentary on speed reductions involving the SW Chief.

BNSF Railway ordered Amtrak trains to maintain speeds below 60 mph instead of the previous 79 mph between Hutchinson and La Junta, Colo. The slowdown is expected to add about 45 minutes to the travel time between those two cities but probably won’t increase the overall travel time from Chicago to Los Angeles because time can be made up elsewhere on the route.

According to BNSF officials, the order was necessary because of the deteriorating condition of tracks that were laid 60 to 70 years ago. The most discouraging aspect of the order is that there are no plans to try to remedy the situation, no plans to rebuild or upgrade the tracks so the speed limit can return to its previous level.

Off track / LJWorld.com.

Filed under: Amtrak, Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy, Regional USA Passenger Rail