American Airlines Parent Files for Bankruptcy – NYTimes.com

American Airlines Parent Files for Bankruptcy – NYTimes.com.

Please, no idiot rail fan glee. By next year at this time, Amtrak will be well on its way to extinction (a course that was set by Pres. Nixon in 1972). The purpose of this post is to demonstrate that the transportation business is full of peril – even for corporations favored by the government winner pickers.

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Filed under: Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy

Study of proposed magnet train from Atlanta to Chattanooga continues | timesfreepress.com

Study of proposed magnet train from Atlanta to Chattanooga continues | timesfreepress.com.

It is a tragedy that the only people who will ever benefit from high speed rail in North America are the consultants who study routes that will never be built. What a waste and what a cynical misuse of taxpayer money.

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

Three states work to form coalition to keep passenger rail in area – Las Animas, CO – Bent County Democrat

Three states work to form coalition to keep passenger rail in area – Las Animas, CO – Bent County Democrat.

LA JUNTA, Colo. —Amtrak officials have said they have no interest in moving the Southwest Chief line from its current route, but that doesn’t mean the future of the line is set in stone.

A group of about 30 concerned city and county officials, state official representatives, passenger rail supporters and community members from the three states — Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico — which will be economically affected if the route moves met in La Junta last week to begin forming a Southwest Chief  Coalition.

 

Filed under: Amtrak, Regional USA Passenger Rail

Greyhound Passengers Abandoned At Missouri Truck Stop

Greyhound Passengers Abandoned At Missouri Truck Stop

Greyhound passengers on a St. Louis-bound bus from Memphis spent a night sitting at a truck stop in Charleston, Missouri on Saturday after their driver, irate after an exchange with one of the passengers, parked the vehicle and disappeared.

 

 

Filed under: Travel Woes

Gil Carmichael Reports-Time to put Amtrak up for sale

Gil Carmichael Reports.

 

… In my opinion, the two most logical companies to consider buying Amtrak are FedEx and UPS. FedEx, for example, bought the old Railroad Express Agency and operates their company under that charter. UPS talked to Amtrak several years ago about running express and packages on long distance schedule trains but did not pursue the project. There are other things happening in the transportation world that supports FedEx and UPS buying Amtrak. First, as mentioned, the commuter airline industry is disappearing rapidly as the airlines concentrate on jumbo jets and longer flights that skip many regional areas that FedEx and UPS already serve. You can’t fill the big planes with 20-30 small commuter planes and neither can UPS or FedEx fill their big planes with small ones. Take revenues from FedEx and UPS and add it to increasing intercity passenger rail revenues and you have a profitable venture!

…

 

Filed under: Amtrak, Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy

The Racetrack: Building High Speed Rail in the U.S. | Deron Lovaas’s Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC

The Racetrack: Building High Speed Rail in the U.S. | Deron Lovaas’s Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC.

Last week I had a chance to check out firsthand some ongoing work to make up some lost ground. Amtrak took several members of the OneRail coalition on a “Northeast Corridor Familiarization Trip,” and we traveled from Washington’s Union Station to New York’s Penn Station. On the way up we learned about some of the challenges faced by the corridor, and many of its advantages compared to other potential high speed rail routes.

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