April 23, 2013 • 11:25 am 0
As a wholly-owned subsidiary of the trucking and highway interests, do you think the Federal Railroad Administration wants high speed rail to operate in the USA? Case closed. Read a great post here.
FRA Not Cooperating on Acela-2 | Systemic Failure.
Filed under: Amtrak, International High Speed Rail, Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy, United States High Speed Rail
April 22, 2013 • 9:00 am 0
Disgrace for Wisconsin, nice job Oregon and Washington State. This is the “why” part of the fact that not one mile of true high speed rail will be built in the United States. It goes against the powerful corporate interests that oppose it and have all the political power.
Filed under: Amtrak, Passenger Rail Politics, United States High Speed Rail
April 15, 2013 • 11:45 am 0
In other words, things have changed not one little bit since Amtrak was formed as a centerpiece of Nixon’s corporate welfare. Good outline.
Former House transportation committee Chairman John Mica is putting everything on the table for Amtrak reform. That includes a cup of coffee and a hamburger.
Mica’s long-standing complaints about losses on the railroad’s food service produced a tense exchange between him and Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman during a subcommittee hearing Thursday. And it provided an example of the host of issues Congress must haggle over as transportation leaders work toward passing a new passenger rail bill.
In addition to Mica’s objections to the cost of a cup of joe and his push for private-sector competition, the list of contentious issues includes stemming losses on coast-to-coast routes, getting states to share Amtrak’s cost burden and deciding the future of high-speed rail. But even with that litany of controversies underway, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and railroads subcommittee Chairman Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) exude nothing but confidence that they can get a bill done by the end of September.
Denham told POLITICO after the hearing that he wasn’t dissuaded by some of his subcommittee members’ entrenched positions — and the work is really just beginning.
“I would say it’s what we expected,” he said.
Boardman said he’s encouraged by Denham and Shuster’s approach. “They’re trying to be thoughtful,” he said.
Here’s a quick glance at the items members are expected to concentrate on:
Filed under: Amtrak, Passenger Rail Politics, Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy
April 14, 2013 • 10:02 pm 1
For your consideration, follow the link below for the entire story.
April 12, 2013
By Nicole Schlosser
While the typical griping continues in California over its plans for high-speed rail, projects across the U.S. were subject to a recent hatchet job, ironically, by CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360◦” in the segment, “Keeping Them Honest.”
The story, “High-speed rail Boondoggle,” claims to be about how $800 million in federal funds was spent only to take 10 minutes off a rail trip between Portland, Ore. and Seattle, while promising high-speed rail. However, it was really just making out the concept of bullet trains in the U.S. as a waste of money for something nobody wants without sharing any facts.
“Investigative Correspondent” Drew Griffin begins spinning his colorful yarn about how the public is supposedly being cheated with a really premature statement: “The dream, shared by those who stand to make money from high-speed rail, is turning into a pipe dream.”
He goes on to oversimplify the situation with this generalization: “Four years and $12 billion later, scattered projects across the country that slow trains moved just a little faster.” Griffin also implied that there was no other work being done to complete the projects nationwide.
Throughout the story, Griffin gave the false impression that building an entire high-speed rail program, basically from scratch, would or should only take four years, as the U.S. High-Speed Rail Authority pointed out in a release responding to the show.
Filed under: Passenger Rail Politics, Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy, Regional USA Passenger Rail, United States High Speed Rail
April 10, 2013 • 4:01 pm 1
$40 billion for passenger rail over 5 years. This must not stand! Surely there is some developing nation we can bomb back to the stone ages. That is a far superior use of taxpayer money.
The Obama Administration released its budget request for Fiscal Year 2014 today, and the President has once again put forth a bold plan for transforming and expanding train service in the United States, with $40 billion in passenger rail investment over the next five years.
The Administration’s budget allocates $6.6 billion to the Federal Rail Administration for fiscal 2014, with increasing amounts each subsequent year through 2019, then decreasing amounts to 2023. The request will be a boost for Amtrak, coming a day before the House Committee on Transportation holds a hearing on the railroad’s FY 2014 budget. The hearing, Amtrak’s Fiscal Year 2014 Budget: The Starting Point for Reauthorization [which can be streamed live] will address Amtrak’s funding needs, as well as the coming rail reauthorization (the current law will expire at the end of this September). Amtrak announced yesterday it had set a new ridership record during the first half of this fiscal year, and will be looking to translate its steady increase in popularity into an increase its funding for badly needed equipment purchases and infrastructure upgrades.
Here is a link to the rest.
National Association of Railroad Passengers – President Pushes Bold Plan for Passenger Rail.
Filed under: Amtrak, Passenger Rail Politics, Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy, United States High Speed Rail
April 8, 2013 • 2:32 pm 0
There is an interesting Little Rock angle in this very interesting story. Did you know the Wright Amendment expires in October of 2014? Changes coming for Southwest and cities it serves in neighboring states.
One of the partners in this private enterprise project is Central Railway of Japan. Of course, the usual opponents of good transportation can be expected to rise up against it, but one should watch anyway. Here is the link.
Place of high-speed rail stations debated | Your Commute | News from Fort Worth, Dallas,….
Filed under: International High Speed Rail, Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy, Regional USA Passenger Rail, United States High Speed Rail
Logan Nash
patlynch
Trains For America 
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