Go West, Young Man

It's Time for Western MA to Have a Stake in the System

January 31, 2019

by Joe Aiello | Northeast Field Coordinator In 2017, MA State Senator Eric Lesser brought a number of constituents to Boston from Springfield in order to promote bills that were being discussed at the time for a proposed “high speed” route between Boston, Worcester, and Springfield - the three largest cities in the Commonwealth. I, in my role then as Rail Passengers’ Council Member, joined the chorus of voices advocating for this route. A section from my testimony: “The RPA recentl

Metro North Commuter Service Coming To Amtrak’s Hell Gate Line

“It’s déjà vu all over again”

January 31, 2019

By Bruce Becker - Vice-President of Operations The recent announcement that New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Amtrak have come to an agreement which will eventually lead to some Metro North New Haven Line trains being routed on Amtrak’s Hell Gate Line to Penn Station is good news for the rapidly growing, but under-served by rail transit, East Bronx. The future commuter trains will serve new four stations along the Hell Gate Line in the East Bronx at Hunts Point, Parkches

When in DC

So, you've gotten off of your train at Union Station. Now what?

January 29, 2019

Abe Zumwalt If you’re not planning on coming to our meeting in April, you should. You, yourself, can positively impact passenger rail service in the United States. Plus, you get the added bonus of staying in our Nation’s Capitol, as we've managed to secure a good rate at the Westin right in Downtown DC. However, on that last point, I have a recommendation. If you go see the monuments, ever, in this new Rome of ours, I have a piece of advice. Don’t walk. Don’t take a cab. No, when you g

Transportation Shutdown Ends Government Shutdown

The government shutdown is over thanks to airport delays: there are some important lessons to take away from this.

January 28, 2019

by Sean Jeans-Gail The government shutdown is over thanks to airport delays. For all the political posturing and negotiations, it was the impending collapse of publicly supported transportation infrastructure that forced a compromise. Bloomberg News summarizes the timeline of events: On Friday mid-morning, flights into New York’s LaGuardia Airport were halted for more than an hour because of a ground stop ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration. The delays affected other East Coast

Vision

January 24, 2019

by Joe Aiello | Northeast Field Coordinator “It’s just easier to drive!” “We don’t need another ‘Big Dig’!” “Tommy Brady is the greatest eva, kehd!” I hear statements like this nearly everyday (one of them I hear WAY too much). It’s part of the mentality that us advocates need to break when talking to the general public about transportation needs. The “Big Dig” comment comes my way nearly daily when trying to discuss the North-South Rail Link - the project that woul

The Power of the Employee

Recognizing Those Who Make a Difference Everyday

January 23, 2019

By Carolyn Cokley, Rail Passengers Association There are certain rail passenger issues that we will forever be divided over. But, there is at least one issue that I believe that we can all get behind. When it comes to the hard-working men and women who make Amtrak move we can all value the dedication and perseverance that customer-facing employees bring to stations and trains all over the National Network. Today, three Amtrak Customer Advisory Committee members are in LA Union Station presentin

Going Shopping For Shiny New Coaches

January 23, 2019

by Jim Mathews Late Friday, Amtrak let the world know that it's ready to get industry to bid on supplying "up to 75 trainsets" worth of equipment to replace elderly Amfleet Is. It's great to see Amtrak step up to the plate and start making good on long-overdue promises to get cracking on upgrading coaches for the modern passenger. Sure, it's a baby step...but it's the second step in as many months (following on the heels of the locomotive order) and it can't come soon enough. Just before Amtr

Two More States Take Aim At Passenger Rail Funding

Advocacy is perpetual, but especially so in Indiana and West Virginia

January 22, 2019

Abe Zumwalt Writing about Washington State’s I-976 was gut-wrenching. Should voters in the Evergreen state push the measure forward, the region would stand to lose much of its transit system, and its connections to Oregon as well as British Columbia via Amtrak Cascades service. This will be the seventh time the state has dealt with this particular threat – but Washington certainly isn’t the only place where battles have to be fought again. Passenger rail funding at the state level is vuln

We All Have To Start Somewhere

January 17, 2019

by Joe Aiello | Northeast Field Coordinator While the world is caught up in “the ten year challenge" - I’m waiting for next week’s MassDOT Rail Vision public hearing and MBTA’s Green Line Extension station design unveiling, I thought I would share a quick story of how I “got here” as I celebrate my one year anniversary on the DC (via Cambridge, MA) staff. While I was attending Northeastern University for grad school (MPA ‘13), as a number of you know, I was able to meet and learn

New Dining Options Are Here

Amtrak Is Listening To Passenger Concerns

January 16, 2019

By Carolyn Cokley, Rail Passengers Association As you all know, back on June 1, 2018, Amtrak launched contemporary, fresh dining choices for sleeping car customers on-board its Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited trains. On-board meal preparation was replaced with a small variety of fresh and ready-to-serve boxed meals. Let’s just say that the new menu has been met with very mixed reviews. As Jim revealed to you all in last month’s Hotline, he and Sean met with the senior team at Amtrak