Your daily source of fresh takes on news affecting America's passengers. See also the weekly NARP Hotline.
July 18, 2013
Written By Colin Leach Photo by Kirsten Jennings on Flickr.comA curious specter has haunted America for the past decade: the specter of old public transportation made new again. Reversing a decades-long trend of flocking to their cars, Americans are using public transportation more frequently than they ever have. Appropriately, much of this new demand stems from increased rail transportation opti...
July 10, 2013
Written By Colin Leach Florida Congressman John Mica has a well-established reputation as a vociferous critic of Amtrak, taking the railroad to task for what he frequently claims are “Soviet-style operations”. Yet rather than basing his critiques on a sober analysis of Amtrak’s management choices within their operating environment, Mica embraces rhetoric that neither accurately describes Am...
July 2, 2013
By NARP interns Less Henderson, Colin Leach, and Logan McLeod The House Appropriations Committee voted 27-21 on June 27th to discontinue the TIGER program for FY 2014, as well as slash current awarded grants for FY 2013. The vote, which rejected an amendment offered by Rep. David Price (D-NC) to restore TIGER funding to 2013 levels, affirms the committee’s earlier decision to cancel future gran...
June 27, 2013
Written By Sean Jeans Gail House refuses to back down from anti-Amtrak proposal The House and Senate Appropriations Committees went very different ways this week. The House approved $950 million for Amtrak (plus a whopping $25.3 million for Amtrak’s Inspector General) and nothing for state passenger train capital grants or TIGER grants. As we have reported, the House levels put the system at...
June 27, 2013
Written By Sean Jeans Gail The following statement was issued today by the OneRail coalition, of which NARP is a member: The OneRail Coalition congratulates Anthony Foxx on his confirmation by the United States Senate as the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. In his time as Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, Secretary Foxx proved to be an effective public servant and a dynam...