Your daily source of fresh takes on news affecting America's passengers. See also the weekly NARP Hotline.
October 16, 2012
Written By Sean Jeans Gail Image via Wikicommons; Author - FristleWin or lose, fans shifting expectations about the trip home Major League Baseball’s playoffs are in full swing, and fans across the country are feeling the agony and the ecstasy that come with surges, comebacks, elimination games, and living to fight another day. And while baseball’s traditional anthem has supporters singing �...
October 11, 2012
Written By Sean Jeans Gail Amtrak setting the ninth annual ridership record in ten years is good news. Amtrak setting the ninth ridership record in ten years after months of near constant Amtrak bashing is great news. When NARP talks about there being "really basic factors that are driving the love for trains [that are] going to be difficult for any candidate to ignore," this is what we mean. W...
October 11, 2012
Written By Sean Jeans Gail In the lead up to tonight's Vice Presidential debate, CNN ran a report on uncertainty over the status of funding for Amtrak service. With the contest featuring Vice President Joe Biden—a man whose name became synonymous with Amtrak following years of commuting between Congress and his home in Delaware—it's not surprising that passenger trains are receiving this sor...
October 9, 2012
Written By Sean Jeans Gail On September 28, the Chicago Tribune published an editorial attacking the Midwest high performance passenger rail program as “a ridiculously expensive dream.” The editorial ("Higher and higher; You thought high-speed rail already was a boondoggle? Listen to this") based much of its attack on a mistaken analysis of the difference between the 110 mph top speed that w...
October 2, 2012
Written By Sean Jeans Gail Image Source: Wikicommons; Author: PMDrive1061A big rig truck collided with Amtrak's San Joaquin train outside ofHanover, California yesterday causing several train cars to derail, and injuring at least 40 people. None of the injuries are reported as serious. Amtrak has released a statement about the collision outside Hanover—which lies roughly 30 miles south of Fres...