Hotline
Your weekly source of fresh takes on news affecting America's passengers. See also the NARP Blog.
December 9, 2016
Hotline #993: House Delays Increase in Funding; FRA Plans For Amtrak Tunnel in Baltimore; NARP Continues Fight For OTP; Dan Aykroyd Helps NARP Share Importance of Rail
Additional funding for transportation infrastructure under the FAST Act will have to wait until at least the end of April, 2017. Funding for transportation related projects was supposed to see an influx of $2.4 billion with the...
December 2, 2016
After nearly two decades of planning and construction, the International Train Station and Intermodal Transportation Center in Niagara Falls, NY will enter service on Tuesday, December 7, 2016. The first train to use the new facility will be Amtrak’s #64, the eastbound Maple Leaf, on route from Toronto to New York City. While no official opening ceremony is currently scheduled, Niagara Falls, NY...
November 23, 2016
Following 10 years of discussions and research with the passenger rail industry, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has released a set of proposed draft regulations for high-speed rail in the U.S. It’s the first time the federal government has proposed standards and safety regulations specifically for high-speed trains. Prior to these proposed regulations, the government only focused on r...
November 18, 2016
Amtrak announced record earnings for fiscal year 2016, which ended on September 30, bringing in $2.14 billion in unaudited ticket revenue, a $12 million increase over the past year. This record was driven by surging demand for trains; Amtrak carried 31.3 million passengers in the past year, 400,000 more than last year.
Amtrak also noted several contributing factors to the transit agency’s succe...
November 11, 2016
Following a contentious election, American voters have given control of the federal government to the Republican Party, which has taken the White House and retained control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Given the disparity between Donald Trump’s ambitious (but vague) infrastructure proposals and the 2016 Republican Party Platform, there is a lot of work NARP staff will need to...
