Your weekly source of fresh takes on news affecting America's passengers. See also the NARP Blog.
April 11, 2014
By Sean Jeans-Gail Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois announced on April 10 that the state will invest $223 million to introduce Amtrak service between Rockford and Chicago, with service scheduled to start in 2015. The infrastructure investment will create hundreds of jobs, and return intercity passenger trains to communities that have gone without service since 1981. “Next year, rail service betw...
April 4, 2014
By Sean Jeans-Gail NARP issued a press release today condemning Representative Paul Ryan’s proposal to eliminate Amtrak’s operating grant—part of a comprehensive budget plan—calling it an irresponsible attack on America’s passengers that would hurt the U.S. economy if enacted: Representative Ryan’s budget directs Congress to eliminate operating subsidies for Amtrak, on the pretext th...
March 28, 2014
By Sean Jeans-Gail Image via Texas Central Railway Today the mayors of Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth announced their joint support of high-speed rail service between Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, a project led by Texas Central High-Speed Railways. At a press conference today, the mayors cited numerous reasons to seize the opportunity for a high-speed route, including stimulating the econom...
March 21, 2014
By Sean Jeans-Gail Siemens’s announced this week that it has secured a $225 million contract for 32 locomotives, the components of which will be procured and manufactured exclusively in the United States. We looked at this story in a NARP Blog post, “When we build trains, we build jobs:” Under the terms of the contract signed between the German manufacturer and a five-state consortium con...
March 14, 2014
By Sean Jeans-Gail The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) revealed that Americans took 10.7 billion trips on public transportation in 2013, reaching heights in public transit ridership not seen in 57 years. That’s the equivalent of a 1.1 percent increase over total ridership in 2012, yet again outpacing growth in automobile travel. “There is a fundamental shift going on in t...