Your weekly source of fresh takes on news affecting America's passengers. See also the NARP Blog.
December 20, 2013
The Senate passed the two-year bipartisan budget agreement, clearing the way for House-Senate appropriations committee negotiations about how much funding programs will get. There are challenges to reaching agreement on the Transportation/Housing bill and a continuing resolution is still possible. Congress again failed the “transit pre-tax parity” test. Thus, come January 1, the monthl...
December 13, 2013
The House has passed the new, two-year bipartisan budget agreement. Senate passage is considered likely. It appears that appropriations committees will soon be deciding how much Amtrak and other programs will get for the current fiscal year. The best guess is that Amtrak will end up in the vicinity of $1.4 billion. A slight increase over the $1.3 billion from fiscal 2013 is possible, but still fa...
December 6, 2013
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued an Emergency Order to Metro-North Commuter Railroad to take specific, immediate steps to ensure its trains do not exceed speed limitations, the cause of a deadly crash last Sunday. The FRA is directing Metro-North to modify its signal system to ensure speed limits are obeyed. Until that system is in place,...
November 29, 2013
Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, NARP will be presenting an abridged version of the Hotline this week. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and safe travels! -The NARP Staff News in Brief —NARP is reconfirming its support for the construction of a high-speed rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles in the wake of a court ruling handed down by a Sacramento Superior Court Judge. Monday�...
November 22, 2013
With the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure expected to reveal a proposal for the rail reauthorization soon, NARP issued a press release urging legislators to embrace a national vision for intercity passenger trains. During a hearing held this June, T&I Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) said Amtrak’s national network is “something we have to take a hard look at…There are...