Your weekly source of fresh takes on news affecting America's passengers. See also the NARP Blog.
November 15, 2013
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has announced it will begin construction to rehabilitate the Fall River and New Bedford railroad lines, a critical step in bringing passenger trains to the South Coast rail corridor. The project will deliver commuter rail to Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford, the only Massachusetts cities within 50 miles of Boston that are not served by commuter...
November 8, 2013
Construction is moving forward on the Cincinnati streetcar line, despite vows to kill the project by the man who was elected mayor this past Tuesday. Mayor elect John Cranley has been a vocal opponent of the line, saying that the benefits of the line will not be worth the cost. “They should immediately (stop it) and they should not be ordering these cars to be built three weeks before my sw...
November 1, 2013
A Senate committee held a field hearing in Bridgeport, Connecticut, October 28, examining the causes of the recent power outage on Metro-North’s New Haven Line that severely disrupted passenger rail in the Northeast for nearly two weeks. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s Subcommittee on Surface Transportation hosted the hearing, titled “Power Outage on Metro-...
October 25, 2013
NARP Chairman Bob Stewart and President Ross Capon joined a small number of reporters yesterday in touring the CAF USA plant in Elmira, N.Y. Four pilot cars—one of each type: baggage, diner, bag dorm, sleeper—are nearly complete, and will enter testing within the next two months. Testing is at the CAF plant and on the Northeast Corridor; because of the capability of the CAF plant, no testin...
October 18, 2013
In a major victory for passenger train advocates, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) announced Tuesday that the state and local governments along the route had agreed to share the operating costs of Amtrak’s Chicago-Indianapolis Hoosier State. With that, Indiana became the last of the 18 affected states to sign an agreement with Amtrak and assume most of the operating costs of their short-distance trai...