Your weekly source of fresh takes on news affecting America's passengers. See also the NARP Blog.
October 11, 2013
Amtrak has reached agreement with agencies in 18 of the 19 states with service affected by the 2008 law’s Section 209. That provision requires most states to pay more than they have in the past. This week, Californiareached a deal with Amtrak to provide an additional $19 million to maintain service, with Illinois close behind. New York came to an agreement with Amtrak last week. Negotiations...
October 4, 2013
The federal government shutdown is on Day Four with no apparent end in sight—other than veterans of previous shutdowns noting that the pressure intensifies daily and the pain usually becomes too great for politicians after about seven days. It is clear that a majority of House members would vote for the “clean” continuing resolution that the White House wants, but that Speaker Boehner so fa...
September 27, 2013
Power issues in the New York area have caused significant disruptions to Metro-North Railroad operations on Wednesday morning, significantly affecting service of the commuter railroad and Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and disrupting the travel of tens of thousands of passengers. Officials report that the problem stems from the loss of a Consolidated Edison 138,000-volt feeder cable that supplie...
September 20, 2013
NARP’s Chairman Stewart and President Capon have both been on the ground in the fight to save the Southwest Chief. Ross Capon spoke at a well-attended save-the-Chief meeting in Pueblo, Colorado on September 14. NARP Council Member James Souby played a lead role in organizing the ColoRail/NARP-sponsored meeting. A good portion of the attendees were public officials, both Republican and Democra...
September 13, 2013
NARP President Ross Capon is scheduled to speak tomorrow at a summit on preserving the Southwest Chief’s current route in Pueblo, Colorado. All rail advocates in the region are invited to attend the Pueblo summit—more information at the NARP Event Calendar. Among the other speakers: public officials and Amtrak’s Ray Lang. With the deadline for a Federal law requiring states to pay mos...