The federal budget for the Fiscal Year 2019 has been prepared and is ready to go to Congress for final approval. Washington insiders seem to agree that, barring something crazy...

 There was a high-level meeting a couple of months ago to discuss the fate of the Southwest Chief. All interested parties were there, including two United States senators and at...

I assume that most of you are up to date on Amtrak’s threat to discontinue the Southwest Chief or, at the very least, seriously modify it’s schedule and quality of...

I’m afraid I caused some anxiety with an earlier post stressing that Amtrak travelers should avoid trying to make connections between two long-distance trains. I’ve had a couple of questions...

For several years now, the venerable, iconic Southwest Chief has been operating under a cloud. The train’s route runs from Chicago to Los Angeles and there are 28 stops along...

The Rail Passengers Association will be meeting for the next there days in Washington and a new spin on an old argument is taking shape for presentation to individual members...

Those of us who are advocates for passenger rail often talk about how many towns are served by the Amtrak long-distance trains. But I’ve belatedly realized that there’s much more...

My late father-in-law was once asked what I did for a living. He replied, “Jim labors in the murky world of advertising.” He sure got that right.   Because everyone...

DAVIS, CALIFORNIA–This was an interesting trip in several different ways.   First, both the Southwest Chief taking me to Chicago and the California Zephyr that brought me here to Davis,...

As I write this, the Southwest Chief is sitting in the Albuquerque station, the locomotives refueled, the windows washed. Earlier today, somewhere near Gallup, I went on line with my...