In Washington, the Trump Administration has pretty much adopted the budget recommendations of the Heritage Foundation, one of the libertarian “think tanks” supported by the Koch brothers. As far as Amtrak is concerned, that means no federal dollars for the national network. The probable result, while perhaps not immediate, would be the loss…
ST. PAUL, MN-The two-day retreat for the NARP board of directors has just concluded, leaving me in a kind of never-never land. I checked out of my hotel room at noon today, but I’m not actually leaving until 10:00 tonight when the westbound Empire Builder pulls into the St. Paul station. Several of us will…
In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina hammered the Gulf Coast, killing more than 1800 people and causing $108 billion in damage. Included in that mess were many miles of track belonging to the CSX railroad that were washed out along the coast. That, of course, meant the cancellation of the New Orleans-to-Orlando segment of Amtrak’s…
Over the past few days, I’ve been brooding over the Trump regime’s efforts to eliminate Amtrak’s long-distance service. And that led me to wonder what it is about the American mentality that says, “I don’t care if they do things differently in the rest of the world. Our way is better.” Currently, the Trump…