There’s another very important provision in the draft of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act that was agreed upon by the House-Senate conference committee. It’s a very long, very complex document, but one comparatively brief paragraph directs the Secretary of Transportation to put together a Working Group to look into restoring train service between…
OK, this could be a scoop … a bit of inside info … a possible sneak peak at some of Amtrak’s future plans that are yet to be announced. Here’s what happened: This past April, I attended the annual meeting of the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) in Washington, DC. To get there,…
My dear mother was merciless when it came to demanding the proper use of the English language by her kids. Even after I had grown up, moved to Hawaii, and raised a family, she would castigate me for every grammatical error or incorrect use of a word in my letters home. I’m glad to say,…
In his wonderful book, Waiting on a Train, James McCommons interviews a former Union Pacific Railroad executive. When discussing problems Amtrak has running on time over tracks owned and controlled by Union Pacific, thus inconveniencing hundreds of passengers, the man shrugs and says, “You don’t get it, do you? We don’t care! “ I…