Just when you’re ready to write Congress off as a dysfunctional, misguided, delusional bunch of clowns, they surprise you with the unexpected: something responsible, necessary and important. The latest example of this phenomenon occurred earlier this week when the House passed a budget for the Fiscal Year 2018 … a budget that included a…
There’s a lot of concern out there for the future of Amtrak’s national network. Whether by benign neglect or a deliberate act of murder, a lot of people—many of them supposedly “in the know”—think that Amtrak’s national network has been targeted for extinction. For one thing, the Trump Administration wants to end Amtrak’s federal…
As advocates for Amtrak’s national network, it’s easy to get bogged down complaining about the small stuff . . . about the loss of the Coast Starlight’s parlor car, for instance. It needed doing, but not if that means we overlook a few of the essential truths. We should remember, for instance, that huge…
My April trip is taking shape. It’s built around the annual three-day meeting of the Rail Passengers Association held in Washington, DC. Days One and Three are devoted to workshops, seminars, outside speakers and association business. Day Two is our “Day on the Hill” when we all descend on our elected Members of Congress to…