The Amtrak brain trust seems to be so spectacularly wrong so much of the time, we find ourselves asking again and again, “What the hell are they thinking?” Yesterday I began working out travel arrangements to attend RPA’s annual Fall meetings in Miami this October. The final leg of my rail itinerary will include…
In December, one of the Cascades trains derailed near Tacoma, Washington, when it went into a curve at close to 80 miles an hour … a curve with a speed limit of 30 mph. A bunch of passengers were injured and three were killed, one of whom was serving with me on the RPA board…
A question came in by email the other day from a lady expressing irritation that Amtrak fares seem to change for no apparent reason. Welcome to the club, ma’am. As it happens, I’ve been thinking about visiting my sister in Florida following NARP’s 50th anniversary celebration next November in Chicago. She lives in a…
When the national news media writes about Amtrak, it’s almost always about the Northeast Corridor and usually about late trains or service disruptions because of bad weather. Trains running on time 98-percent of the time? Trains carrying close to 80-percent of the people who travel between New York City and Washington? That’s nice, but it’s…