Amtrak Chairman Responds to Rail Passengers Open Letter

December 7, 2018

This week, Amtrak Chairman Anthony Coscia wrote to Rail Passengers Association President Jim Mathews outlining real steps to pursue many of your Association’s customer-focused priorities. Coscia’s letter was a response to Mathews’ October open letter calling on Amtrak’s Board to embrace a bold growth plan for Amtrak focused on serving the entire country. While we must remain vigilant and keep working closely with our partners in Congress, along with our Mayors and other elected and appo

Watch This Space

"Coming Attractions"

December 6, 2018

by Joe Aiello | Northeast Field Coordinator I have spent the last few years putting together town halls for the North-South Rail Link in Boston and advocating for transit-orientated development around the Northeast (Hello, Hartford Line!). I can’t help it – it’s in my blood. I am a self-proclaimed “union brat”. So, allow me to put on my organizer hat for a second and introduce you all to a couple of things that we are going to start to roll out here at Rail Passengers HQ. This websit

The Business with the Best Customer-Centric View Always Wins

December 5, 2018

By Carolyn Cokley - Rail Passengers Association As frequent travelers, we all know that perception is as much a part of the customer experience as the actual customer experience itself and while we may have trouble remembering some of the actual details of an interaction, we will not soon forget how those details made us feel. A great actual and perceived customer experience comes down to three factors – success, effort, and emotion, and it is that emotion factor that prompts the most adverse

It's the 21st Century Somewhere

A Postcard from Dijon, France

December 4, 2018

By Abe Zumwalt, Rail Passengers Association In the United States, easy transportation is a promise of the future, perhaps a decade within our grasp. ‘Traffic will get better when the new highway cloverleaf is completed.’ ‘The Light Rail Line will ease traffic and loosen congestion.’ ‘Driverless cars will speed travel and eliminate traffic.’ A sort of ‘End of History’ solving the problem of personal mobility has been a decade away for more than 50 years, something that we have be

Amtrak Announces Nationwide Roomette Sale

December 4, 2018

By Bruce Becker, Rail Passengers Association In a rare move, Amtrak today announced a nationwide sale on Sleeping Car roomettes, clearly aimed at boasting premium service ridership during the slower travel months in early 2019. Under the sale, one person in a group of two will travel for free when a roomette is purchased at the regular, one person adult full or senior fare rate. The sale is being offered only via Amtrak.com from December 4th through December 11th, and is valid for travel from

Top Talent Demands Transit, and Employers Are Responding

December 3, 2018

by Sean Jeans-Gail, Rail Passengers Association One of the most difficult tasks for any transit advocate is to accurately capture the benefits of a transit project. Transit systems aren’t built as profit making ventures, so ridership and revenue aren't enough. They’re built to support the basic economic and civic activities every community requires in order to thrive. Highway advocates, meanwhile, tend to rely on a closed system. Highway construction begets destinations accessible only b

Branson Bets On Brightline

November 16, 2018

My current and previous worlds merged this afternoon...and I couldn't be more excited about it. As many of you probably know, I came to lead the Rail Passengers Association team after nearly three decades in aviation, mostly at Aviation Week. During my time at AvWeek, once or twice I met Sir Richard Branson -- the adventurer, serial entrepreneur and genius behind everything from Virgin records to Virgin Airlines and yes, Virgin Galactic (my personal favorite) -- and covered him for a couple of

Driving Governor Dukakis - A Push for Needed 'Regional Rail'

A Trip From Mattapan to Boston to Lowell in a 1949 Hudson to Highlight the Need for Unified Massachusetts Rail

November 15, 2018

Former Democratic Gov. Michael Dukakis, who along with former Republican Gov. William Weld heads the North South Rail Link Working Group, will drive from Mattapan through Boston to Lowell on Friday in a 1949 Hudson, a vehicle that is as outdated as parts of the public transit system in Greater Boston. At 11 a.m. Friday, Nov.16, 2018, Gov. Dukakis will arrive in the rusty 1949 Hudson at the MBTA station in Mattapan, MA (where the trolleys running everyday are as old as the Hudson). At 1 p.m., Du

RPA LAUNCHES NEW PHOTO CONTEST: #ViewsOnATrain

November 9, 2018

This time last year, we announced our rebranding, a move that formally took us from being The National Association of Railroad Passengers to The Rail Passengers Association. Our former name was a mouthful and didn’t succinctly get to the point of who we are, and what we’re about. Our old logo always had a train in it, even though we’re not a railway. Our new logo is the very window you look out of as a passenger. We started our #ViewsFromATrain photo contest because we wanted you, the ra

RPA Photo Contest Winners

November 9, 2018

We started our #ViewsFromATrain photo contest in September 2017 because we wanted you, the rail passenger, to be a part of our new identity. We’ve been astounded by the quality of the photo submissions that we’ve received. From the ocean views of the Pacific Surfliner, to the mountain snow on the Coast Starlight, to the Chicago skyline on the California Zephyr, you all have wowed us with the views you’ve seen from the train. Now its time for them to wow you, too. Here are the Grand Prize