News & Commentary
On the local level, there’s a solid consensus for greater investment in mobility
November 19, 2013
Written By Malcolm Kenton An editorial in this past Saturday’s Santa Fe New Mexican lays out all the assets that northern New Mexico would no longer enjoy if Amtrak’s Southwest Chief is unable to continue to operate on its current route between Newton, KS and Albuquerque. This segment of the route has little to no freight traffic, so BNSF is demanding that Amtrak and the affected states pay most of the cost of maintaining the segment to safely accommodate passenger trains at top speeds of 7
Fewer flights mean more trains are needed
November 18, 2013
Written By Colin Leach One of Amtrak's Hiawatha Services stops at Milwaukee Airport station. Licensed through the Wikimedia Foundation. Much like railroads in the 1950s and 1960s, today’s airlines are consumed by merger mania. Faced with record fuel prices, increasing overhead costs, and declining revenues, America’s big airlines continue to look towards merger as a means of reversing losses. This trend can be seen through the declining number of “legacy carriers”, a term used to def
John Mica’s Circus Sideshow, Part ∞
November 14, 2013
Written By Malcolm Kenton Rep. John Mica (R-FL) held yet another hearing this morning focusing on the financials of Amtrak’s food and beverage (F&B) service. NARP has never been shy to point out places where Amtrak could improve. But it’s time to restore a modicum of perspective to this whole process; Mica’s intense focus on this one aspect of Amtrak’s business is completely misdirected. Asking Amtrak to treat its F&B—a mere 1.8% of all the costs Amtrak incurs, after factor
Students speak out for passenger rail
November 14, 2013
Written By Logan McLeod Since I started working in the passenger rail industry I continue to hear this ignorant and unsubstantiated claim that only a certain demographic rides trains and thus they’re not worth investing in. The truth is that passenger rail is part of everyday American lives wherever it exists in this nation. If it’s present in your town, city, or state; believe it’s being used by many of your fellow citizens no matter the age or race. This “astonishing” observation i
Prophets of Smart Growth
November 13, 2013
Written By Abe Zumwalt In yesterday’s post Malcolm Kenton delved into a new service offered by the U.S. government that will allow for better information for home buyers with regard to associated costs of ownership- including proximity to transportation infrastructure. It is remarkable that in the late 19th century, these costs were not only known and felt, but were also crucial in deciding where to live. This cost-conscious mentality led to building many of the very cityscapes which now fin
Dr. Anthony Perl on the Bipartisan Reality of Trains and Transit
November 13, 2013
Written By Sean Jeans Gail During NARP’s Fall Meeting in Jacksonville, Florida, our Council of Representatives was lucky enough to hear from Dr. Anthony Perl. Dr. Perl is a professor of political science and Director of the Urban Studies Program at Simon Fraser University, in Vancouver, British Columbia—though he started his career in transportation as a NARP intern in the mid-1970s. One of the questions from the Council concerned the partisan impasse that has brought Congressional activ
More information=better decisions=more trains & transit
November 12, 2013
Written By Malcolm Kenton An introductory course in economics will teach you that one of several conditions that must be met to have a properly functioning market, where prices for goods and services are established based on the optimal intersection of supply and demand, is “perfect” information. Both buyer and seller must have access to all the relevant information about the product or service in order to establish a fair price. But too often when people make decisions, information is impe
South Africa Takes Bold Step With Train Order
November 11, 2013
Written By Sean Jeans Gail The Cascade's new train set arrives in Oregon. With the average age of Amtrak equipment just topping 28 years, any regular passenger of the U.S. intercity rail network can tell you how desperately new rail cars are needed. Beyond simple comfort, aging equipment decreases reliability and on time performance, and increases the cost of maintaining Amtrak’s fleet. With that in mind, Trains’ story on South Africa’s record breaking equipment order is sure to i
Thanksgiving means crowded trains
November 11, 2013
Written By Colin Leach Amtrak's Carl Sandburg on BNSF's Chicago Subdivision. Via the Wikimedia Foundation If you’ve ever traveled on the Northeast Corridor during the Thanksgiving holiday, you’re probably used to arriving at the station and finding the platforms teeming with travelers and their bags. You’re probably also used to the sight of your Amtrak train pulling into the station without the typical consist of Amfleets. Instead, you’ll often see borrowed commuter cars from NJ Tra
“The taxpayer train?” How about the taxpayer highway?
November 8, 2013
Written By Malcolm Kenton ABC 11 WTVD, a TV station serving North Carolina’s Triangle region (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill), ran an “I Team Investigates” report last night about what the State of North Carolina is paying for the Piedmont and Carolinian “taxpayer trains,” which together offer three daily round-trips between Raleigh and Charlotte, serving the state’s biggest population centers. The story focuses too much on what revenue the trains generate, not on the benefits of the se