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The likelihood of that is low. Seeing as how every major railroad has "joined" Amtrak or merged with someone who did pretty much blocks competition. The only reason Brightline exists is because the Florida East Coast railroad is in the gray area of didn't have passenger trains when Amtrak was...

Being the best known journalist is frankly meaning less and less as time goes on. Saying this as one of those illusive Millennials that is ruining everything, I haven't watched anything on PBS aside from one of the Presidential debates in several years. And it seems like my generation wants...

That is one thing that I can't put into words about how much I dislike Google Maps. It always assumes the absolute best driving conditions when you are in a car, but seems assumes all public transit goes 25 mph no matter what. Its driving directions are also terrible, I once went out the "wrong"...

The Milwaukee Road tracks still exist between Aberdeen and Miles City via Standing Rock, no idea what state the track is in. Other than it being considered a secondary track.

The issue I have with the ADA changes beyond the hopefully unintended consequence of not having enclosed anymore is that issue around level boarding. Siemens can build single level cars where the entry is at the same height as a Superliner, along with basically every major manufacturer having...

In all honesty though, if ADA is used to make LD trains less attractive, it won't really be on Amtrak management for that. Having run in activist circles, the people most willing to ask for changes like the ones being considered are the ones the least likely to be convinced that they are...

It really depends on if the regulations change and/or what qualifies as a reasonable accommodation. As it stands now, getting a wheelchair through isn't possible and apparently it's reasonable that only 1 sleeper on a Viewliner trains to have wheelchair accessible to the diner. Having read...

Bombardier and Alstom have built what they classify as bilevel cars and are built to similar dimensions as the old Santa Fe hilevels that meet the modern requirements. The Cal3s failing is more likely down to incompetence, not building compliant rolling stock being against the laws of physics...

There are accessibility concerns with the Viewliners too. Currently only the Accessible Room next to the diner can access it. If unobstructed access comes down the pike, sleepers are going to get axed at some point since the aisles on either type of sleeper can't clear a wheelchair. Requiring...

I would also hazard a guess that top design speed also has to do with parts. If all the parts being made are going to be capable of 125, why design special parts that can go slower? It could be a literal case of don't reinvent the wheel.

Some stations aren't in downtown areas. Which can be a problem. I know on the San Joaquin this is true for some towns, but many others are located in vibrant parts of their respective cities, even if they aren't in downtown that doesn't mean they are in a field surrounded by cows. San Jose's...

I've mentioned this a few times, but the whole "non standard equipment" thing is only a problem if you have 3 cars that are different in a fleet of 500 than two different types in a fleet of several hundred cars. Airlines operate hundreds of planes of various types from primarily two...

Prohibition and hesitant are not the same thing. The issue with the 737 MAX is more than the result of an airline doing shoddy maintenance, a pilot being inebriated or other causes of a plane crashing. It crashed due to a design choice that Boeing made because it wanted to keep cashing in on the...

I'm not against traveling overnight in coach, I just don't think I'd prefer it. I did manage to sleep for 2 hours in British Airways Cattle Class back in 2017. A Superliner coach seat would feel like a real bed by comparison. My dad is planning on being near Portland sometime this year, so I'll...

I watch this channel on YouTube for aviation news, he has a lot of work to do to stay on top of just what Boeing is doing. As someone who flies on occasion, I am still unwilling to fly in a 737 MAX and hesitant to fly in a Boeing plane in general with all the issues that are coming out of the...

One development I've seen with desalination or at least potential technology is to use the designs of a solar thermal power plants as a way to boil ocean water and desalinate that way. The Saudis have even put money behind it so it might become viable in the next few years. The problem here in...

Other than the Delta Tunnels that politically died when Brown left office, no. Plenty of people have ideas, me included, but if there is one thing I have learned from going on lobby days in Sacramento is that they don't really care what we have to think. I have talked with at least a dozen...

The problem here in California is that the state government doesn't have much of an appetite to do anything. This isn't the days of Pat Brown and the State Water Project, these are the days of the Austerity Democrats. At least when it comes to big infrastructure projects outside of highways or...

When it comes to talking with conservatives about the value of rail travel, I was able to get some of my conservatives friends to agree that funding Amtrak on par with the interstate highways is worthwhile. Which would be paying for capital expenditures and operation costs. I was able to do this...

Thank you