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Well, another thing that I've been noticing for years is that every time there is a train wreck involving a passenger train it always seems to be "front page" news even if there are no fatalities but worse yet when there are. Meanwhile, nearly 40,000 people a year are dying on American highways...

I was trying to respond to neorden's post but was not able to make the "quote" feature work. Here's what he said followed by my response. I don't know why "conservative" is used as an adjective for Republican politicians, but I long ago gave up on finding any "conservation" in their policies. I...

I can tell you what really frustrates and aggravates me about Indiana (and adjoining states). It is simply this: Prior to around 1930, nearly all Indiana and Ohio cities and towns were interconnected with rail passenger service. Many of those lines in those days were even electric and some of...

Well, I can cite an experience we had recently. Back in mid January, my wife and I took Amtrak from Elkhart, IN to Los Angeles and back. The westbound Capitol Limited (on NS rails) was running two hours late at Elkhart. No worries, that just gave us less downtime in Chicago anyways and...

Well, group, I don't know what happened but either Anderson or the board or someone blinked.  It was reported in the latest NARP "Hotline" that Amtrak management is now releasing the $3 million match that they were reneging on last year.  That's gonna leverage money from the feds, the states...

Updating this thread just a bit.  I guess Congress has now passed Amtrak's funding for 2019 (finally) and it has been signed into law according to the RPA (formerly NARP).  RPA reported in their hotline some interesting features as some of you know.  First off the bat it was reported, and I'm...

Sttom & Group, You know what, a few months ago there was an editorial in the Wall Street Journal by a guy named Jenkins who predicted that truly autonomous vehicles that are 100% "driverless" are very likely decades away.  Everyone has become so wound up about driverless technology that they...

Well, maybe we weren't screaming for something like that back in 2012 but perhaps we should've been.  There are a lot of people (myself included) who would like to see the intercity passenger train system expanded in America.  That is where Amtrak has been a hopeless failure and after 47 years...

JIS, well, my take on it is that Plous was trying to tell us that Congress needs to pass a new transportation act similar to what created the FHA and the FAA and provide a funding well.  I agree with this.  As to which cars (like the Hi-Levels you cited) go where specifically, he didn't get...

Yesterday an article came to my attention from Railway Age by F.K. Plous.  The article is about a month and a half old.  I think I’d seen it before but I didn’t really read it until yesterday.  I would strongly encourage everyone on this group to read the article carefully and think this over. ...

West Point, I think you have some good ideas there that I'd agree with wholeheartedly.  There is just one thing that I'd like to say.  I still think that Amtrak management - perhaps on a better day - should take another look and rethink head-end business like presorted mail and the like. ...

So, JIS, how do we "fix" Amtrak then?  Or, is it just plain un-fixable? Regards, Fred M. Cain

The most recent issue of Passenger Train Journal had an editorial by Don Phillips advocating getting rid of Anderson.  But I'm not sure how to do this.  Who exactly does he report to and whom can we contact recommending this? Although PTJ did not specifically mention it, I noticed in their...

Well, for me personally, and speaking only for myself, I no longer feel as safe as I once did traveling by Interstate highways. Period. Statistics are not going to reassure me even if they prove that my perception is unwarranted. Irrational? Maybe. But surely there are more people who feel...

Well, let's be clear here. The LD trains and ESPECIALLY the Chief are not out of the woods yet but I still regard this new development as a major "back pedaling". I mean, Anderson has repeatedly stated in no uncertain terms that he will NOT operate trains on tracks without PTC after December...

Well, group, am I beginning to sense some back-pedalling on the part of Amtrak's management? See here: https://www.progressiverailroading.com/ptc/news/Amtrak-to-seek-PTC-extension-will-operate-current-routes-after-Jan-1--55612 Or if that does not work for you try here...

Well, I would imagine that, too, but do we know that for sure? Regards, FMC

JIS, I have a question for you since you seem to be pretty familiar with the PTC mandate and how it is to be applied. It's a question I have asked before on other forums but never really got what I thought was a 100% satisfactory answer. What would happen on the rails if PTC were to "crash"...

Here's another one from this morning. Let's see if our forum "breaks" the URL again. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-13/amtrak-may-put-passengers-on-buses-in-fight-over-safety-upgrade Yep! Sure enough! Not sure why this is happening but I'm certain it has something to do...

Neroden, For what it's worth (probably nothing) I did write to Anderson a while back and received a kind of form letter in return. It was noncommittal but my efforts probably didn't hurt. Personally, I believe that Anderson's plan to truncate the Chief has run into so much opposition that I...