National Association of Railroad Passengers: www.narprail.org

What’s New

Here are the most recent additions and major changes to our website.

This list does not include updates to the Action Alert center, Calendar of Events, NARP Blog entries, or our weekly news hotline (which is updated every Friday afternoon).  Click on the appropriate menu bar to the left to read these items.

  • February 1: NARP President Capon’s reactions to experts’ comments on the implementation of Positive Train Control technology on US railroads were added under “Info & Links—> NARP Pushes the Facts.”

  • January 4, 2012: Updated links to U.S. passenger train service providers includes new entries, updated links and ordering of entries by state.

  • December 15, 2011: Updated federal passenger rail funding chart to include all recent fiscal years up to and including fiscal 2012.

  • December 1: Added a link to a thorough report by Inter-Regio Rail and the German Association of Passenger Rail Authorities overview how each European Union country, plus Switzerland and Norway (which aren’t in the EU), finances and administers its intercity passenger train system, including stations, equipment, track and signals.

  • October 24: Photos of NARP’s highly productive fall Council of Representatives meeting, held in Los Angeles Oct. 14-15, are added to a newly created “NARP Council Meetings” section under “Info & Links—> More About NARP.” Also included are copies of PowerPoint presentations delivered at this meeting, and the message NARP Chairman Bob Stewart delivered to those assembled.

  • October 13: A NARP letter reminds members of Congress’s Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (i.e. the “debt supercommittee”) of the reasons we cannot afford to cut investments in modernizing travel by growing our passenger train network. The committee has until Nov. 25 to agree to a debt reduction plan, or else across-the-board cuts take effect starting in fiscal 2013.

  • October 10: Our allies at the United Transportation Union have created a condensed and spiffed-up version of NARP’s action flyer urging people to contact their Representative and Senators to urge opposition to proposed cuts to Amtrak’s 2012 federal funding. Please print copies and distribute them on board trains, in stations, or around your community.

  • October 5: To assist passenger train advocates in writing effective responses to the myths and distortions presented by train opponents, we have developed an updated, comprehensive list of Passenger Rail Myths and Facts.

  • September 9: News release on the House Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee’s passage of a bill that, if enacted, would lead to an Amtrak shutdown.

  • August 2: NARP’s letter to House Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Tom Latham (R-IA) urging the highest possible Amtrak and High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail numbers for fiscal 2012.

  • June 21: NARP’s statement for the record for the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee’s June 22 hearing on the “Competition for Intercity Passenger Rail in America Act”

  • June 16: Updated action flyer, reflecting that House Republicans are expected to call for crushing Amtrak budget cuts.

  • February 28: You may now donate (the resale value of) any unwanted car, light truck or van to NARP!

  • February 25: Two new opinion polls showing solid majority support for high-speed rail funding added to the Polls page under “Info and Links.”

  • February 25: NARP MEMBERS ONLY: See how your Representative voted on an amendment that would have decimated Amtrak’s capital budget for the remainder of fiscal 2011 (member login required).

  • January 7, 2011: A new NARP fact sheet examines the histories of five successful short-distance Amtrak services in the United States to show that adding frequencies is one of the most important factors in increasing ridership and reducing the amount of ongoing government subsidy.

  • December 14, 2010: NARP’s table showing Amtrak funding levels (capital and operating) compared to federal highway, aviation and transit funding since 1991 has been updated to include fiscal years 2009 and 2010.

  • December 8: NARP issued a white paper in support of the Honolulu elevated rapid rail transit project.

  • December 7: A study commissioned by the Michigan Department of Transportation (in June 2009) concludes that the three Amtrak routes serving Michigan bring over $62 million in direct economic benefit to the state each year, breaking this down by route and by type of benefit.

  • November 29: A research paper by NARP Vice Chairman John DeLora on how public policy has shaped the development of Michigan’s transportation system.

  • November 24: Updates made to our list of state and local citizen rail groups.

  • November 3: NARP responds to columnist Robert Samuelson’s labeling of passenger train investment as “wasteful.”

  • October 29: Links to presentations delivered before NARP’s Council of Representatives at its fall 2010 meeting in Grand Rapids, MI.

  • September 23: NARP President Ross Capon wrote New Jersey’s Governor Chris Christie to reiterate the need for new rail tunnels under the Hudson River, and expressed opposition to the transfer of funds designated for the rail tunnels to help address the state’s ongoing Transportation Trust Fund problem.

  • September 13: Learn what the President’s Labor Day announcement of an infrastructure investment plan means for passenger trains at the NARP Blog.

  • September 7: NARP and other transit advocates have criticized the project’s lack of a link to Penn Station. While NJT makes no reference to fixing the design problems, the hold may extend the window of opportunity to get the design right. Read our press release and more at the NARP Blog. 

  • August 31: The U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Railroad Administration, and Amtrak announced the first-ever nationwide uniform standards for high-speed intercity passenger rail cars, a move that will encourage the revival of the domestic passenger rail manufacturing industry.  Read the full DOT announcement, as well as Amtrak’s press release [PDF].

  • August 5: NARP’s Board of Directors issued a resolution expressing strong opposition to changing the law governing passenger train liability, labeling it a danger to passenger train service.

  • July 1: NARP issues a news release lamenting the passenger train funding direction laid by House transportation appropriators this morning.

  • June 30: NARP releases a new brochure [PDF] discussing the importance of expanding and improving passenger trains, describing what NARP is and does, and explaining the benefits of membership in the Association.

  • June 14: In the Young Adults and Kids Corner: Check out this unique opportunity for high-school students to learn all about railroading and the intermodal movement of freight!

  • June 11: NARP writes to Amtrak to offer support and advice for the effort to transform the Sunset Limited and Texas Eagle into a daily Chicago-Los Angeles train with a connecting daily San Antonio-New Orleans run.

  • May 20: The Spring/Summer 2010 Amtrak system timetable (effective May 10) made a number of changes to connecting Thruway bus service in California.

  • March 22: The NARP Council of Representatives elected Robert J. “Bob” Stewart as the Association’s Chairman, succeeding George L. Chilson.

  • March 22: President Ross Capon’s annual public-witness statement to the House Appropriations Committee on passenger train funding for fiscal 2011.

  • March 12: International passenger train travel links added to “The Rest of the World” under “Info and Links.”

  • February 4: President Ross Capon’s submission to the Wall Street Journal in response to Wendell Cox’s op-ed, “The Runaway Subsidy Train”

  • February 1: Our statement on the President’s 2011 budget.

  • January 28: We comment on the benefits each Recovery Act-funded project will bring to present and future travelers.

  • January 27: We commend the Obama administration for its historic commitment of $8 billion toward “ready-to-go” passenger train projects, investments that “promise to bring Americans freedom to choose an attractive alternative to crowded highways and airports” and “stimulate economic development in on-line communities.”

  • January 26: NARP unveils My Gulf Coast, a one-stop portal for getting involved in the broadly-supported effort to restore Amtrak service between New Orleans and Florida.

  • January 8, 2010: NARP’s public letter to the head of the Federal Transit Administration, administrator Peter Rogoff, has elicited mulltiple responses, both official (a November 2, 2009 letter from Administrator Rogoff) and from New Jersey journalists (a Deceber 21, 2009 editorial by the Record that echoes NARP’s arguments).  Click through for links to both.


Important past entries: