NARP Pushes CAHSR and Prop 1A, and So Can You

Monday, September 29, 2008

NARP is working actively to promote California Proposition 1A, the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century, which will appear on the November 4 ballot to provide $9 billion in bonds to start construction of the CAHSR project, and $995 million to bolster existing conventional passenger train services. I will be in the state next month to work with our Directors and allies on the ground to educate voters about the ballot measure. We will distribute two-sided informational cards (pictured below), brilliantly designed with the volunteer labor of NARP member Alfred Twu of Berkeley. (Thank you, Alfred!) It is co-branded with the web site for the grassroots Students for CAHSR.

If you’re in California and would like to assist, please consider downloading the high-resolution .pdf of the card design (1.1 MB) and professionally printing it to distribute in your community. NARP is only able to sponsor a limited print run, and we would greatly appreciate your contribution. You may also click on the image below to download.

For more information about the CAHSR project and Prop 1A, please see the following resources:

As you can see, there is a tremendous groundswell of online support for Prop 1A. The Facebook group mentioned above has nearly 39,000 members! We need to work hard in the coming weeks to translate this enthusiasm into votes, and push back hard against baseless attacks from opponents (as Robert Cruickshank does so well every day on the CAHSR Blog).

What will you do to support CAHSR and Prop 1A? Let us know in the comments.

—Matthew Melzer

Posted by NARP

Tags: california high-speed rail, california proposition 1, california proposition 1a, grassroots advocacy
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Senate Politics Impeding Rail Safety and Reauthorization Bill

Friday, September 26, 2008

On Wednesday, the House passed by voice vote H.R. 2095, which combines the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 and the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (the latter incorporating provisions from S. 294). Yesterday, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) placed a hold on the bill, preventing an up-or-down vote in the Senate without cloture.

In a Wall Street Journal article posted yesterday afternoon, “Senator Holds Up Bill on Train Safety Device,” Sen. Coburn is quoted saying “Amtrak loses $2 billion a year subsidizing food.”

This is an absurd figure, since Amtrak’s total operating grant is under $500 million—$490 million in the FY 06 and 07 appropriations bills, and $475 million this year.
No one thinks operations generate a $2.5 billion profit that mostly goes to offsetting food losses, yet that’s what Coburn’s math implies.

While Amtrak has reduced food losses since the June 9, 2005 House hearing on this issue, it is important to remember what Amtrak Senior Vice President—Operations William L. Crosbie said in his testimony then: “Amtrak’s food and beverage service is a fundamental part of the service that we offer on board the majority of the trains that we operate on a daily basis. Its primary purpose is to enhance ticket sales and ridership, not serve as a profit center.”

It would be nice if Senators could get the facts right, especially ones who are trying to deny the Senate the chance to vote on this bill.

—Ross Capon

Posted by NARP

Tags: amtrak, amtrak reauthorization, news media, safety, senate action, wall street journal
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NARP On the Air Following Chatsworth Tragedy

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

In the wake of the tragic Metrolink-Union Pacific freight train collision in Chatsworth, CA last Friday, NARP staff have been interviewed by several media outlets. NARP’s overall message has been strongly in favor of industry-wide installation of Positive Train Control (PTC) or any other collision-avoidance system that prevents accidents like Friday’s.

On Saturday, NARP Executive Director Ross Capon and NARP Board member Ken Briers (a rail operations expert and former locomotive engineer) were interviewed on KPCC, Southern California Public Radio, as part of their “Off-Ramp” program. An archive is available both in Real Audio and Podcast format here. Capon’s interview occurs about half way through the program, starting at 25:45, and Briers’ starts at 44:05. (Note that despite the program’s name, it is not usually about transportation.)

Last night, NARP Director of Communications Matthew Melzer was on “Which Way, L.A.?” on KCRW, another Los Angeles-area NPR affiliate, advocating for collision-avoidance technology such as PTC. Streaming and Podcast archives are available here.

Sunday and last night, Capon also briefly appeared in segments on NBC Nightly News, pointing out that most of the nation’s passenger trains operate in shared-trackage situations, comingled with freight trains, and that Congress and regulators will need to examine the costs of implementing PTC.

—Dave Johnson

Posted by NARP

Tags: briers, capon, kcrw, kpcc, melzer, narp on the air, nbc nightly news, news media, positive train control, safety, tom costello
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