 | NARP blogTRAINS: A travel choice Americans want |
» Visit the Official NARP Website
Annual NARP Membership Meetings Underway—Attend Yours!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Regional meetings for NARP members are getting under way. These meetings are a great way to meet other rail advocates, hear informative speakers, and also meet NARP staff, officers and directors. A full schedule of upcoming NARP membership meetings, with confirmed speakers can be found in the events calendar over on the NARP homepage.
I always look forward to attending regional meetings. I get to meet NARP members and tell them face-to-face what’s going on in Washington…both on Capitol Hill and within the organization they help support! This year I’ll be traveling to Schenectady (Region 2), Omaha (Region 10), and Milwaukee (Region 7). Ross has already been to Dallas (Region 9) and Philadelphia (Region 3) and will go to Tampa (Region 5), and Toledo (Region 6). Our Communications Associate, Matthew Melzer, just got back from Portland yesterday evening (Region 8) and will be speaking in Baltimore (Region 4) in a couple of weeks. Last, but certainly not least, NARP President George Chilson will speak in Boston (Region 1) and Sacramento (Region 12).
Attend your NARP Regional membership meeting; trust me, you’ll have a great time!
-Dave Johnson
Posted by NARP
Tags: capon, chilson, johnson, melzer, regional meetings,NARP on NBC Nightly News
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
NARP Executive Director Ross Capon made an appearance last night on a segment of NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams regarding Amtrak’s increasing popularity, prospects for expansion, and funding and operational challenges. The soundbite from Capon notes, “To get trains, it takes time, it takes money, and it takes political commitment.” While correspondent Tom Costello misses some technical details (such as saying that Amtrak’s diesel “trains” are 33 years old on average, without specifying which components), he highlights an issue of great national importance as the Nightly News continues its series on America’s infrastructure problems.
Posted by NARP
Tags: amtrak, brian williams, capon, narp on the air, nbc nightly news, news media, tom costello,Travelers Leaving Cars Behind; Will Federal Funding Recognize This?
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Among the multitude of reports about growing ridership on Amtrak and mass transit, here are links to four.
Last night, Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News opened a major report with this:
“Transit is booming. Ridership is now at its highest point in 50 years. The bad news: because it’s largely been underfunded for decades, mass transit may not be ready for all the Americans leaving their cars behind…”
Here is the video:
The free Washington Examiner yesterday ran a story headed “Gas prices send travelers to Amtrak.” The report said October-to-April ridership was up 10.6% nationwide and 11.2% in the Northeast Corridor compared with the same months a year earlier.
The lead story in yesterday’s USA Today was headlined, “Mass transit breaks records; Rail, bus ridership up as gas prices rocket.” The text highlights one sad irony (also covered on the NBC report): although South Florida Tri-Rail commuter rail ridership was up 13% during the first quarter and up 28% in April, “the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority…faces an $18 million budget hole that may mean cutting train service by more than half.”
Today’s Tampa Tribune carries a story keyed to NARP’s year-ago predictions about the price of oil and gasoline under the headline “A New Train of Thought.” The article begins with this:
One year ago, the National Association of Railroad Passengers predicted the average price of gasoline would top $4 a gallon, a forecast that is close to becoming a harsh reality.
What drew less attention was the organization’s prediction that the cost of flying would soar. In fact, aviation fuel prices are up nearly 85 percent over 12 months, an increase that has contributed to the loss of commercial airline service for 30 small U.S. cities and fewer flights at most other airports.
Perhaps the most important quote is mine in the Tampa article:
“The press has been filled with articles of this nature [about growing train ridership] in recent weeks. What is hard is to get Congress to do anything about it.”
The Climate Security Act now on the Senate floor presents one opportunity to increase funding for passenger trains, but support for this bill has become shaky because the economic climate has made some erstwhile supporters nervous, while longtime opponents of climate change bills are pumping away with statements focused on how the bill would further increase energy and electricity prices.
—Ross Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags: amtrak, brian williams, capon, climate change, legislation, nbc nightly news, news media, tom costello, transit,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,©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
» Recent Entries
» Blogroll
» Terms of Service for Comments
You may register to post comments in response to NARP-generated postings on the Blog. By registering you agree 1) that all comments will be relevant to the respective posting and 2) not to post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, or that violate any laws. We reserve the right to permanently block postings from any user who does not abide by the above terms. NARP reserves the right to remove, edit, or move any messages for any reason.
» Monthly Archives
