Resources & Links

NARP President and CEO Ross Capon’s reactions to presentations on Positive Train Control collision-prevention technology made at the 91st annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Jan. 24, 2012.

There are a lot of conflicting statistics being thrown around in the debate taking place over what direction the U.S. transportation should take.  NARP has done the work to defend passenger trains against the half-truths and flat-out inaccuracies being used by anti-rail groups.

NARP President Ross Capon’s observations following the hearing before the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee on “Opening the Northeast Corridor to Private Competition for Development of High-Speed Rail.”

Fact sheets summarizing the federal High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail grants made to states and Amtrak as of May 2011, their impacts on job creation and economic development, and how all the corridors receiving investments fit together as a network.

There is often a lot of confusion about how transportation infrastructure is paid for.  NARP provides a fact-sheet showing what percentage of road construction costs are covered by user fees, and some of the associated costs of highway, transit, and passenger rail use.  All facts and figures were taken from NARP’s Freedom and Transportation: Defending Real Choice for Travelers, presented here in its entirety.

This NARP Fact Sheet, written in January 2011, 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.

NARP President Ross Capon writes to the President of the Pew Charitable Trust to set the record straight on their study of route subsidies, pointing out several methodological errors.

Here is the Federal Railroad Administration’s detailed explanation of how each of the ten designated high-speed rail corridors was arrived at.

Analysis of Amtrak ridership, focusing on the four major types of Amtrak service and coach versus sleeping car data.

A resource compiled by NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon regarding statistics, trends, and opinions about oil and gas supplies.

NARP provides several flyers/leaflets that we encourage you to distribute.

Some claim that passenger rail is the only form of transportation that receives federal assistance, but that could not be further from the truth.  Read more about airline subsidies here.

Debunking commonly held but incorrect perceptions about passenger rail.

Information about the release of the annual ORNL study that shows good fuel efficiency for passenger trains.

Report by NARP President George Chilson that discusses why Food and Beverage service is important to rail travelers and disputes charges that the service must operate at a “profit”

“Modern Passenger Trains: A National Necessity”—NARP report first written in 2002 and revised in 2003.

1992 white paper written by NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon.  Despite being written 15 years ago, the document is still very relevant and contains historical discussions of air and rail ticket taxes and how those funds were spent by the government.

Opinion polls show that Americans want more, better, faster, and convenient passenger trains.  Here’s a compilation of such polls over recent years.

One-pager that you can leave with elected officals explaining why Amtrak needs to be fully funded and refuting common myths.  Click here to download (Adobe PDF file).

Clearing the record on erroneous Amtrak statements by federal public officials.

Information on Amtrak and other modal funding since 1990. Updated to include all fiscal years through 2012.  Click here to download (PDF file)

Despite continued attacks on dining car and sleeping car service, an analysis conducted by NARP President George Chilson shows that Amtrak’s sleeping car service generates an incremental profit of at least $40 million a year.  Read Chilson’s full report.

NARP response (in the form of a memo to Capitol Hill staff members) to the July 26, 2005 DOT IG report that advocates elimination of all sleeping car, dining car, and checked baggage service on Amtrak trains.

Common questions about what would happen if Amtrak ran out of cash.