In a letter to the editor of the Washington Post, NARP President & CEO Ross Capon writes “When a spike in oil prices crushes short-distance aviation and cuts auto use, even more Americans will be thankful their taxes buy trains, not just airports and roads.”
NARP President Ross B. Capon responds to a piece supporting the new Hudson River Rail tunnels published by the editors of the Asbury Park Press (NJ), reminding them that $9 should make sense for the state and the region as a whole.
NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon reminds the Washington Post that they, “have omitted one big part of the solution: Divert travel off planes by investing in rail to provide fast, frequent service in more markets.”
NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon questions why USA Today took a pour-more-concrete-only approach and that “Passenger trains can help address both road and air congestion, and should get serious consideration.”
NARP Legislative Director David Johnson takes Washington Examiner commentator Sam Staley to task for, “ignor(ing) the huge financial and environmental costs of building and maintaining all the added highways he envisions—costs associated even with hybrids like his.”
NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon reminds Financial Times readers that the newspaper’s columnists, “commit the common error of omitting railroads and rail transit from their list of what US infrastructure ‘comprises’. Their only reference to modern trains is the European ‘high-speed rail network’, while US railroads get just a historical reference, bracketed with ‘the canals of upstate New York’.”
NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon applauds the positive WSJ article and laments the fact that “With a supportive White House, ridership growth would be even greater and more widespread.”
NARP Executive Director Ross Capon tells readers of the Mobile Press-Register that despite the paper’s negative opinion of Amtrak, “a Harris poll indicated that 79 percent want to see an increasing proportion of traffic going by inter-city commuter rail…Perhaps this is why the Republican-controlled Congress defied the Bush administration’s efforts to shut down Amtrak.” Also includes a plug for the NARP Grow Rail Campaign.
NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon pointed out that, “Environmental issues were noticeably absent from your two May 14 articles on the Texas legislature’s vote to block new, privately-financed toll roads for two years. This paralleled your report, ‘US cool on climate change’...”
NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon refutes the claim that expanded rail service in Vermont will hurt Vermont Transit. “Improved Amtrak service will increase demand for public transportation in general. For example, Concord Trailways’ fortunes improved—contrary to their expectations—after Amtrak’s Downeaster began operating…Vermont Transit could improve its service and revenues by stopping at Amtrak stations and connecting with Amtrak trains.”
NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon takes the New York Sun to task for publishing an anti-Amtrak op-ed by Joseph Vranich. “America needs more trains! Joseph Vranich trashing Amtrak doesn’t get us there…”
NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon strongly disagrees with a Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial mourning the 35th anniversary of Amtrak. “The longer we treat funding passenger rail as an afterthought, the angrier the traveling public will be when the public—already well ahead of the political process—fully embraces trains because cheap auto travel is understood to be a thing of the past.”
NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon disputes a claim by the the Washington Post that Amtrak, “operate(s) money-losing long-distance routes that make little sense today but that have entrenched political support in Congress.”
NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon applauds the New York Times columnist Otis White for highlighting the importance of rail in emergency evacuations, “but (it is) wrong to call Amtrak’s long-distance trains ‘useless.’ They serve four million people a year, providing basic transportation for many.
NARP Assistant Director David Johnson refutes the assertion that, “the long-distance routes of Amtrak passenger trains don`t make much sense in the modern era of travel.”
NARP Transportation Associate Matt Melzer rebuffs the American Enterprise Institute’s assertion that, “A modern airline system has made Amtrak obsolete.”
