Look Out! Bob Crandall Is Back!
For almost 20 years, Robert Crandall was top dog at American Airlines where he was not exactly what you would call a “sweetheart” of a boss. In fact, the American Airlines employees who toiled a couple...
View ArticleYo! Cuomo … Christie … Listen Up!
Anyone who has been paying any attention knows that the tunnel under the Hudson River and connecting New York City with New Jersey need to be replaced. It’s over 100 years old and was badly damaged by...
View ArticleGovernment Of the Truckers, By the Truckers and For the Truckers.
In 2011, a semi-trailer truck, barreling down a Nevada highway near Reno, crashed through a lowered barrier, past the flashing red lights, and plowed into the side of Amtrak’s California Zephyr. In...
View ArticleA Terrible Idea Is Slipped Into The House Budget.
Just when you think the loonies in the U.S. House have reached bottom, they surprise us and take things down another couple of notches. Oh, sure . . . it’s a good thing that enough of the members of...
View ArticleAmtrak Has Competition in Indiana.
Three days a week, passengers traveling by train between Chicago and Indianapolis can take The Cardinal, an Amtrak long-distance train that runs on a southerly route overnight through Illinois,...
View ArticleHow Long Can Amtrak Keep It Up?
To its great credit, Amtrak is still managing to provide an essential transportation alternative to some 30 million passengers a year. And that’s in spite of having to cope with a daunting number of...
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First Class Isn’t Always a Big Deal.
I frequently get emails from many of you and I enjoy and appreciate your comments. The other day I heard from a regular here and in addition to a brief report about his recent rail journey, he...
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Amtrak – Once Again a Target of Conservatives
In every new session of Congress, Republicans talk about reducing or even eliminating the federal government’s subsidy for Amtrak. But now the GOP has taken control of the House and that means they’re...
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Warning to Politicians: Vote Against Passenger Rail at Your Peril!
I am on my way home from the three-day meeting of the National Association of Railroad Passengers held around this time every year in Washington, DC. There are a couple of regional political events...
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A Personal – and Kind of Quirky – Dan Inouye Story.
Hawaii’s much-revered U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye was a very low-key guy and it was often hard to know what he was really thinking. Once, back in the late ’90s, I was in his Honolulu office to shoot...
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Rule # 1: Elections Are Never Won Or Lost for the Right Reasons.
I’ve been involved in Hawaii politics since the mid-60s and have come to know most of the major politicians here. But I’ve been closest to Neil Abercrombie. He’s become a good friend. He’s honest and...
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The Borders Are Still There, But Most of the Guards Are Gone.
My first trip to Europe was in the summer of 1954. The American Field Service ran an exchange-student program in those days, with American kids going to Europe to live with a local family for the...
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What’s Ahead for Passenger Rail?
It’s going to be weeks before we have any kind of handle as to where the Trump Administration is headed with respect to passenger rail in general and Amtrak in particular. He has spoken about coming...
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Well, THAT Didn’t Take Long!
Little by little, the blank spaces for the Trump Transition Team roster are being filled in with the names of real people—but in pencil. There’s already been at least one apparent demotion: New...
View ArticleThe Wrong Reason Is (Far) Right.
Those of us who spend a good deal of our time and energy being advocates for more and better passenger trains, are often frustrated because we don’t seem to make much headway with some of the elected...
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Libertarians: Always Ready to “Help”.
OK, so tomorrow is the big day. And starting first thing Monday morning, it’ll be a whole new ballgame. The truth is, no one has the foggiest idea what to expect. Passenger rail advocates have been...
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Lies, Damn Lies, and Amtrak Accounting.
For years, there has been a simmering controversy surrounding Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, which refers to the Boston-New York-Washington portion of the Amtrak system over which the sorta-high-speed...
View ArticleAmerica’s New Priorities Laid Bare.
President Trump’s budget has been announced and I’m sure most of you already know that it includes nothing—Zero! Zip! Nada!—for Amtrak’s long-distance trains and for a number of important transit...
View ArticleWhat Are They Thinking?
I don’t get into political discussions very often, although these days it’s almost impossible to avoid them. Still, it’s a fascinating subject, especially because we’re witnessing a phenomenon that I...
View ArticleA Special Place in Hell . . .
I don’t know about you, but we are being deluged with phone calls and emails from organizations asking for contributions. Most are contacting us because we have given them money in the past. A few of...
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