Opinion

Commentary

Could the worm be turning for Amtrak?

Legendary Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver etched his illustrious baseball career and winning record with the three-run homer. Were Amtrak a Major League Baseball team, its success would be measured, instead, by infield hits. But Amtrak may have hit one long ball this week when new House Rail Subcommittee Chairman Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) conceded that Amtrak passenger service on the Northeast Corridor and on state-supported corridors is profitable and efficient.

Commentary

The camera never blinks

“Here’s looking at you, kid,” is a cherished line from the movie Casablanca,but when the looking is through a hidden camera lens in the locker room or even visibly trained on crewmembers inside a locomotive cab, well, you won’t hear the more famous line, “This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.”

Commentary

Will European rail freight reach its potential?

Editor’s note: In terms of rail freight, we’re in excellent shape here in North America. Not so for Europe, which is struggling with how to increase freight traffic on a network primarily configured to support passenger rail operations. As David Briginshaw, Editor-in Chief of International Railway Journal describes in his first blog entry for Railway Age’s sister publication, the problems seem to stem not from operational constraints, but from a lack of political support, and poor service quality. These are problems that we North Americans, with our world-class private freight rail network, identify mostly with passenger rail. So, from IRJ, here’s what’s happening on “the other side of the pond”:

Commentary

For whom does the STB bell toll?

With the Obama nomination of Anthony Foxx to become the next transportation secretary, chatter now focuses on the successor to Frank Mulvey at the three-member Surface Transportation Board (STB). 
Commentary

LNG: Locomotive fuel of the future?

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of excitement among the Wall Street analyst crowd over LNG (liquefied natural gas) and its potential as a locomotive fuel. The railroads have been relatively quiet about their recently renewed interest in LNG, choosing to pursue long-term testing without making too much noise, as they usually do. Yet, some analysts have latched on to these efforts, talking about LNG like it’s the Holy Grail. Are they on the mark, or will they wind up suffering from (pardon the pun; it’s too obvious to resist) gas cramps?
Commentary

Amtrak budget reality could make a preacher cuss

Let’s get real about President Obama’s fiscal year 2014 and beyond budget recommendations to Congress. They’re street theater, and one might just as well be entertained viewing Gucci-clad Washington lobbyists intermingling with Capitol Hill tourists outfitted in spandex and plaid-pattern polyester.

Commentary

Guest Blog: “Amtrak is not the problem”

The following commentary was submitted in response to my recent blog, “If the source of funding isn’t fares, then Amtrak needs to go away.” It’s an eye-opener. There are very few people, in my opinion, who won’t learn something:
Commentary

“If the source of funding isn’t fares, then Amtrak needs to go away”

It’s 12:00 a.m. on Monday, April 8 as I write this. I’m tired, and I want to go to bed. I have to get up tomorrow morning, and go into the office. For some reason that I do not completely understand, I take a quick look at my e-mail inbox on my iPhone before placing it into the neat little iHome device that serves as a musical alarm clock. (Apologies for the advertisement.)
Commentary

Amtrak haters: Bullies with no public purpose

Conservative columnist and American Enterprise scholar Michael Barone, with degrees from Harvard and Yale, is a smart fellow. But a recent column about Amtrak suggests his research consisted of wandering into the posh Capitol Grill in Washington, D.C., and sitting at Amtrak baiter-in-chief Rep. John Mica’s luncheon table, absorbing Mica’s jihad against publicly funded intercity rail passenger service.

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