News

Amtrak Announces Positive Train Control Completion

August 14, 2020 “Completing PTC installation and implementation is a key component of Amtrak’s overarching commitment to the safety performance of intercity passenger rail for our customers, employees and the communities we serve,” said Amtrak Executive Vice President Chief Safety Officer Steve Predmore. “As leaders in PTC installation, Amtrak is pleased to achieve this milestone, and we will continue to work together with all of our partners to improve safety across the rail network.”

Where the Railroad Meets the Farmer

August 7, 2020 A train trip through Upstate New York aboard Amtrak takes you past many farms; fields of corn, apple orchards, and dairy cows flashing by outside the window. Yet there is one place along the Empire Corridor where the state’s cornucopia of agricultural abundance comes in direct contact with our intercity passenger rail system – the farmers market at the Utica train station.

COVID-19 is Not the End of Passenger Rail

August 6, 2020 As rail advocates, we have been seeing over the past months versions of this anti-rail argument printed recently in a opinion piece from the Washington Times stating that the plans proposed by former-VP Joe Biden to build up America’s public transit and passenger rail infrastructure and services is now unworkable because of the plunge in ridership during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that still ravages America. Of course what is ignored by these arguments is the equally collapsed demand for airlines and rideshare companies.

Amtrak Inspector General to Examine Cost-Sharing on State-Supported Routes

July 16, 2020 Amtrak's Office of Inspector General is initiating an audit of Amtrak’s processes for managing cost-sharing on state-supported routes. They're objective will be to evaluate the company’s actions to address longstanding concerns with the PRIIA 209 cost-sharing methodology and the company’s billing process with its State partners.

Stimulating the NY-NJ-CT Region’s Economy by Advancing Cost-Effective Transport Strategies

July 10, 2020 Long before the Covid-19 pandemic devastated the health and economic well-being of the 23 million persons living in the NY-NJ-CT urban region, NYC-based nonprofit IRUM called for advancing, affordable, cost effective transportation infrastructure projects and sensible operating strategies that would greatly improve the region’s mobility and stimulate its economy.