The Federal Railroad Administration has started scheduling its first round of workshops around the country to begin hashing out how best to restore previous long-distance services and possibly how to...

Over the last couple of months, members of the Rail Passengers Council have been tasked with nominating, and then voting on, a location for our 2023 Fall Meeting. The only direction they were given...

Congressional leaders released the text of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 omnibus to fund the government yesterday, with the House and Senate expected to vote on final passage by end of week....

Shippers from across the country appeared before the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in Washington, D.C. this week to lament the state of the U.S. freight rail industry. A diverse set of companies...

Remember back in November when we shared a few glimpses of the new Amfleet replacements, we told you we couldn’t wait to show you more? Well, today was the day – in an event I attended in New York...

Passages in quotations are Ed’s own words. The passing of Ed Von Nordeck on December 6 was a huge loss for the rail passenger community – for those who were privileged to know him as a friend...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (22-19)Contact: Madison Butler, mbutler@narprail.orgDecember 1, 2022Washington, D.C.—Statement of Rail Passengers Association President Jim Mathews on the passage of legislation...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (22-18)Contact: Madison Butler, mbutler@narprail.orgNovember 22, 2022 Rail Passengers Association Statement on Gulf Coast AgreementWashington, D.C. -- Statement of Rail...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (22-17)Contact: Madison Butler, mbutler@narprail.orgOctober 21, 2022 PASSENGERS ASK FRA TO SPEED PART 239 REVIEW OF WOLVERINE INCIDENTRail Passengers Association Also Seeks...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (22-16)Contact: Madison Butler, mbutler@narprail.orgOctober 11, 2022RAIL PASSENGERS ASSOCIATION STATEMENT ON AMTRAK #351 WOLVERINE DISRUPTIONWASHINGTON – The Rail Passengers...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (22-14)Contact: Madison Butler, mbutler@narprail.orgSeptember 12, 2022Rail Passengers Association Statement on Potential Rail ShutdownWASHINGTON -- Rail Passengers Association...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (22-13)Contact: Madison Butler, mbutler@narprail.orgAugust 17, 2020Rail Passengers Association Statement On PEB RecommendationsWASHINGTON – In response to today’s Presidential...

For Immediate Release (22-12)Contact: Madison Butler, mbutler@narprail.org Rail Passengers Association Praises California’s Leadership for Advancing High-Speed Rail ProjectWashington, D.C...

For Immediate Release (22-11)Contact: Madison Butler, mbutler@narprail.orgRail Passengers Comments on Today's Tragic Amtrak DerailmentWASHINGTON – A statement from Rail Passengers Association...

For Immediate Release (22-10)Contact: Madison Butler, mbutler@narprail.orgRail Passengers Association Congratulates Texas Central On Legal VictoryWASHINGTON -- Rail Passengers Association CEO Jim...

For Immediate Release (22-09)Contact: Madison Butler, mbutler@narprail.orgAmtrak Names Roger Harris PresidentWASHINGTON -- Rail Passengers President & CEO Jim Mathews released the following...

For Immediate Release (22-08)Contact: Madison Butler, mbutler@narprail.orgRail Passengers Association Urges Texas Supreme Court To Rule Quickly In Rail CaseWASHINGTON -- Rail Passengers Association...

For Immediate Release (22-07)Contact: Madison Butler, mbutler@narprail.orgAmtrak Announces Service Restoration as Part of Summer ScheduleWashington, D.C. -- With demand for travel steadily returning,...

For Immediate Release (22-06)Contact: Madison Butler, mbutler@narprail.orgRail Passengers Association Calls for Better Geographic Representation on Amtrak BoardWashington, D.C.—With three remaining...

For Immediate Release (22-05)Contact: Madison Butler, mbutler@narprail.orgPresident Biden Announces Five Nominees to Amtrak BoardWashington, D.C.—Only weeks after the Rail Passengers Association...

Amtrak released its Fiscal Year 2023 budget request to Congress, outlining a budget request for the coming year and establishing goals to return ridership to pre-pandemic levels. The document...

[Special thanks to Virginians for High-Speed Rail for their input on this story.]Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin sent a bill to the Commonwealth’s General Assembly earlier this week that would cut...

The Surface Transportation Board this week began the trial-like procedure of hearing from witnesses in the case to decide whether STB should grant Amtrak’s now year-old motion to order host railroads...

April 1, 2022For Immediate Release (22-04)Contact: Madison Butler, mbutler@narprail.orgRail Passenger Announces New Board Chair Meredith Richards and Volunteer LeadershipAlexandria, VA – The Rail...

For Immediate Release (22-03)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.org America’s Passengers Honor Transportation Chair DeFazio for His Leadership in Passage of Historic...

Our new national poll proves something most of you already knew: passenger trains are popular among both Republican and Democratic voters, who want more and better trains and are willing to spend...

For Immediate Release (22-03)Contact: Madison Butler, mbutler@narprail.orgNew Poll: 78% of Americans Want Increased Investments in Passenger Rail in the U.S.Washington, D.C. -- The vast majority of...

The Surface Transportation Board is putting Amtrak, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and the Port of Alabama on notice that during next month’s evidentiary hearings they’ll need to be prepared to address how...

The Washington State Legislature passed a transportation budget with $150 million in planning funds for the Cascadia High-Speed Rail Corridor. The project would establish a high-speed passenger rail...

Congress passed a $1.5 trillion government funding bill last night, sending it to President Biden's desk and avoiding a government shutdown. While the bill was late -- more than five months into the...

The Rail Passengers Association filed the following comments in response to a Request for Information from the Federal Railroad Administration on he Corridor Identification and Development Program...

Firefighters tend to disabled Amtrak train in Rockville, MD(Amtrak’s Capitol Limited train from Washington, DC to Chicago follows the historic B&O line through the Potomac Valley. A passenger’s...

Amtrak disappointingly hasn’t been able to bring enough people back to work or into the training pipeline to restore daily service across the National Network. They’re hundreds of employees short of...

As part of the Spring schedule, Amtrak will restore five routes to full service beginning on March 28, 2022. We continue to work on further frequency additions for the coming months as staffing and...

Amtrak is slowly, agonizingly, restoring daily service on trains that lost it in January due to staffing shortages. They’ve announced this morning that they only have enough staff qualified and...

By Jim Mathews / President & CEO(Note: most of the links in highlighted text go directly to particular moments during the Surface Transportation Board’s live-streamed hearings. Click on them to...

For Immediate Release (22-02)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgRail Passengers' President Mathews Testifies Before STB on Gulf Coast Rail RestorationWashington, D.C...

As an upstate New York native, I’m partial to winter sports and especially winter Olympic events. Since we’re well into Winter Olympics season, I thought it might be fun to look at the latest stats...

Amtrak launched its new Siemens’ ALC-42 locomotives this week on the Feb. 8th Empire Builder traveling west from Chicago to Seattle. Locomotives 301 and 302 mark the first of 75 new locomotives being...

Today is Rosa Parks's birthday. We celebrate her because of her efforts to ensure transportation equity for her community. Unfortunately, we are still fighting the same fight to ensure transportation...

It’s been 16 years since Amtrak’s Gulf Coast passenger train was knocked offline by Hurricane Katrina. Since then, we’ve seen 16 years of advocates fighting to restore this critical national...

Amtrak’s top leadership agreed with nine specific recommendations from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) aimed at repairing broken and mistrustful relationships with state partners on...

VIEW THE FULL VERSION OF JIM'S LETTER TO THE CNBC EDITORIAL DESK HEREI write in response to CNBC’s long-form segment distributed via YouTube on Feb. 2 “Why U.S. Freight Trains Are So Much Better Than...

Following budgeting decisions by the Missouri State legislature, the Missouri Department of Transportation has cut River Runner service in half. The Kansas City - St. Louis train will now run one...

In a week when CSX and Norfolk Southern won a small procedural victory in the Surface Transportation Board to protect their submitted evidence as trade secrets, the U.S. Dept. of Transportation...

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CAHSRA) approved the Final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) for a14-mile track segment between Burbank and Los Angeles --...

(UPDATED 1.24.22)The meeting is ON, from Sunday, March 27 to Wednesday, March 30. But please, be prepared to be flexible. That’s the short answer. The dates won’t change, but the details might...

Sigh.As we slouch toward beginning a third year under the shadow of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, it looks as if Amtrak had to cave in on service cuts to cope with fewer staff in just about...

For Immediate Release (22-01)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgRAIL PASSENGERS CONGRATULATES FRA ADMINISTRATOR AMIT BOSEWashington, D.C. – Rail Passengers' CEO Jim...

A second significant agreement between Amtrak and a Class I railroad has been announced in as many weeks. In a Jan. 12th filing to the Surface Transportation Board (STB), CSX Transportation announced...

Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) and Amtrak announced an agreement today, with the passenger railroad supporting the proposed combination of CP and Kansas City Southern (KCS) railways in exchange for...

For Immediate Release (21-25)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgAmerica’s Rail Passengers Recognize Frontline Amtrak Employees for Extraordinary Service During...

For Immediate Release (21-24)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgRail Passengers Association Statement on Retirement of Amtrak CEO Flynn, Appointment of Gardner as...

For Immediate Release (21-23)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgAmtrak Announces COVID Testing Alternative to Vaccine Mandate for Employees, Avoiding Cuts to...

I really didn’t want to be right. Honest.I had hoped that Amtrak operating employees crucial to keeping our daily services running every day would step up and help us all avoid losing services, even...

[Updated with comments from Ranking Member Graves.]At a hearing held today by the House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, rail...

[PDF copy of this document]Rail Passengers Association would like to open by thanking Chairman Payne, Ranking Member Crawford, and Members of this subcommittee for convening this important hearing...

For Immediate Release (21-22)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgWashington, D.C.—Statement from Rail Passengers Association President & CEO on today’s announcement...

The Surface Transportation Board today ordered CSX to let Amtrak survey its Choctaw Yard in Mobile, so that Amtrak can determine whether it makes sense to rebuild the West Stub Track it previously...

[You can download a copy of the letter here]Dear Mr. President,I’m writing to convey the immense gratitude of the Rail Passengers Association and the millions of America’s passengers on the passage...

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376), an infrastructure bill containing $10 billion in funding for high-speed rail and $10 billion for a transit program...

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced awards for nearly $1 billion in discretionary infrastructure grants this week through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with...

I hope everyone hoisted their celebratory beverage-of-choice in the wee hours of Saturday morning as, just after midnight, the House finally passed the Senate version of the surface-transportation...

Rail Passengers Association applauds the work Congress put into the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which marks a new era for America’s passenger rail network. This funding will modernize vast...

For Immediate Release (21-21)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgRail Passengers Association Statement on Congress Passing Historic Rail Infrastructure BillWashington, D.C...

Today is a red-letter day for America’s passengers.The trajectory of the U.S. passenger rail network has been fundamentally changed with the passage of the Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs Act...

For Immediate Release (21-20)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgRail Passengers Statement on CSX & NS Claims That Gulf Coast Passenger Train Would ‘Devastate’ Freight...

Don’t look now, but the “Great Resignation” is coming for our trains.You may have never heard this term, but it’s what labor economists have been calling the phenomenon that has been gripping the U.S...

After months of prolonged negotiation, House Democrats have finally released the draft text language of their budget reconciliation proposal. Despite massively scaled back ambitions—the topline...

The Senate Committee on Appropriations released proposed transportation funding levels for Fiscal Year 2022 this week, outlining a $700 million increase for Amtrak over FY2021 enacted numbers (not...

Last year, and especially last summer, your Association professional staff was working the Zoom hallways on Capitol Hill to get Congress to order Amtrak to restore daily service it had cut because of...

Tussling over Amtrak’s plans to restore long-delayed Gulf Coast passenger service, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Amtrak will submit evidence and rebuttals between November 3rd and Christmas Eve under a...

For Immediate Release (21-19)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgRestoring Amtrak Service to Southern Tier Would Add $271 Million to Economies Along RouteWashington, D.C...

For Immediate Release (21-19)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgNew Regional Plan Charts Future of Midwestern Passenger Rail NetworkChicago, Illinois — Rail Passengers...

The U.S. Senate passed a bill last night to raise the debt ceiling through December, buying another few months to come up with a longer-term solution. In similar fashion, Congress also passed an...

It’s the end of September, and that means we once again find our government facing down a series of potentially catastrophic and largely self-imposed deadlines.As sure as you’ll find passengers...

For Immediate Release (21-17)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgRail Passengers Association Statement on Amtrak Empire Builder Derailment Near Joplin, MTRail Passengers...

For Immediate Release (21-16)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgRail Passengers Urge Confirmation of Bose to Head Up Rail AgencyWashington, D.C. -- The Rail Passengers...

For Immediate Release (21-15)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgSenior Amtrak Executives Preview Railroad’s Plans for Infrastructure Bill FundsWashington, D.C.—Senior...

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee marked-up a $57 billion transportation title that includes dedicated funding for high-speed rail and transit, part of a sweeping budget...

With a series of critical deadlines facing Congress this month, the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure took the lead with the transportation section of the Democrat’s budget...

The entire U.S. surface transportation system is once again facing the sobering possibility of ridership shocks as the Covid pandemic returns to levels of infection and death we saw last year before...

Amtrak police in Chicago yesterday shot and killed a California man getting off the California Zephyr who had several open warrants – including one accusing him of murder – after he opened fire on...

Democratic leaders in Congress are signaling that they will try to use budget reconciliation as a vehicle to add dedicated funding for high-speed rail projects, which were largely ignored in the...

In a Surface Transportation Board filing on Wednesday night Amtrak posed some tough and long-awaited questions to CSX and Norfolk Southern about those railroads’ objections to re-starting Gulf Coast...

Today we confirmed what most folks knew yesterday – the Federal government is extending its transportation mask mandate until at least January 18, 2022.We also learned that CDC is working to amend...

To paraphrase a well-known former politician, “Here we go again.” The worrying surge in coronavirus infections and deaths, coupled with the effects of the Centers for Disease Control’s July 29th...

For Immediate Release (21-14)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgBIPARTISAN BILL, WHILE WELCOME, FALLS SHORTWashington, D.C. -- Rail Passengers Statement on the U.S...

I’ve spent a lot of time this week ruminating over the idea of “good faith” – what it means, how it plays out in the real world, and the degree to which a chronic shortage of it seems to underpin...

In a significant procedural victory for Amtrak, the Surface Transportation Board this morning issued a decision denying CSX’s motion to dismiss Amtrak’s action aimed at CSX and Norfolk Southern and...

The Senate has combined the two investment bills to create a truly ambitious investment program in passenger rail in the U.S. Combining both the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework and the Surface...

Rail Passengers reported yesterday that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF) was “a welcome first step,” but well below what was outlined in President Biden’s ambitious plan to transform...

Last December we publicly expressed our strong support for the incoming Biden team’s intention to nominate former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor and presidential candidate “Mayor Pete” Buttigieg as...

[Having had an opportunity to review the draft bill text integrating the BIF and the Senate’s Surface Transportation Investment Act (STIA) of 2021, Rail Passengers has provided an updated analysis of...

For Immediate Release (21-13)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgBipartisan Bill, While Welcome, Falls ShortWashington, D.C. -- By a vote of 67-32, the U.S. Senate voted...

The good news: Amtrak ridership is way up from where it was a year ago, nearly double. The bad news: the odds are that, depending on the route, half or more of those new and returning passengers have...

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (T-HUD) passed a Fiscal Year 2022 bill this afternoon that provides $4.1 billion for passenger rail, Amtrak and...

For Immediate Release (21-12)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgWashington, D.C. -- Rail Passengers Association President Jim Mathews issued the following statement on...

I had hoped this post would be different.Back in mid-June, after getting a tour of some newly-refreshed Superliner cars in Chicago, I decided to take the train back to Boston. The most direct route...

In April I warned all of you that a well-funded and organized attack on passenger rail was taking shape in Washington, DC. This week we saw another salvo fired in this onslaught: the prominent...

Made you look!For most of you, this kind of picture and headline is the equivalent of puppies, kittens and babies on Facebook and Twitter. Our data show that you look at our rolling stock and...

For Immediate Release (21-11)Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail (202) 320-2723; sjeansgail@narprail.orgPassengers Applaud House Passage of Visionary INVEST in America ActWashington, D.C. -- The U.S House has...

A bipartisan group of senators joined President Joe Biden to announce a breakthrough in infrastructure negotiations today, revealing an eight year, $579 billion framework focused on core...

Within just a few days, Amtrak’s long-distance Coach passengers will begin to see real, meaningful upgrades to their experience – daily service is restored nationwide to trains that lost it during...

Today the Senate Committee on Commerce passed the Surface Transportation Investment Act of 2021 (STIA) by a bipartisan vote of 25 to 3.STIA includes many of the policy goals Rail Passengers has been...

A letter written by Rail Passengers' President Jim Mathews to the Senate Commerce Committee asking for increased passenger rail funding in the rail title. June 15, 2021 The Honorable Maria...

The INVEST in America Act (HR 3684) passed out of the House Transportation Committee early this morning by a 38-26 vote. The five-year, $547 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill...

Yes, it’s true. Amtrak is doing more than just restoring what was previously a kind of “meh” traditional dining on the Western trains beginning June 23rd. They’re offering a much better menu with...

I forgot how rude my alarm sounds at 4:45 am but I didn’t mind it Tuesday morning. I got out of bed and started my old morning routine. Boy did that feel good, a return to the old normal for the...