Uncle Sam, for the first time, is investing billions in passenger rail. In a few years, Pittsburghers will be turning to trains for the same reason Norfolk Southern's business is booming, and the same reason 1.2 million passengers ride between Harrisburg and Philadelphia each year: the price of gasoline makes a train the smarter way to go... [Read More]
Steve Kraske of the Kansas City Star talks with James McCommons about his book and introduces us to the historians, railroad executives, transportation officials, politicians, government regulators, railroad lobbyists, and passenger-rail advocates who are rallying around a simple question: Why has the greatest railroad nation in the world turned its back on the very form of transportation that made modern life and mobility possible?
In his book, "Waiting on a Train," James McCommons uses the term foamer to describe the hard-core railroad buffs who get together at conventions and swap photos and trivia about railroading. Now there is a growing number of nonfoamers becoming interested in passenger rail service as serious, practical transportation.
The book is full of hopeful signs that the public is clamoring for passenger train service, even though some politicians haven't caught on yet. But the book also is full of the frustrations caused by the federal government's miserliness in providing adequate funding for Amtrak and for a number of state-supported trains around the country. [Read More]
When James McCommons talks about passenger trains tonight at Gannon University, he should have some fresh observations. More U.S. citizens are experiencing the ups and downs of train travel. The Associated Press reported that Amtrak ridership is up 4.3 percent for the first half of fiscal year 2010, thanks to the economy and fuel prices. If the trend continues, Amtrak will top its best-ever ridership count of 28.7 million passengers for the year... [Read More]
McCommons spent a year riding virtually every one of Amtrak's routes, from the glorious and customer-friendly to dismal operations routinely hours behind schedule. He reports not only on the variety of people he met on board and the landscapes through which he traveled, but also on the transportation officials and railroad executives he methodically interviewed as he crisscrossed the country. ... [Read More]
Two train systems meant to usher in a new era of transportation in Metro Orlando are slated to run along separate tracks that will intersect west of Orlando International Airport.
But, as it stands, there is no planned connection where passengers from the $1.2 billion SunRail commuter train could transfer to the $2.6 billion high-speed train or vice versa. How is that possible? ... [Read More]
It's no surprise that only a handful of states were awarded the $8 billion in stimulus rail grants awarded last week by the U.S. Department of Transportation rail. Thirty-two states applied with requests totaling $50 billion, but the truth is few states are ready for rail money. Until recently, rail didn't leverage federal dollars. If a state wanted to add a lane to a freeway ... [Read More]
Holiday travelers stuck in crowded airport terminals or driving on packed freeways often are wishing for a better way. Those who are tired of planes and automobiles may want to pick up former Pontiac resident James McCommons’ newly released book ... [Read More]
