LOS-SAN Corridor TAC Meeting

Report and Commentary

Tuesday 19 April, 2005

By Paul Dyson, RailPAC director

Most of the meeting was taken up with the political situation regarding TEA 21 renewal and Amtrak funding.

TEA 21: Not going to be renewed this session, bogged down in the Senate. Funny, I I thought, with a Republican President, Senate and House that things would happen for good or ill, but it seems the Democrats are very good at keeping the brakes on.

Amtrak: Assembly Joint Resolution 18 is in the House and on the docket for Monday 25th. This is a general resolution putting the state on record as asking for Amtrak funding. A joint letter was sent by LOSSAN, Capitol and SJVRC Boards, which apparently was the first time these organizations had gotten together to take action. Regardless of the outcome of the Amtrak situation I think this is an excellent turn of events. The AJR has been supported by the Cities of San Jose, Emeryville, Sacramento and Placerville, also the County of Sacramento, among others.

The same evening I went to the regular meeting of the Burbank City Council and asked for this to be put on the agenda for the city to support AJR 18. It will be on the agenda early in May, and I'm sure the city will support it.

Other items:

Amtrak and LOSSAN will celebrate 5 years of the Surfliner brand June 1st at Anaheim. Details to follow. I hope to be there.
SCAG came and presented the preliminary regional goods movement strategy document. They seem to be taking into account the needs of passenger rail when talking route capacity. We'll keep an eye on this.
Surfliner report: Needless to say punctuality and ridership went to hell with the winter weather. We have to continue our efforts to highlight the lack of substitute buses during these incidents, and the lack of overall bus/rail co-ordination in the state, other than the Amtrak feeders.
Greyhound: There is a very limited legislative effort in the assembly AB765 to promote more Rail Feeder Buses. But it does not provide for wider use of feeder buses for non-rail journeys where Greyhound and others have left the market. We need help to get this into this bill.
Coast Starlight: I'd missed the fact that the Starlight will no longer stop at Glendale, but will call at Van Nuys with the new timetable. It's probably a good idea but I doubt if Glendale is happy. I'm going top try and get a joint meeting with the Glendale Transportation Commission now that I'm appointed to The TC at Burbank.


RailPAC Contacts Publications Issues Meeting Reports 2005 Reports 2005-11-16 Capitol 2005-11-10 San Joaquin 2005-11 Announcement 2005-10-24 Bay Area 2005-09-21 Capitol 2005-09-14 LOSSAN 2005-09 Coast and TAMC 2005-09-08 San Joaquin 2005-07-14 San Joaquin 2005-07-11 TAMC 2005-06-25 CASHRA 2005-06-16 LOSSAN 2005-06-15 Capitol 2005-05-30 TAMC 2005-05-12 San Joaquin 2005-04-27 Coast Rail 2005-04-19 LOS-SAN 2005-03-11 San Joaquin 2005-02-16 Capitol 2005 Annual 2005-01 San Joaquin 2005-01 Monterey Membership Links	LOS-SAN Corridor TAC Meeting Report and Commentary Tuesday 19 April, 2005 By Paul Dyson, RailPAC director Most of the meeting was taken up with the political situation regarding TEA 21 renewal and Amtrak funding. TEA 21: Not going to be renewed this session, bogged down in the Senate. Funny, I I thought, with a Republican President, Senate and House that things would happen for good or ill, but it seems the Democrats are very good at keeping the brakes on. Amtrak: Assembly Joint Resolution 18 is in the House and on the docket for Monday 25th. This is a general resolution putting the state on record as asking for Amtrak funding. A joint letter was sent by LOSSAN, Capitol and SJVRC Boards, which apparently was the first time these organizations had gotten together to take action. Regardless of the outcome of the Amtrak situation I think this is an excellent turn of events. The AJR has been supported by the Cities of San Jose, Emeryville, Sacramento and Placerville, also the County of Sacramento, among others. The same evening I went to the regular meeting of the Burbank City Council and asked for this to be put on the agenda for the city to support AJR 18. It will be on the agenda early in May, and I'm sure the city will support it. Other items: Amtrak and LOSSAN will celebrate 5 years of the Surfliner brand June 1st at Anaheim. Details to follow. I hope to be there. SCAG came and presented the preliminary regional goods movement strategy document. They seem to be taking into account the needs of passenger rail when talking route capacity. We'll keep an eye on this. Surfliner report: Needless to say punctuality and ridership went to hell with the winter weather. We have to continue our efforts to highlight the lack of substitute buses during these incidents, and the lack of overall bus/rail co-ordination in the state, other than the Amtrak feeders. Greyhound: There is a very limited legislative effort in the assembly AB765 to promote more Rail Feeder Buses. But it does not provide for wider use of feeder buses for non-rail journeys where Greyhound and others have left the market. We need help to get this into this bill. Coast Starlight: I'd missed the fact that the Starlight will no longer stop at Glendale, but will call at Van Nuys with the new timetable. It's probably a good idea but I doubt if Glendale is happy. I'm going top try and get a joint meeting with the Glendale Transportation Commission now that I'm appointed to The TC at Burbank.
	Photos and copy on this site are the property of RailPAC. Reproduction of anything on this site requires the permission of RailPAC. Copyright © 2007, Citizens For Rail California, Inc.