Amtrak

Melding Rich History, Promising Future

When state Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen cuts the ribbon to open the new Stanwood train station today, it will be back to the future for the Stanwood-Camano Island area. For an area rich in history of lumber mills, fish canneries, steamboats and trains, the new station represents a remarkable new opportunity to expand travel options for commuting, attending major events Read More ›

Crapo On Amtrak Numbers

CRAPO QUESTIONS AMTRAK’S NUMBERS Will also forward comments from Idahoans in response to Pioneer Route study Washington, DC – Idaho Senator Mike Crapo is questioning the cost figures cited in a preliminary report Amtrak commissioned on the feasibility of restoring passenger rail service to Idaho along the former Pioneer Route. Tomorrow is the deadline for interested parties to comment on Read More ›

Amtrak Rails May Ring In Trains’ Return

This article, published by the Idaho Business Review, quotes Discovery Institute Fellow Bruce Agnew: “We have to come to this with some imagination,” Cascadia Center Policy Director Bruce Agnew said at the PNWER conference. He suggested partnerships could be forged with groups like Tourism Idaho and commuter rail systems along the line in Denver and Seattle. The rest of the Read More ›

Amtrak Cleared for 2nd Daily Train To Vancouver, B.C.

This article, published by The Seattle Times, mentions Discovery Institute Fellow Bruce Agnew: Bruce Agnew, policy director at the Discovery Institute’s Cascadia Center, a think tank that studies transportation issues, said the fee has been waived by the Canadian government. He said that Canadian officials are viewing the second daily route as a pilot project that Public Safety Canada will Read More ›

Toot, Toot, The Region Goes To B.C., Too

This article, published by The Seattle Times, quotes Discovery Institute Fellow Bruce Agnew: “Look ahead, and maybe we will see the opportunity for Canadian trains to come to Seattle,” Agnew said, “like the Whistler Mountaineer or the Canadian Rocky Mountain passenger train.” The rest of the article can be found here.

Amtrak to Spin Off Corridor

This article, published by The Washington Post, quotes Tom Till of Discovery Institute: “This is exactly the right move to make,” said Tom Till, a senior fellow at Discovery Institute in Seattle who in 1999 led the Amtrak Reform Council, a group created by Congress to study the railroad’s problems. “The kind of funding needed to make the corridor work Read More ›

Group Wants Amtrak Recommendations Back on Track

The Amtrak Reform Council today urged Congress and the Bush administration to adopt a series of proposals it first made three years ago to try to stabilize the cash-strapped passenger rail service. The group of a dozen transportation, labor and finance experts from both the government and the private sectorsuggested making Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor — the system’s largest and most Read More ›

How Many Phone Services Needed?

If WorldCom goes bankrupt, will we have enough telephone companies? Do we have the right number of supermarkets, fast food restaurants and hotels? Neither you, nor I, nor anyone else knows, but the private enterprise market system sorts it out and gives us approximately what we need, where we need it. For each type of business, there is an optimum Read More ›

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speeding train
Licensed from Adobe Stock

Officials Closing in on Deal to Save Amtrak

The quick, pragmatic answer is the national passenger snail service known as Amtrak cannot be allowed to collapse. That means the railway should receive the short-term financing needed to keep it alive through October and into next year.Clearly, however, the three-decades-old Amtrak is a failure as it is now configured. Last week, the Bush administration proposed shifting more of the Read More ›