Category Archives: Trails to Rails

If it has metal wheels, it qualifies

Amtrak’s woes

Posted on June 22, 2014 by Fred Stiening

The Amtrak train from Chicago to Seattle has been averaging 3-5 hours late recently, in no small part due to Warren Buffet’s influence at stopping the building of the Keystone XL pipeline. He controls the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) … Continue reading →

Posted in American Politics, Trails to Rails | 4 Comments

Trails to Rails

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Fred Stiening

You may have noticed there is a blog category of “Trails to Rails”. It wouldn’t be shocking if you thought that was a typo. 😉 As the United States has deliberately been weakened by deindustrialization, one marker of “Progress” by … Continue reading →

Posted in American Politics, Energy Supply, Trails to Rails, US Economic Recovery | 26 Comments

Find the Motive

Posted on June 1, 2013 by Fred Stiening

I stumbled on this video due to my history of looking at railroad videos. This was a bankrupt short line railroad with 62 miles of track that was carrying a few cars a week between Lometa Texas where it connects … Continue reading →

Posted in Collapse of America, Trails to Rails | 10 Comments

Xinhau gets it right

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Fred Stiening

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-05/29/c_132415083.htm Or at least they didn’t get it wrong. Every major news service has the main fact of the train derailment near Baltimore wrong. The train did not hit the truck – the truck drove into the side of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Trails to Rails | 2 Comments

Getting Our Fair Share

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Fred Stiening

The LIRR is spending $40 million to upgrade one station that carries 6,000 passengers a day on 59 trains, which means a capital expenditure of $6,666 per rider (assuming it comes in on budget) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnUW3Jc7z0I The monthly fare is $276 … Continue reading →

Posted in Trails to Rails | 6 Comments