Nobody would blame you for having nodded off during the prolonged planning for Oregon Passenger Rail. Time to wake up, though, for now there are some startling figures at hand regarding the costs.
Three things I noticed when I stopped by Albany Station on a bike ride this week, and one of them seems slightly odd for a train depot and transit center: You have to ask an Amtrak agent if you want to use the restroom.
As I was passing Albany Station on my bike Thursday, the sight of two rail cars with a red and white paint scheme drew my attention. The cars were attached to the tail end of Amtrak’s Train 14, the northbound Coast Starlight. Later, I looked them up online and learned they represent pretty much the height of luxury in rail travel in […]
The case of the roof sign missing from Albany Station was not a great mystery but, alas, a case of incomplete reporting.
With one exception caused by a thief in California, Amtrak trains have been arriving in Albany more or less on time this week. But the mayor is worried that a proposed change in federal regulation would weaken the law that says railroads must give passenger trains preference on their tracks.
Saturday was Amtrak Railroad Day in Albany, as the video shows, and at Albany Station people could look at a few displays and pick up some swag. But the future of expanded passenger rail in the Willamette Valley is anything but a sure thing.
Amtrak may not make sense in dollars and cents, but I’d hate to see Albany and much of the country lose passenger train service. So I’m glad the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed HR 749, the Amtrak funding bill. As Oregon’s Congressman Peter DeFazio said on the floor of the House, without passenger trains we’d […]
Things are happening on the passenger rail front in the Willamette Valley, one right away and the other in the indefinite future. Oregon’s two new Talgo train sets start revenue service on Monday (Jan. 6), when the number of southbound trains stopping in Albany on weekdays increases from three a day to four.
At Albany Station, waiting for a train…
[youtube video=”TPO7ZjJc6is”] Albany once was served by 50 passenger trains a day. Now there are six. But that’s still better than nothing, I’m thinking as I’m waiting for Cascades Train 507 to arrive from Portland Tuesday night.
Tags: Albany Station, Amtrak, Coast Starlight, Oregon Cascades