Getting restarted

After some delays, I'm ready to resume action (however slow that may be at this point).

Mostly I'm inspired by the following item from this weekend's NARP Hotline:

An upbeat, well-attended public forum was held in Rockford, IL on Monday regarding passenger rail expansion in Northwest Illinois. Buoyed by increased state funding for downstate passenger rail service, residents of the northwest corner of the state are clamoring for a reinstatement of Amtrak’s Black Hawk, which last ran in 1982. Amtrak Vice President of Government Affairs Joe McHugh told the attendees, “If you guys want the service, it’s not, ‘Should we do it?’ It is, ‘What are the next steps we need to do to get it done?’” There are several proposals for rail service, including an extension of existing Metra service and resurrection of the Black Hawk all the way to Dubuque, IA.

If Rockford can get this kind of response, why not Corvallis or Roseburg? I think we should see if we can drum something up over the next few months.

Do keep in mind that I still believe that there are other priorities for Oregon's Amtrak service that should come ahead of the Siskiyou Breeze: increased routes for the Cascades, getting the northbound Coast Starlight to run on time, and reinstating the Pioneer. But that doesn't mean we should neglect this project; on the contrary, by increasing attention to the idea now we can be ready to show Congress, Amtrak, the Oregon Legislature, and anyone else who can make a difference that there is enough interest in the route to make it worthwhile.