‘Amtrak Joe’ Marks Amtrak’s 50th Written by David Peter Alan, Contributing Editor
April 30, 2021 was a cool, sunny and windy day in Philadelphia, as President Joe Biden joined Amtrak officials and selected guests to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the day “America’s Railroad” began operations.
It was a day that many rail passengers at the time never thought would come. Amtrak was founded to relieve the private-sector freight railroads of their obligation to run passenger trains, and most of the trains that left their points of origin on April 30, 1971 did not run the following day. At the time, few expected Amtrak to last very long, except, perhaps only on the Northeast Corridor (NEC). But Americans still wanted the few trains that were left and kept using them, so Amtrak is still with us.
Amtrak 2035 Map: Hopes and Challenges
Amtrak 2035 Map: Hopes and Challenges Written by David Peter Alan, Contributing Editor
As Amtrak marks its 50th anniversary, many are reflecting on the railroad’s past half-century and wondering how it will do in the next.
“America’s Railroad” recently released a map showing the services it would like to offer by 2035; 14 years from now. As planning frontiers go, that is not a very long time. For us seniors, who remember the entire Amtrak era, it feels like an eternity; far beyond our lifetimes.
Amtrak system in 2021.
Everybody seems to be talking about the plan. One advocate called it “propaganda.” while
Yvonne Brathwaite-Burke: A Legacy of First in LA Politics
By Cora Jackson-Fossett, Staff Writer
Published February 25, 2021
Yvonne Brathwaite Burke (Courtesy Photo)
1st Black Woman Elected To The CA Assembly…. 1st Black Woman Elected To Congress…. 1st Black & Woman Elected Supervisor !!!
Yvonne Brathwaite Burke is well acquainted with being the “first.” Throughout her extensive public service career, she garnered multiple “firsts” as she spearheaded initiatives for the betterment of minorities, women and all people.
African Americans in greater Los Angeles and hundreds of thousands across the U.S. benefitted from Burke’s actions in her positions as the “first.” They include her being one of the first Black women admitted to the University of California School of Law in the mid-1950s, her election as California’s first African American assemblywoman in 1966, becoming the state’s first Black female Congresswoman in 1973, and elected i
Amtrak’s Flynn to Congress: Here’s What We Need Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
In a Jan. 22 letter, Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn outlined five top priorities for the new Congress to address in 2021.
Amtrak CEO William J. Flynn has provided the 117th Congress with the railroad’s five top priorities to ensure its recovery from the pandemic and expand service this year. In a Jan. 22 letter (download below), Flynn asked legislators to address:
1. Sufficient funding: “Amtrak requires additional COVID relief funding to sustain and restore operations and recall employees through the remainder of FY21 and into FY22 and beyond,” Flynn wrote. (Amtrak is slated to receive $1 billion under the $2.3 trillion Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, which was signed into law last month.) “In the coming weeks, we are requesting $1.541 billion in FY21 and will outline our FY22 needs in our annual Legislative and Grant Request.