Talking Transportation 2024
DreamStar Lines train

Livin’ It Up in the DreamStar California? ‘Luxury’ Overnight Sleeping Car Trains Expected in Months

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When it comes to trains, everything old is new again: the latest trend for rail travel is night trains. A private California company, DreamStar Lines, is planning an overnight train between LA and San Francisco offering “luxurious accommodations” in modern sleeping cars designed by BMW. Service could begin as early as next summer. The sleeping cars will range from a bedroom for two (with a shower and toilet) all the way up to a family/group room that sleeps up to six (four adults + two kids). There will also be a lounge car available to all guests, which will serve light food and a full bar featuring breweries, wineries, and distilleries from across California.

Talking Transportation 2024

Maybe by 2026, Amtrak Riders Will Be Getting a Whiff of That New Train Car Smell

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Don’t you just love that “new car smell”? Well, that’s coming — slowly — to Amtrak, as the nation’s passenger railroad replaces its old fleet of cars. Goodbye, Amfleet
Amtrak’s remaining fleet of almost 600 Amfleet cars date back to the 1970s and was modeled after the Budd Company’s successful Metroliner cars, which ran from 1969 to 2006. Some of those Amtfleet cars have traveled over four million miles by now so, despite maintenance and the $17 million “refresh” of their interiors in 2017, they are ripe for replacement. The round-sided stainless steel cars, mimicking an airplane, have smaller windows than what’s planned to replace them.

Talking Transportation 2024
Darien School Bus

Solution to the ‘SUV Parade’ to and from Schools: Two Feet and Sidewalks

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In our small town we call it “The SUV Parade”, the weekday ritual-like procession homing in on a handful of targets, carrying that most precious of cargos — our kids — heading to school. But why the private car parade when the town already spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on school buses? Why aren’t the kids on the yellow buses? Sure, sometimes they have early activities or don’t want to shlep their tuba on the bus. But often its because the kids don’t think its cool to “bus” when mom (or increasingly, work-from-home dads) can drive them?

Cameron on Transportation
Stamford Train Station aspirational image

Lots of Smiling for the Public, But Not Enough Improvements on Metro-North

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It was billed as a “Transportation Summit.”

But the gathering last week in Stamford was more of a PR event than anything else, as Gov. Ned Lamont, the leaders of the state Department of Transportation, the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration, Amtrak, Metro-North and the ever-smiling Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons sounded mostly like cheerleaders for the multi-billion dollar spending to come for our rail system. Sponsored by the Northeast Corridor Commission, the invitation-only confab attracted about 60 people, most from the business community. Noticeably absent: anyone representing commuters. Needless to say, I was not invited, but neither was the Commuter Council. Fortunately, you can watch the entire hour-long event thanks to Connecticut Network television.