Contact

Here is another political action alert for all ORBTS members. There is a special election on February 8, 2022. It is right around the corner. The two offices that are up are Fayetteville City Council Ward 2, where I live. And Arkansas State Senate District 7, right next door. AR SSD 7 will change to … Continue reading State Senate District 7 Candidates Answer Our Questions

I had a long discussion with Stanley Forczek, a retired executive with Amtrak on Monday January, 10th. What I learned was hair raising and enlightening. High Speed Rail in Arkansas may be more possible, and more desirable, after all. I had kind of given up hope. What I gained from our discussion was a new … Continue reading NWA to LR the HSR Way!

I realize some of what I and others post here may sound contradictory to some of our readers. We write about buses, then trains, then this, then that. So some explanations are in order. We as a group have several goals we are working to achieve. As in any other group we have some short … Continue reading Goals For the New Year and Beyond

We can look forward to a #Better22. We have a couple of missions to undertake that will help defined us. We will start meeting in public, maybe once a quarter or once a month - COVID willing. Seriously the latest outbreak may be the last. I know famous last words. We will look at asking … Continue reading What’s New in ’22?

We have discussed using shared freight lines to build out passenger rail here in Arkansas. There are some benefits. We don't have to build entirely new railroad tracks. Though we will want to improve and build up what we have. This will save time, we can possibly start passenger service within 3 to 5 years. … Continue reading Shared Tracks

This is the season of giving and right now I am asking for a small amount of time. The Build Back Better bill is in the US Senate. It looks like tough going for BBB. Here's what we can do; we can write and call. I am posting the contact info for Tom Cotton and … Continue reading Three At Once, Can We Do It?

The Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs Act (the Infrastructure Bill or IIJA) passed and we are very excited. But this isn’t all. In fact our work is just beginning.  So what just happened? Where are we now? What do we do to capitalize on the IIJA? As usual Rick Harnish of High Speed Rail Alliance … Continue reading IIJA Passed Now the Clock is Ticking

The latest National Infrastructure Bank Zoom Meeting, of October 14th, was on fire. There was so much good information on, and a deeper dive into, both the Climate Change Crisis, and the shortages in the supply chain. There are developments in shipping that have as much impact on supply chain as sending US manufacturing overseas. … Continue reading A New Perspective On HSR

There is a new map for the regional higher speed passenger rail in the Midwest. It gives us two things. A glimpse of what our regional higher speed passenger rail, Travel Rail, can look like. And hope from knowing that other parts of the nation are discussing making this happen. If they can do it … Continue reading More on Arkansas Regional Rail

I'm keeping this article here for future reference. Grants and loans to buy up old railroads? Interesting. https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2021/jun/27/railroad-line-could-become-relevant-again-a/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NWADG%20Morning%20Newsletter%2062721&utm_content=NWADG%20Morning%20Newsletter%2062721%20CID_7f869e4c9b037db8930ab376cd6f11b0&utm_source=Email%20Marketing%20Platform&utm_term=READ%20MORE&fbclid=IwAR3MN-GQ7NewYEQnn2fWJvWN49d0mt3nWbknzoBBB0kqHlaXCOsrI1CVvcw#.YNnHK2BtY4Y.facebook