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lakeshorerail.bsky.social
Promoting workforce mobility, economic development, quality of life for the Great Lakes and Northeast Megaregions through fast, frequent passenger rail service.
130 posts 77 followers 40 following
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Posts 42 Comments 8

We want Brightline to succeed, but if we want profitable passenger trains we must treat them like highways & aviation with public ownership of infrastructure. Airlines don't build airports, bus companies build hwys. Stop expecting passenger rail to do what we don't expect of their competition.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

I have to drive three hours to Buffalo tomorrow. It sure would be nice to take a train rather than drive. Cars: The most inefficient way to move people, and the most stressful way to travel. (Photo by Ben Schumin).

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Our Co-Chair Ed D'Amato had this Op-Ed published today. Without an overhaul of federal passenger rail policy, privatization of Amtrak won't bring the country the modern, robust passenger rail network it needs: usa.streetsblog.org/2025/04/29/o...

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

Who has more transportation freedom?

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

We prefer to say "for more transportation freedom". The personal freedom to decide whether you want to reach for the car keys all the time. The personal freedom to decide whether you even want to take on the immense financial burden of car ownership. 1/2

submitted 18 days ago • 1 comment

Trains grow downtowns where financial payback for cities is greatest. Big box retail on the urban fringe drains local gov't finances. Read Stacy Mitchell's book #thebigboxswindle or for a good overview, watch this excellent Not Just Bikes video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7-e...

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

Empty storefronts on E. 9th, Cleveland. Why? Because E.9th has a lot of traffic, so no one wants to linger here. Contrast that with E. 4th, which is closed to traffic (except deliveries). No empty store fronts. Less car traffic=more vibrant cities. Cleveland must do better.

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

Trains drive economic development in downtowns where the financial payback for municipalities is greatest. Highways encourage big box retail which suck financial health out of municipalities. Read the #bigboxswindle by StacyMitchell: stacymitchell.com/front-page/

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

ATTENTION: Amtrak privatization advocates don't grasp that without publicly-owned infrastructure (like highways and aviation enjoy) with open access to competition via franchising and bidding, privatization is doomed to fail.

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

Super important! Call your legislators columbusunderground.com/passenger-ra...

submitted 38 days ago • 0 comments

Excellent read by @strongtowns.org. Virtually every American city large and small is facing insolvency because of post-WWII development patterns. While not mentioned in the article, transportation policy is definitely part of the issue: www.strongtowns.org/journal/2025...

submitted 40 days ago • 0 comments

We've posted our white paper with ideas about how to create a robust national passenger rail system on LinkedIn. It's intended to be a place to begin a national conversation. Check it out here: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

'The crucial number for heart health is 53 dB, she tells me, & higher you go greater the health risks. "This 53 means that we need to be in a rather quiet environment." And that's just in daytime, we need even lower levels for sleep. "At night we need quietness"' www.bbc.com/news/article...

submitted 49 days ago • 6 comments

And let's not forget that car-centric development destroys the financial productivity and security of local governments.

submitted 47 days ago • 0 comments

People want more trains.

submitted 47 days ago • 0 comments

Erie, Pennsylvania explains why more passenger trains are needed in this excellent video. Special thanks to Gibbons Creative (Erie, PA) for making the video and Lou Baxter (former news director at WJET-WFXP TV) for narrating it:

submitted 49 days ago • 1 comment

All Aboard Erie (our parent organization) released their promotional video yesterday at a public event in Erie, PA. AAE is calling for funding an economic impact analysis of what more train service would do for the Erie region's economy. We will post the promotional video over the weekend:

submitted 50 days ago • 0 comments

Today the co-founders of the Lakeshore Rail Alliance were interviewed for Solutionary Rail's (www.solutionaryrail.org) podcast series to discuss our white paper: "Creating a Robust American Passenger Rail System". Our remarks will be in various future podcasts. I'll post links here as they come up.

submitted 53 days ago • 0 comments

Failure to provide alternatives to the car keys immobilizes people and denies them freedom.

submitted 54 days ago • 0 comments

Late-70s airline deregulation led the industry to embrace #enshittification decades before the term existed. @southwestairlines.bsky.social just announced they will start charging for checked bags. We need high-quality passenger rail options so we can choose to avoid increasingly lousy air service

submitted 56 days ago • 0 comments

An oil industry executive once said burning oil for energy is like burning Picassos for heat. The higher and better use for oil is petrochemicals. Let's save what remains of the Earth's oil for that.

submitted 68 days ago • 0 comments

We are no longer getting the economic payback from highway projects that we used to. Trains are the bigger driver of new economic activity: “The Brightline has been a game-changer for South Florida, creating seamless connectivity between key markets,” said Danielle Naftali

submitted 68 days ago • 0 comments

Today, our parent organization All Aboard Erie held a press conference in Erie, PA to announce their proposal for restructuring US passenger rail policy. Without a policy overhaul, we won't catch up with the rest of the world with passenger rail development. More about the proposal soon.

submitted 73 days ago • 0 comments

Just a reminder that CAHSR's costs are not out of line and 10 years of lawsuits didn't help:

submitted 75 days ago • 0 comments

London St Pancras Highspeed and Getlink team up to provide more competition and more than double passenger traffic through the Channel Tunnel. Publicly-Owned Tracks + Private Competition = More and Better Service. www.bbc.com/news/article...

submitted 75 days ago • 0 comments

China launches new trains aimed at the senior travel market: www.cnn.com/2025/02/12/t...

submitted 79 days ago • 0 comments

Dreamstar Lines hasn't launched their 1st train yet, and already they have competition: Lunatrain. These companies will pay higher track access charges than Amtrak. If they make a go of it, then there is definitely something wrong with @amtrak.com's route accounting and/or its cost structure:

submitted 79 days ago • 0 comments

@railpassengers.org Thanks for listing us!

submitted 81 days ago • 0 comments

Unfortunately, Amtrak (@amtrak.com) is at the center of this problem: www.rtands.com/uncategorize...

submitted 81 days ago • 0 comments

In addition to this, TrenItalia is expanding its services in France and acquiring equipment so it can operate in the Netherlands. This is amazing for a state-owned operator, and the reason it is possible: the EU's open access laws to promote railway competition:

submitted 83 days ago • 0 comments

This is huge, folks! The Ohio Chamber of Commerce has testified in favor of passenger rail development in Ohio. Ohio is almost certain to move forward on passenger rail now. Very important for the Lakeshore Corridor! (Threads link www.threads.net/@allaboardoh...)

submitted 85 days ago • 0 comments

Time for the 3C&D Amtrak route in Ohio. Thinking of a safe, comfortable, affordable, train ride to Dayton, Columbus, and Cleveland, from Cincinnati. Reducing VMT on I-71/I-75. @allaboardohio.org @amtrak.com

submitted 88 days ago • 0 comments

I wish we didn't have to post this stuff about Amtrak... sigh... (@amtrak.com)

submitted 87 days ago • 0 comments

California HSR, with far more land acquisition costs and more complex geography, is only running ~35% more/mile than Brightline West's SoCal-Vegas. Further, Brightline West will not be fully double-tracked while CaHSR will.

submitted 94 days ago • 0 comments

This is what publicly-owned passenger rail tracks with mandated open access gets you: competition and more service.

submitted 96 days ago • 0 comments

Action Alert from the Rail Passengers Assoc. @railpassengers.org Contact your reps and senators to protect funding in the Infrastructure and Jobs Act. A lot of passenger rail projects are affected by the administration's funding freeze: action.railpassengers.org/Default.aspx...

submitted 101 days ago • 0 comments

Photo of a many hours late westbound Floridian at Sandusky, OH yesterday (scheduled time: 4:02AM). This has become common. We have a lackluster passenger rail system because federal passenger rail policy is designed for the status quo, not modernization and growth.

submitted 102 days ago • 0 comments

Some nice-looking designs shaping up here. Looking forward to the launch of Dreamstar Lines in 2026.

submitted 105 days ago • 0 comments

Agree! but with caveats: 1. First improve the speed, reliability and frequency on the routes we already have. 2. Drastically shorten the FRA's implementation timetable. 3. Federal policy and funding reform. We must get past the status quo of how we do passenger rail in the US.

submitted 105 days ago • 0 comments

Shout out to the folks who crowd-sourced the platform access status of all of Amtrak's stations: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

submitted 105 days ago • 0 comments

Unfortunately, the article is behind a paywall, but Amtrak's reasoning is irrelevant. As a nation we need to start treating passenger rail as seriously as we do highways (funding included), or we'll continue to have a lackluster system that falls short of international standards.

submitted 108 days ago • 0 comments

1/3 of middle-aged Americans too. This is called a market shift. Government transportation policy needs to change to incorporate this reality into the country's transportation environment:

submitted 109 days ago • 0 comments