NARP 2004 Annual Meetings

Once again between February and April, NARP will be holding regional meetings around the United States. All news of these meetings will be posted here.

Save Saturday, March 27, 2004 for the National Association of Railroad Passengers Region IX Meeting sponsored by the Texas Association of Rail Passengers. The meeting will be in Fort Worth, Texas. Past Key Note Speakers: 2003: D.J. Mitchell, Vice President Passenger Operations, Burlington Northern Santa Fe 2002: James P. RePass, President & CEO, National Corridors Initiative 2000: The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison, U.S. Senator, Texas 2004:????? Check here for the details. As they become available, they will be posted here. Updated 01/08/03 Note: Ft. Worth is served by Amtrak's Texas Eagle and Heartland Flyer. Service is also provided by commuter rail from Dallas on the Trinity Rail Express. Hope to see everyone in Cowtown (Ft. Worth ) on March 27th. Hotel and registration will be out soon on this big event. ==

NARP Region 6 will hold its annual meeting in Lima, OH, hosted by Ohio ARP. The location will be at the Veterans' Memorial Civic & Convention Center - North Exhibit Hall, 7 Town Square, Lima, OH. It will be on Saturday, March 20, 2004 from 10 AM until 3 PM.

The meeting will include:
[*] 3-C (Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati) and CTC (Chicago-Toledo-Cleveland) Corridor update
[*] Long-term funding proposals
[*] Michigan high-speed program
[*] Midwest Regional Rail Initiative
[*] A tour of Lima's passenger train station, now under construction for use by the city

Registration fee is $25, covering continental breakfast, the membership meeting, and a buffet lunch.

For more information, contact Mark Carlson at mdcarlson@core.com.

NARP Region 3, which includes Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, will have its annual meeting on Saturday, March 6th in Camden, NJ. It will be co-hosted by NJARP and a sister organization based in that city across the river from Camden.

The site will be the Cooper Hospital, which is located along the River Line (which should have opened 3 weeks prior to the meeting). The meeting location will celebrate the existence of the River Line in South Jersey, and it will also include a tour of their yard and shops after the business meetings. The $15 per person cost does not include lunch, however food will be available for purchase at the hospital.

More information is here.

Meeting - Saturday March 20, 2004. Combining: MidWest High Speed Rail coalition. Illinois Association of Railroad Passengers. NARP Region 7 meeting. Location, West Loop area of Downtown Chicago. Midwest Spring Conference Combined meetings of the Midwest High Speed Rail Coalition, ILRail and Narp region 7. IBEW Union Hall 600 W. Washington Blvd. (3 blocks north and 1 block west of Union Station) Chicago, IL Please note, the Ohio Association of RR Passengers is having a combined meeting with NARP region 6 in Lima, OH on the same day.

March 13, 2004 -- NARP REGION 10 2004 Meeting Osceola, Iowa Hosted by Iowa Association of Rail Passengers More details to come

NARP Region 5 meeting will take place at the Hilton Hotel in Deerfield Beach, FL on March 13, 2004. This location is walking distance (roughly 1/2 mile) from the TriRail/AMTRAK station. Here is the intended schedule of events: To my fellow NARP directors, members, etc: Here is the schedule of events for our meeting. Registrations and hotel room sales are running slow. I know many will wait until the last minute but hotel rooms need to be booked by 2/11 (5 days from now) to get the special rate. Please encourage fellow NARP members to send in their registrations and hotel reservations. Thanks for your help. Bob Stewart NARP REGION FIVE MEETING 3/13/04 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: FRIDAY: 3:57 PM MEET #91 SILVER STAR AT STATION 5 PM HOSPITALITY SUITE -BOB STEWART'S ROOM 8:23 PM MEET #97 SILVER METEOR AT STATION SATURDAY BREAKFAST ON YOUR OWN 9 A.M. INTRODUCTION: BOB STEWART, NARP REGION FIVE DIRECTOR WAYNE MC DONALD-PRESIDENT, FL COALITON OF RR PASSENGERS 9:15 A.M. DEERFIELD MAYOR AL CAPELLINI 9:30 A.M. ALAN YORKER, NARP PRESIDENT 10:15 A.M. JOE MC HUGH, VICE PRESIDENT GOVT. AFFAIRS--AMTRAK 11:00 A.M. BREAK 11:15 A.M. BONNIE ARNOLD, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING TRI RAIL 11:45 A.M. BRAD BARKMAN, CHIEF MECHANICAL OFFICER-TRI RAIL 12:30 P.M. LUNCH 2 P.M. RICHARD WEAVER-AMTRAK MARKETING & SALES FOR FLORIDA 2:45 P.M. UNFINISHED BUSINESS AND STATE REPORTS 4 P.M. FLORIDA COALITON OF RAILROAD PASSENGERS MEETING 5:30 PM HOSPITALITY SUITE 6 30 P.M. BANQUET NAZID HADDID, EXEC. DIR. FL HIGH SPEED RAIL HOSPITALIY SUITE OPEN AFTER BANQUET SUNDAY BREAKFAST ON YOUR OWN 8:02 AM NORTHBOUND SILVER METEROR LEAVES 11:37 AM NORTHBOUND SILVER STAR LEAVES

The NARP Region 3 meeting in Camden, NJ, scheduled for March 6th, will go on despite the postponement of the opening of NJ TRANSIT's River Line until March 14th. There is now word of a possible demonstration trip on March 6th open only to NARP meeting attendees; it would run from Camden to Trenton, where existing rail services would take people home. Details are here.

NARP Region 8 will hold its meeting on Saturday, March 20, 2004 in Tacoma, WA at the Sheraton Tacoma Hotel, 1320 Broadway Plaza. The meeting will be combined with spring meetings of Washington Association of Rail Passengers (WashARP), the Association of Oregon Rail & Transit Advocates (AORTA), and the Montana/Wyoming Association of Railroad Passengers (MTWYarp).

Confirmed speakers so far are:
[*] Joe McHugh, VP Government Affairs for AMTRAK
[*] George Chilson, VP of NARP

In addition, speakers have been invited (but not yet confirmed) from BNSF and Sound Transit.

Registration begins at 11:15 AM. Lunch will be at 12:15 PM. The meeting will run from 1:15 PM until 4:30 PM. The registration fee of $29 per person includes a meal, room rental, and other meeting expenses. Registrations postmarked after March 10th will be $39. Meal choices are Broiled Northwest Salmon, or Breast of Chicken Dijon.

A small block of rooms has been made available at the Sheraton for $109 a night. Mention NARP luncheon for this discount.

For those arriving from the south on Train 500 at 11:17 AM, somebody will be there to meet the train and escort those headed for the meeting 1/4 mile to the Tacoma Dome LINK LRT station. Once downtown, the Sheraton is 2 blocks from the LINK station.

For more information, contact Hans Mueller at 1-(206)-784-9232 or Jim Hamre at 1-(253)-848-2473. Or e-mail Jim at jimhamre@mindspring.com.

Here is more on the combined Midwest HSR/Illinois ARP/NARP Region 7 meeting in Chicago:

Here is the draft agenda for our Spring Conference on March 20th. Online registration and a map to affordable hotels will be available at http://www.midwesthsr.org/ after 2/19/04.

Rick
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Spring Conference
March 20, 2004
IBEW Union Hall, 600 W. Washington, Chicago, IL
(just blocks from the train stations)

9:00 Nat. Assoc. of RR Passengers Region 7 Business meeting
10:00 Amtrak update Ray Lang, Director Government Affairs
11:00 The Crucial “Last Mile”
Scott Bernstein, ReConnecting America
12:00 Lunch on your own or RSVP for box lunch
1:00 The impact of railroads on urban planning
John Norquist, President, Congress for New Urbanism
The prospects for federal railroad infrastructure funding
Tom Simpson, President, Railway Supply Institute
Ohio’s rail development plans
Don Damron, State Rail Planner, Ohio Rail Dev. Comm.
Gary - Chicago airport intermodal center

Cost: $20 in advance. $25 at the door.
$10 for optional box lunch (must pay in advance).
Preregister online at http://www.midwesthsr.org/ (after 2/19) or by mail to PO Box 805877, Chicago, IL 60680.

Sponsored by: The John Buck Company http://www.tjbc.com/

Special thanks to: Siemens Transportation Systems http://sts.siemens.com/

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Join the Midwest High Speed Rail Coalition online at http://www.midwesthsr.org/ .

Fast, Frequent, High-Quality Trains - A Better Way to Travel.

Rick Harnish
Executive Director
Midwest High Speed Rail Coalition
PO Box 805878
Chicago, IL 60680
312-409-7723