Association for Public Transportation (APT) and National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) Working Together on Rail Transportation Advocacy
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Massachusetts based The Association for Public Transportation and the National Association of Railroad Passengers have announced their intent to work together on areas of mutual interest and to collaborate on such matters when appropriate.
In addition, NARP President and CEO Ross B. Capon will speak at APT’s June 15 annual meeting at the Downtown Harvard Club at One Federal Street, Boston. Capon is a Newton, MA native who in 1971 became one of the first employees of the Commonwealth’s then fledgling Executive Office of Transportation & Construction where he was a railroad specialist. Capon has worked for NARP since 1975.
The event’s keynote speaker is Eugene K. Skoropowski, a transit advocate turned professional who left his Boston architectural team in the 1970’s to work for the MBTA. He recently concluded 10 spectacularly successful years as Managing Director of the California agency that manages the Capitol Corridor Amtrak trains that link Sacramento with the San Francisco Bay Area. He now works for HNTB, a preeminent architecture and engineering firm specializing in infrastructure.
APT will add “Massachusetts Association of Railroad Passengers” to its name and institute a new website address www.aptmarp.org.
APT President Richard J. Arena said, “The Obama Administration has changed the funding rules for rail transportation projects. Now states and regional transit authorities must have local funding assured prior to receiving a commitment for federal monies. NARP does a great job working the halls on Capitol Hill in Washington. APT is just as active on Beacon Hill in Boston. Together we make a very good team.”
“APT is the ideal local partner for NARP,” said Capon. “Its members understand the importance of Amtrak and intercity rail, and it has long been a proponent of the North Station/South Station Rail Link (NSRL) which will enable the extension of the electrified Northeast Corridor to New Hampshire and Maine.” He noted that, in 1991, NARP filed suit against the Federal Highway Administration and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in an attempt to force inclusion of the Rail Link in the Central Artery
Project.
NARP is the only national organization speaking for the users of passenger trains and rail transit. It has worked since 1967 to expand the quality and quantity of passenger rail in the U.S. Its mission, supported by over 18,000 individual members, is to work towards a modern, customer?focused national passenger train network that provides a travel choice Americans want.
The Association for Public Transportation was founded in 1973 with the mission that effective, affordable, accessible public transportation, and the construction of strategic transportation infrastructure, is critical for the region’s economic prosperity and quality of life. APT authored the classic survival book “Car Free™ in Boston”, now in its tenth edition.
