Yes, we're still here

YEs, we're still taking the train every day on the Power Commute to Irvine or Los Angeles.  Much of our conversation and photo-taking has moved over to Twitter. Call it the curse of the smart phone.

It's been a bad week for Amtrak this week, with three fatalities in the LOSSAN corridor.  (2 in one day, on Wednesday).  We don't know the situation with all of them, although apparently one of the ones on Wednesday was a guy wearing headphones and filming near the tracks.

That one cleared in a couple of hours, but the 2nd one, near San Clemente,  took nearly 5 hours to clear.  Lots of trains were canceled and there were rolling delays.  Although Metrolink ran a bus bridge between Laguna and Oceanside, that doesn't help us Amtrak commuters;  cab fare from Oceanside to Solana Beach is around $50.  So it was time to get a Stone beer from the bar and read the news on line.

And our poor Amtrak crews-- what a brutal week for them.  Regular commuters know our conductors and LSAs and some people even get to know the engineers.  Trespassing incidents are tough on our crews.

People:  if you see tracks, there are trains.  They are big, they are fast, and they are surprisingly quiet.

Just respect the rail.