Can’t travel to NARP’s Day on the Hill? You can still help!

NARP is busy preparing for its annual Day on the Hill, where passengers from all over the country travel to Washington, D.C. to advocate for Amtrak, transit, and fast, frequent passenger rail service for all Americans.

Even if you can’t travel to D.C., you can still help us in the fight for modern trains!

Our advocates will be meeting with Representatives and Senators from ever part of the country. NARP will provide facts and figures to help explain why trains are a safe, efficient and clean way to travel, and how rail helps local economies prosper and grow. But facts and figures alone can’t communicate how vital these trains are to the communities that depend on them.

My blunt message: if you care about passenger rail, it’s time for you to get off the sidelines. Because the attacks are about to get louder and the facts are likely to take a beating. NARP needs to hear from YOU about your town, and your train. Numbers numb, stories sell.

Please take just a minute or two to write out a few paragraphs telling us why passenger rail is important to you, and email it to [email protected].

We’re looking for stories from individual passengers about how train service benefits their lives, and how their lives would be hurt by the loss of train service. We’re especially interested in stories that describe how trains:

• Connect you to vital services, such as medical care or vital government services;
• Provide access to educational opportunities, whether it’s traveling across the state to university or commuting to an internship;
• Allow you to maintain mobility while managing a disability or medical condition;
• Help you and your business, and its role in helping you connect with customers and clients.

There’s a lot of uncertainty around the White House budget proposal to eliminate funding for long distance trains. But instead of worrying about what we’re against, let’s work hard to support what we know we’re already for. Whatever your favorite rail project—high-speed/high-performance, long-distance intercity rail, commuter trains, light-rail, transit, robust multimodal links—it’s time to stand up and be counted. Please take a few minutes to write out why passenger rail is important to you, and email it to [email protected].

We need every voice now, including yours.

Thank you for everything you do,

Jim Mathews
President and CEO | National Association of Railroad Passengers