Amtrak is the sole nationwide passenger rail carrier in the U.S. and employs nearly 19,000 people. It operates on 21,000 miles, connecting 500 destinations in 46 states. In 2008, Amtrak served 28.7 million passengers, representing six straight years of record ridership. Despite these record numbers, the United States still has one of the lowest inter-city rail usages in the developed world. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "American" and "track."
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Obama and the changing State of Virginia?
For the last 10 presidential elections, Republicans have been able to bank on Virginia delivering its 13 electoral votes to the GOP.
President Bush won Virginia by 8 percentage points in both 2000 and 2004, and President Bill Clinton was never able to capture the state when he ran in 1992 and 1996.
But the explosive growth of Northern Virginia in the last decade has changed the state's electorate. Drawn by government jobs in nearby Washington and high-tech jobs in the Dulles corridor, the growing population in Northern Virginia is more liberal than the mostly rural southern portion of the state, which has remained reliably Republican.
In 2000, Bush carried Northern Virginia 49 percent to 47 percent, but in 2004, Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, carried the area 51 percent to 48 percent.
Virginia "is not as red as people think," a conservative talk show host for WRVA radio was recently quoted as saying. "A third of the population in Northern Virginia is pretty liberal. A lot of people are buying into [Obama's] notion of change."
Underneath Pennsylvania Plaza?
Amtrak waiting to leave Penn Station, New York to Charlottesville VA, originally uploaded by Gordon Gerard McLean.
Pennsylvania Station - commonly known as Penn Station - is the major intercity rail station and a major commuter rail hub in New York City. The station is located in the underground levels of Pennsylvania Plaza, an urban complex at 8th Avenue and 31st Street in Midtown Manhattan, and is owned by Amtrak. Serving 600,000 passengers a day - compared to 140,000 across town at Grand Central Terminal - at a rate of up to a thousand every 90 seconds, it is the busiest passenger transportation facility in the United States and by far the busiest train station in North America. Penn Station is also the busiest Amtrak station in the United States. The station saw 4.3 million Amtrak boardings in 2004, more than double the traffic at the next busiest station, Union Station in Washington D.C..
Charlottesville's "little mountain"?
Monticello, located near Charlottesville, Virginia, was the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, the third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia. The house is of Jefferson's own design and is situated on the summit of an 850-foot-high peak in the Southwest Mountains south of the Rivanna Gap. Monticello was designated a World Heritage Site in 1987, an honor it shares with the nearby University of Virginia. Monticello is Italian for "little mountain."
The 4th Thursday in November?
Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. It is primarily a North American holiday which has generally become a national secular holiday with religious origins.
The date and location of the first Thanksgiving celebration is a topic of modest contention. Though the earliest attested Thanksgiving celebration was on September 8, 1565 in what is now Saint Augustine, Florida, the traditional "first Thanksgiving" is venerated as having occurred at the site of Plymouth Plantation, in 1621.
Today, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. Thanksgiving dinner is held on this day, usually as a gathering of family members and friends.
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