I am a native of Glendale, CA, a registered civil engineer. My career
spans three stages of rail transportation: operations and maintenance
of way for the Southern Pacific (18 years), design and operations
consulting (5 years) and construction and maintenance operations for
Metrolink in Los Angeles (14 years). All three of these have
provided a broad background on California transportation
infrastructure, engineering principles, and practical economics of
railroad operations.
I believe that advocacy for practical, incremental, affordable public
investment in transportation infrastructure and operation must be
based on sound knowledge of the existing conditions, the best current
practice for design, construction, maintenance, and operations, and
with a vision of how planners in future decades will utilize and build
upon the projects we develop. Preserving the existing rights of
way for the transportation needs of the future is a starting
point.
RICH McLAUGHLIN San Diego County
A native of Chicago, IL, I grew up in Southern California watching
sugar beet trains along Southern Pacific¹s Coast Line.
Graduating from San Jose State University with a degree in Aero
Engineering, I spent 22 years as a Naval Aviator, flying in both the
Pacific and Atlantic theaters. Since retiring from the Navy
I¹ve been employed by a Defense Contractor in San Diego and am
currently serving as the Director of Strategic Business
Activities.
I¹ve been interested in rail transportation my entire life and use
AMTRAK¹s California and long distance trains at every
opportunity.
I¹ve been a regular user of the Coast Starlight for the last ten
years, riding between SOCAL and Seattle to our corporate headquarters.
During that time I¹ve watched AMTRAK¹s premier long distance
train
deteriorate to the sad state it is in today.
Several years ago I
joined TRAC in attempt to become more involved in the future of our
rail systems. Last year I was elected to the Board only to find
out we were involved in a number of very contentious issues.
This past year has been interesting to say the least. As an
organization we have gone through some stressful times but came
together in the end with our support of improvements to the Coast
Starlight schedule. I¹m convinced that as an organization we
have learned this year what we can accomplish when we work together
and I look forward to serving on the board for another year and
returning TRAC to an effective force for improvement of California
Rail. On a National level, I believe we are in a holding fight
trying to guarantee we don¹t lose anymore ground in our struggle
to
preserve the current National route structure. Across the
country local and state organizations are again discovering the
importance of rail, while our National leadership is apparently trying
to tear it down. It is extremely important at this juncture that we
maintain our route system and work towards improved service to give
our Federal and State agencies the time to develop sound and workable
rail strategies. We have some tough times ahead but the future
is looking bright and rail, as the only environmentally sound choice
for mass transportation, again gains support across all levels of
Government. I would be honored to be reelected to the TRAC board or to
the position of Vice President. BART REED Los Angeles County
Bart Reed is the Executive Director of The Transit Coalition; a San
Fernando Valley based nonprofit dealing with transportation policy,
planning and land use issues. In this capacity, he is a nationwide
advocate for effective transportation systems and solutions. Reed, an
often quoted transit advocate, addresses citizen and community groups
about public transportation issues, including autos, rail, bus,
bicycles, roads, ADA, goods movement and pedestrian safety. He
frequently travels to Washington, DC and Sacramento to educate elected
representatives on rail and bus transportation issues. He produces and
conducts outreach programs and meetings to demonstrate support for
public transit initiatives.
Reed has developed and promoted the Metrolink Max project, in
conjunction with Numan Parada, Richard Tolmach and Michael McGinley.
The objective is to see Metrolink service increased with service
running every 30 minutes on 4 Los Angeles County routes. To move this
forward, Reed has spoken before numerous public groups (Valley Vote,
Economic Alliance), public events (Santa Monica Alt Car Expo, Santa
Monica College Classes) and the program has a public face with our
staffing of tables (Alt Car Expo, Buena Park Metrolink Station Grand
Opening).
Reed has served on many Boards and understands how to develop and
mentor a growing organization. Additionally, Reed goes to Sacramento
on a regular basis to support CA High Speed Rail, the Green Line
Construction Authority and public transit funding.
Along with Jerard Wright, Reed has promoted the Metro Downtown
Regional Connector, which is currently undergoing Alternatives
Analysis. Additionally, he helped promote the ongoing study of the
Harbor Subdivision, which could bring Metrolink service to the South
bay and Los Angeles International Airport.
VICTOR RAMPULLA Los Angeles County
Professional History:
€
Employed for 38 years by the County of Los Angeles; presently
in the Executive position of Division Director, responsible for
Sheriff¹s Department¹s Financial, Human Resources and
Facilities
Planning operations.
€ Past
assignments have been in positions of Personnel, Fiscal and Facilities
Directors with management responsibility of 700 staff members.
€ Involved
in Personnel Administration, budget preparation, expenditure and
revenue control, grant management and Capital Project planning and
design, and construction.
Interest in Trains:
€ Long time
supporter of train travel and the importance of expanding and
improving passenger train service in the United States.
€
Traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada
on long distance trains, and frequent user of California train service
such as Pacific Surfliner.
€ Member
of TRAC for over ten years and supporter of its mission to expand and
improve passenger train service in California, and its past successes
in the expansion of service with the Capital Corridors, San Joaquins,
and Pacific Surfliners.
€ The next
few years are critical to the future of passenger train service and
TRAC must remain a ³Front Line² player in this area.
€ Immediate
objective is the protection of long distance passenger train service
and more frequent inter-city rail service in California.
AL SHADBOURNE Los Angeles County
I retired after over 30 years of product design and development work
in the diesel engine business. The last twenty years of my
employment was with what was the Garrett Corporation Automotive
Products Division, the world¹s largest turbocharger manufacturer
(now known as Honeywell). I held many engineering positions including
Chief Engineer, Passenger Car Division.
My involvement and interest in passenger car rail started as a child
with weekend trips to the railyards with my father and daily travel to
high school on the ³red car². I have been a member of
the
Pacific Railroad Society for over 20 years. I even carry my
interest in rail to the point of investment wherein my wife and I are
the proud owners of several railroad tank cars currently in revenue
service.
My involvement with TRAC has been in the distribution of our newspaper
in the southern California area.
My main retirement activity has been animal assisted therapy with my
three certified therapy dogs, Rico, Kip, and Rusty. On the
average of three times a week we visit all types of hospitals,
childrens homes and rehabilitation centers.
I have always been a promoter of energy conservation. We drive a
Prius ®, make over 9 kilowatt-hrs of electrical power each day with
PV panels on our home and have had a solar hot water system heating
system for over 20 years. The promotion of passenger rail is a
key element in reducing our nation¹s energy consumption.
JERRARD WRIGHT Los Angeles County
Jerard Wright is currently Chair of Metro's Westside/Central Sector
Governance Council. He is also Vice President of The Transit
Coalition and has been an active member with the Transit Coalition for
5 years. In addition, he is a regular user of public transportation
since he does all of his activities without an automobile.
He graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) with a BA
in Architecture with a minor in City and Regional planning.
At IIT he was active in Student government and help lobby the CTA to
bring back the ³U-Pass² discount pass program back to the
students. With his architectural and planning background
he is an advocate for carefully designed Transit Oriented Developments
(TOD) that emphasizes the Transit first in a TOD rather than as an
after thought.
He currently resides in Downtown Los Angeles working as a Construction
Assistant for the Alhambra Unified School District and performs
architectural, design and presentation services under his business
called the Wright Concept.
One of the presentations Wright designed was the Downtown Regional
Connector (DTRC) that was presented at the March 17th NARP / TTC
conference at Metro Gateway Headquarters. The presentation has been a
key reason this project has made serious headway with the public
officials. Metro is currently conducting a study of the DTRC in the
Alternative Analysis process and the DTRC is one of the top performing
projects on Metro¹s Long Range Transit Plan.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
LAURA BALDERREE Alameda County
Like many Americans, I grew up without the opportunity to ride
passenger trains; I was born in July 1955 and the last passenger train
left the depot in my home town in August 1955. Fortunately, on a youth
study trip to Europe I discovered the many advantages of quality
public transportation and I have been a rider and advocate ever since.
I have ridden most of Amtrak's routes at least once, commute to work
on the Capitol Corridor trains, and am a member of TRAC and NARP.
On the local public transportation level, I have worked on campaigns
for transportation sales tax measures and served on the board of the
Alliance for AC Transit. As a state-wide organization TRAC has a wider
focus and I welcome the opportunity to be an advocate for improved
passenger rail service in California as well as better rail
connections between California and our neighboring
states.
LYNN FRANKS Sacramento County
I've worked in the public transportation field for 28 years. The first
five years I was employed by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in
Washington, D.C. where I certified employee protection agreements for
recipients of federal mass transportation funds (which included review
of the agreements, providing technical advice, and mediation). I also
conducted arbitrations in connection with the National Rail Passenger
Service Act (Amtrak) of 1970 for a small group of railroad and
Amtrak employees. Since then, most of my professional career has been
in intercity rail passenger service, including work on the AB 971
study that began high speed rail study in California and the ACR 136
study that resulted in Capitol Corridor service.
I have been a member of TRAC since its inception and am an officer of
the California Rail Foundation. I served as treasurer of TRAC
for a year commencing in November 2004. I desire to be continued
on the Board but do not wish to be secretary for 2008.
RANDELL HANSEN
Sacramento County
I've been a proud member of NARP as well as Craig O'Connell's
Friends of Amtrak group for 8 years, and I'm glad to be a part of TRAC
as well. I was born in New York and grew up on Long Island for
23 years. I graduated from Hofstra University with a major in
Management and a minor in Accounting. When getting around the New York
area, I utilized public transportation a lot whether it was Nassau
County's local bus system, the Long Island Railroad, (pronounced by
locals as L I double R), and New York's subways. Because I thought I
was always going to be a New Yorker and was proud to use transit, I
didn't learn how to drive until I was 19. And that was after my
parents made me learn.
It's also been during the past 8 years that I've been riding Amtrak
trains around the country. During my travels my mind opened up about
what America's really all about with the things I saw from the train,
the people I met, and the places I visited. It was also during my
travels where I discovered California and my heart felt it belonged
elsewhere.
In 2002 I made the move out to Northern California and started working
in the retail and then moving onto working for the state. As for my
daily commute, I've been commuting on Sacramento's RT light-rail and
bus system for over 2 years. I also use LA's Metro system whenever I
go down there to attend LA Kings hockey games. I also hope to see
local transit systems expanded, the current Amtrak service improved,
and the establishment of high-speed rail.
Besides just promote transit and Amtrak travel by word of mouth, I've
had letters to the editor published in USA Today, the Sacramento Bee,
and US News & World Report, advocating more government investment
in passenger rail.
As a TRAC Board Member I will help maintain our mission of promoting
passenger rail as an alternative mode of transportation by continuing
to get letters to the editor or even guest comments published in major
publications. It's imperative that all rail groups shout out why
passenger rail is now more important than ever with the high gas
prices, concerns about air quality, congestion, and even the air
travel experience that's been the reality the past few years.
I will work to expand membership by reaching out across the state.
More membership will give TRAC a louder voice for lawmakers in
Sacramento and local communities to hear in regards to passenger rail.
I believe my education and experience with passenger rail will be a
good asset for TRAC to have and I look forward to having an active
role with the organization.
MARCEL MARCHON
Santa Clara County
I'm 34 years old and work as Director of Software Engineering for
a small Internet company called Travelzoo. I was elected as a TRAC
board member at last year's meeting and had helped set up a redesigned
website for TRAC the year before.
I was born and had lived in Switzerland until 3 years ago and have
been interested in trains ever since my grandmother started taking me
along on her visits to relatives when I was 4 years old or so. After
having lived in Switzerland all these years while relying on public
transportation for all my mobility needs, I have a good idea what
we're missing out on here in California ... I like to ride trains and
was fortunate to have the opportunity to make a cross-country trip on
Amtrak in the spring of 2006. I've also traveled extensively on all
kinds of trains in Europe - my favorite experience so far would be the
French TGV high speed trains. In my spare time, I also write and
operate a train-related "blog" (website) at
http://trainblog.com."
WILLIAM F. MCGEEHAN, III Contra Costa County
I¹m Bill McGeehan and I¹m running for re-election as
President of
TRAC. To give you some background on myself, I grew up in Hazelton,
Pennsylvania. I studied at the John Miller School For Arts and
Sciences and then moved to Kansas City, Missouri to study audio
engineering at the University of Missouri. I moved to California in my
early twenties to escape the weather conditions that plague other
parts of the country. I¹ve worked in the fields of disabled
adaptive
technology and design, within the transportation industry, for almost
twenty years. My love of trains probably started years ago, as a
child with my first train set. Now I work both as an advocate for TRAC
and for myself as a train passenger. I think the passenger rail system
is going to see some of the best innovations and changes over the next
several years, with progress and push from the train riding community,
leading many other forms of transportation.
Having served as a board member from 2004-2005 and having served as
your TRAC President this last year, I¹m looking forward to another
year of representing you and, along with the other board members,
taking TRAC into a fruitful 2008. This last year, we, the board, have
represented you in many ways. I had the opportunity to work with the
design team at Amtrak on new sleeper car bathrooms. I was able to
point out problems and positives with the design that will hopefully
help passengers with mobility issues once those cars end up on the
rails. We, as your board, have made contact and had meetings with many
people that are at the forefront of train travel and the
decision-making process that governs it.
Personally, I can¹t think of any other way I¹d like to travel
than
by train. It is the ONLY way I travel outside of California. I¹ve
logged about 370, 000 miles so far by Amtrak and can¹t wait until
I
hit the half-million mark, which I¹m determined to do. I want you
to
know that representing you, working with the board and the executive
director, meeting many different folks and traveling throughout
California as President of the Train Riders Association of
California has been an honor and a thrill and I hope you re-elect me
as your President so we can do it all again. Thank you.
MOE MOHANNA Sacramento County
Moe Mohanna emigrated to the United States from Iran in the late 60s.
He was in his late teens at the time. His early years in the
country were in the Boston area, where he learned the meaning of the
phrase ³cold and wet². California, with its sunshine
and
diversity attracted him, and he joined us here in the Capitol city in
1974. His civil engineering degree, work ethic and culture have
helped him rise to the top of both of Sacramento¹s development
community and its social welfare infrastructure. In his own
words: ³I¹ve noticed that volunteerism is a strong
pillar of
this [Sacramento] community and I have learned and enjoyed doing a lot
of volunteer work with a lot of wonderful friends and people.²
With such a background he will be a great contributor to TRAC and its
mission. He has partnered with TRAC to oppose an impractical
[and possibly illegal] rearrangement of Sacramento¹s RT rail
stations, a stance that has made him persona non grata among
some in city officialdom. With his characteristic smile and a
shrug he notes ³That¹s politics
While his wife Nasrin is not running for the board, she¹s truly,
in
the American phrase ³his better half². Her stewardship
of
the Mohanna dominion allows Moe a chance to volunteer his help for the
numerous many who have greatly benefited from it. TRAC can use
several of his areas of expertise immeasurably, his engineering, his
business acumen, and his understanding of the strength of
volunteering.
The list of the Mohannas¹ (note the plural) successes stretches to
several rolls of printer paper. Let¹s just sum up by noting
that they¹re strong believers in economic efficiency in all forms
of
transportation and he sprinkles in a Persian spice to the many flavors
on the TRAC Board¹s plate.
BOB REYNOLDS Sacramento County
Bob Reynolds is a second-generation Californian and fourth-generation
rail man. His ancestors and relatives have worked on American
iron horses since the mid-1800s, some getting killed during the
notorious early days. He has traveled on the rails in Europe and
Asia and has visited many of the US¹s steam excursion operations
over the last twenty years. He travels on the west
Coast¹s commercial rails frequently. He started volunteering
at
TRAC after 2003¹s RAIL 2020 conference with an interest in
California¹s evolving rail passenger network. He has since
increased membership rolls at TRAC by more than ten percent and joined
the Board last year on a unanimous vote. (Okay, all the votes were
unanimous by acclamation.)
He is a St. Mary¹s College of California graduate and has taught
college and high school, flown Navy carrier jets, and managed several
military programs over a 37 year career. In 2003 he retired from
Air Force civil service as the business manager for the F-117 Stealth
Fighter program office. He fills his retired days baby-sitting
three avid railfan-toddlers, supplemented with volunteer activities
and teaching religion to fifth graders. Last year the Friends of
Amtrak web-published his fascinating account of TRAC¹s Board
Meeting
aboard the northbound Starlight, augmented with Rich
McLaughlin¹s photos of the event.
He married Kathy in 1974 and they have two adult daughters. She
served thirty years as an Air Force nurse, retiring in 2001. Her
father and grandfather were railroad men, too. He has
volunteered to be TRAC¹s Secretary and asks you to vote to elect
him
to that post.
RICHARD F. TOLMACH Sacramento County
I have over 30 years experience in planning and analyzing rail
passenger service, and participated in many of the key decisions that
brought new train service to California in the 70¹s, 80¹s and
90¹s. In 1984, I helped to found TRAC and since that time I have
devoted about 600 hours annually to TRAC¹s efforts to promote and
improve California¹s rail services. I would like to continue to
help
direct the organization, because the momentum we are gaining from
efforts by volunteers and supporters is very satisfying.
TRAC has again become a leader in promoting new services, such as
regional commuter improvements for the Marin-Sonoma corridor, Santa
Barbara area, and Altamont Pass, and we are having success at getting
our representatives placed on key study committees. Ideas we have
advanced like hourly timed connections at Los Angeles and a regional
network of timed service throughout Southern California have gained
currency.
I am also proud of the progress TRAC has made in making alliances with
key environmental groups including Friends of the Earth, the Planning
and Conservation League, and Resources Legacy Fund, which promise
future concerted action regarding high speed rail, rail capital
funding, and smart growth efforts. TRAC¹s active stance has been
noticed and we are back on the radar of politicians and
decisionmakers.
ANNA MARIE YOUNG Sacramento County
Anna Marie Young is a UC Davis student close to completing a degree in
Community and Regional Development with an emphasis in Transportation
Planning and Policy. Her particular focus is on improving
pedestrian and transit networks and the interface between the
two.
She resides in Sacramento and commutes to Davis via bicycle and a 12
minute train ride on Amtrak's Capitol Corridor Route.
After she graduated high school in Boise, ID she joined Americorps
National Civilian Community Corps. In 2001 she moved to
California to take advantage of the College and University
System.
As a College of the Redwoods student Anna Marie led the efforts to
subsidize bus service for rural community college students. In
2005 she moved to Sacramento to continue her education at UC
Davis.
Last summer Anna Marie participated in a summer abroad program in
Scandinavia and Germany, studying landscape architecture and
transportation policy.
She is currently interning for the California Transportation
Commission and WALKSacramento (a local pedestrian advocacy
organization). For the CTC, she has been helping to update the
Regional Transportation Plan guidelines to promote planning practices
that will help the State reach its Green House Gas emission reduction
goals. For WALKSacramento, she is developing a plan to improve
walking, bicycling, and transit access to four Community Colleges in
the Sacramento region.
