You are correct, the crews out here are wonderful. I think one reason was the rapid rise of employee morale after the taxpayers of California began to invest in a wonderful regional corridor system with new equipment, unique service offerings, faster trip times, more travel options, and countless beautifully restored or new stations (thousands attended the Fresno rededication last weekend). Californians are choosing to leave their cars behind by the millions in favor of Amtrak. Each month over the past few years has usually produced record ridership on all 3 California corridors.

The Caltrans Division of Rail Passenger program has been so successful that it's thus far been immune to state operational subsidy cuts, while other programs have gotten the ax altogether. In fact, Amtrak California has been able to add trains without additional cars and without additional subsidies, because they run such a tight ship! Sacramento realizes what a wise investment the system is, and it reflects in the attitudes of most of the employees. Hopefully this next fiscal year will at least maintain the annual subsidy, and sometime in the near future we can see new equipment orders since even the current fleet cannot meet the booming demand. It's a very nice problem to have.