The Year 2024 was a year of progress for passenger rail!
It thrills me to mention that ridership and revenue on Amtrak came very close to pre-Covid levels. I noted that full-service dining car service expanded to east-coast routes, and there are concrete proposals to bring the service back to other trains, including the Crescent and the City of New Orleans.
I tried to follow the developments in our national rail passenger system (as well as our many frustrations); however, the Year 2024 was unusually difficult for me.
My father, Steven Pearson, passed away on April 4, 2024, following a four-year struggle with cancer. His burial was on my 48th birthday on April 7th. Since that time I have gone through the emotional challenges of a first Father's Day, a first Thanksgiving, a first Christmas, and my first calendar New Year without Dad.
I'm doing well through it all, but some of my passions, including passenger rail advocacy, didn't get the usual time and attention. I plan to change that in 2025.
I'm taking this opportunity to remember Dad because he is largely the reason that I support passenger rail. Dad took me to my first TARP meeting in 1990 at Nashville Union Station. As a fourteen year old, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the old station and the stories my grandparents told about arrivals and departures there. I thoroughly enjoyed the topics we discussed, and I especially loved our evening trip on the Broadway Dinner Train.
I treasure my memories with Dad from that day, and I also treasure the many friendships I have formed with fellow TARP members in the years since then.
I hope that we can build and expand our voice in TARP and that we will provide a way for future generations to be as inspired as I was 35 years ago.
Thank you all, as always, for your support of this organization and for our friendship going forward! I look forward to working with you in 2025!
Sincerely yours,
L. Jarod Pearson, TARP President
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