The Beatles were so huge that even now, 49 years after they broke up, former Beatle Paul McCartney’s shows can still sell out stadiums. The band sold hundreds of millions of records, and helped change the culture in large parts of the world. How much do they still matter, when only 30 percent of Americans are old enough to have any memory of them as an active band? Today we talk about the Beatles with Dr. Rebecca Plack, who teaches “Introduction to the Music of the Beatles“ to approximately 200 students at UC Davis, and Jerry Yen, one of her students and a fan of the band. (A correction: In the program I say Ringo Starr will turn 80 this year. That won’t happen until 2020.)

More than 383,000 people boarded or exited a train in Davis in fiscal 2018, mostly while using the Sacramento-Bay Area Capitol Corridor service. The Capitols are one example of how regional train travel can work, and other ideas are in play – from the high-speed line that’s getting at least partially built in the Central Valley, to Virgin Rail’s venture in Florida.

Meanwhile Amtrak, the national railroad passenger carrier, is trying to figure out where it fits in; CEO Richard Anderson has backed off his idea of replacing the middle part of the Los Angeles-Chicago train with an overnight bus, but his plans for the future of Amtrak’s 15 long-distance trains (two serve Davis) are unknown. George Chilson, a California member of the Rail Passengers Association Board of Directors, talks about these subjects, and how to solve Amtrak’s chronic problems, in a return visit today to Davisville.