eNewsletter for March 11, 2013 March 15th, 2013
SPRINTER Rail Service To Shut Down Due To Bad Brake Rotors KPBS- Mar 8, 2013 North County Transit District’s SPRINTER rail line, which runs between Escondido and Oceanside carrying 7,800 passengers a day, will be taken off the tracks at midnight Friday for 60 to 120 days to replace worn brake rotors. The NCTD said it is developing bus replacement services…Tucker says the companies under contract failed to report the issue of the non-compliant brake rotors to North County staff when it was first discovered, and added that the California Public Utilities Commission had no other major findings during the recent inspection.
eNewsletter for March 4, 2013 March 8th, 2013
The report by the Brooking Institute that this story is based on concludes that Amtrak can make “money” by running corridor trains and having the States subsidize operations instead of the Federal Government. So where is this State Money suppose to come from and what will keep the States from running these services themselves and saving money? NB
eNewsletter for February 25, 2013 March 2nd, 2013
This new Federal bill could increase the State’s payment to Amtrak up to 25 million dollars from about 100 million which would blow a hole in the budget of State Rail Program. The service which would be charged more is the Surfliner. This is because 3 Surfliner Trains which predate the State subsidizing local service that California wasn’t being charged at the same rate as the other Surfliners. These 3 trains connect with Long Distance Trains will now be charged to the State for 100% of what are called avoidable costs but often are Amtrak’s fixed costs. NB
eNewsletter for February 18, 2013 February 22nd, 2013
Many of the problems at Metrolink stem from previous management which lacked leadership and failed to understand the mission of Metrolink which is stated in the name of the body running it: Southern California Regional Rail Authority. A better name for Metrolink would be SoCal Rail. Previous management was under the illusion that Metrolink was a traditional commuter railroad with its principle task to serve downtown Los Angeles during rush hours. The invention of the Model T destroyed this business model. The result has been Metrolink has missed many opportunities to increase revenues and efficiencies by running additional service on weekends and off peak periods with regional service from one side of Los Angeles to the other for non-commuting travel. Management also failed to promote itself to economically expand service on new lines or connect more with local rail transit. If management’s attitude is we can’t do anything about it, then as we have seen nothing gets done. NB
eNewsletter for February 11, 2013 February 16th, 2013
CONCLUSION:This is the third trial of an “express” service on this corridor. The dropped stops were reinstated after a similar decrease in ridership in the earlier trials. The same declining pattern repeats with 2011 – 2013 express train. The corridor as a whole is overall holding steady on ridership and overall up on revenue during the period the express has been running. The express train is down severely in both ridership and revenue, with a continuing downward trend. Caltrans believes that reinstating the three dropped stops and the associated 21 additional city pair markets for the train will increase both ridership and revenue for the train, bringing the train in line with, and adding to, the positive trend of the corridor as a whole, and giving those travel ling between the 21 lost city pairs an additional daily travel choice.
eNewsletter for February 4, 2013 February 9th, 2013
Amtrak last September after the end of the 2012 Fiscal Year ballyhooed the fact that they had recovered 85% of their OPERATING costs and only needed $361 million extra in 2012 to cover operations. But the final figure for Federal funds for Amtrak is $1.418 billion. The biggest chunk at $623 million is for Capital mostly for track and catenary projects on the NEC. In 2010 Amtrak estimated that $5.2 billion was needed to get the NEC is a “good state of repair” and that at about $700 million a year over the next 15 years would be needed to repair the NEC. The $255 million for Debt service is likely needed to pay off much of the debt Amtrak ran up in the late 1990′s to start up the Aclea trains which was the reason Amtrak almost ceased operations in 2002. The DOT charges Amtrak $10 million from their funding to pay for the DOT’s oversight of Amtrak. What is missing is any money for more equipment which is needed if Amtrak is to increase ridership and revenues to cover more of their costs. NB
eNewsletter for January 28, 2013 February 2nd, 2013
LA Subcommittee To Discuss Metrolink Connection To ONT Los Angeles Daily News Jan 22, 2013 Last week, Councilman Bill Rosendahl introduced a motion requesting that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s office and officials from Los Angeles World Airports work with Metrolink to consider options for connecting the Ontario airport to the rail line.His motion also suggested there would be a 20-minute connection.”At our current schedule, we will not be able to provide a 20-minute route,” Metrolink spokesman Scott Johnson said. A 20 minute trip on the 57 miles between downtown LA and Ontario Airport would be an average speed of about 170 miles per hour. NB
eNewsletter for January 21, 2013 January 26th, 2013
The Surfliner Express has been around since February of 2011. Ridership has continued to drop since then and is lower than the all stops service this express train replaced. In October 2012 ridership was 29 percent lower than October 2011. This experiment should end as soon as possible. What is needed is to reduce running times on ALL Surfliner Trains and run them on time. NB
eNewsletter for January 14, 2013 January 19th, 2013
Amtrak’s annual operating loss last year was lowest since 1975, ..Washington Post-Jan 10, 2013 The $361 million loss for the year ending Sept. 30 was down 19 percent from the previous year. The last time Amtrak losses were less was 1975.What is significant about the year 1976 is that is when Amtrak was given the NEC by Congress to get it off the back of the bankrupt PennCentral. By 1980 Amtrak’s losses went over a billion dollars (in 1980 dollars). With the help of rising gas prices, higher fares and subsidy from States such as California Amtrak has made progress improving its revenues. But Amtrak was well on its way to breaking even back in 1993 after then retiring Amtrak President Claytor made modest expansion of Long Distance services. Had Mr. Claytor’s policies been continued Amtrak would have become self supporting years ago. NB
eNewsletter for January 7, 2913 January 12th, 2013
Senate confirms two Amtrak board members Progressive Rail Roading-Jan 3, 2013 The U.S. Senate confirmed Christopher Beall and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke as new members of Amtrak’s board, Amtrak announced today. They will serve five-year terms. The addition of Ms. Burke, who is also a member of the California Transportation Commission and former member of Congress as well as Mr. Beall of Oklahoma with a background in transportation investment should add depth to the Amtrak Board and greater representation of the Western States. NB
