MEETING REPORT

San Joaquin Valley Rail Committee

Fresno, CA, March 11, 2005

Reported by Russ Jackson

This was the annual election meeting for new Chair and Vice Chair. Fresno County Supervisor Bob Waterston was elected to chair the group for the coming year, and Bakersfield Mayor Harvey Hall will be the vice chair. Mayor Hall spoke at the November meeting of the importance this group has beyond what it is charged to do, which is to be the advisory committee to Caltrans and Amtrak about the operation of the San Joaquin trains. He said it was also important in that many of the elected/appointed officials who serve on the committee come to the table without much knowledge of the trains and how the program operates, but this group educates these officials to this important service that goes through their area.

Chairman Waterston took the gavel from the outgoing chair, Tulare County Supervisor Connie Conway, and presented her with a railroad engineer's hat as a reminder of her service.

Mr. D. J. Mitchell, a Vice President of the BNSF railroad, spoke of items concerning the railroad and the committee. A) The just completed maintenance blitz. While it lasted longer than planned because of the weather and other factors, he said the ride quality is much better. He rode train 712 with many of us from Modesto to Fresno to see first hand, and he was proud that 712 was on time to Fresno. Another two week blitz is planned for next year. B) On time performance did not recover right away after the blitz, as there were many freight trains stacked up that had to be moved. Also, C) the Union Pacific has been doing a similar blitz in the Tehachapis which delays BNSF traffic coming in from the east. Because of completion of this work now, the summer looks to be much better. D) A major construction project using state of CA money to lengthen the Fig Garden siding just north of Fresno may not be operationally needed and is being restudied. If so, according to Caltrans Division of Rail (acting) chief Bill Bronte, this would free up $10 million for other needed construction projects on the line.
A new marketing phrase will be used this year, according to Caltrans Marketing director, Eric Schatmeier: "travel made simple," will be the theme, and will answer the questions that most riders ask, "where does it go and how much does it cost?" (RailPAC has advocated this approach for many years and welcomes its use.) There will be an Hispanic component. All advertising will be coordinated to this approach. Carol Shannon from Amtrak Marketing reported that the bulk of their budget goes to media, but pointed out a new partnership with the Applebees restaurants in Northern California is underway, with diners having access to a "Take 2" coupon which allows a free companion fare. It was pointed out by Sacramento County Supervisor Illa Collin that there is no car rental station in the Sacramento station, even though Amtrak has an agreement with Hertz. Caltrans and Amtrak will follow up on this
Bill Bronte reported two new supervisors are now in charge of the Oakland Maintenance base, and already mechanical repairs requirements have been reduced 26%. Delays after the maintenance blitz have been reduced, and revenue and ridership dropped because of the blitz but is improving. On time performance so far in March has improved to around 60%. Mr. Bronte also reported that the Governor's new "Go California" program is being formed, and while highway oriented now it looks to reducing congestion. Its first priority is the movement of goods. An agenda item for the SJVRC was, "What happens to California Rail without Amtrak," which sparked the interest of two Fresno TV stations and three radio stations, all of whom interviewed Bronte on this subject. Bill told the committee that the R.L.Banks study on this subject will be released soon. Briefly, it contains the essence that the California rail program can operate without Amtrak, but it does not make economic sense to do so. The state would have to pick up additional costs that Amtrak now pays at a lower cost because of its size, such as track access, liability insurance, reservation centers, depreciation, and the fact that Amtrak "owns" the maintenance facilities in the state. All of those can be overcome, but the costs in a tight economy like we now have could be very large. The state is looking at contracting out some more of the ancillary services now. Bronte says they are waiting for details from the national administration to see what their proposals will cost the state, but they must be "cost neutral" to California.
Liz O'Donoghue from Amtrak Planning spoke on Amtrak's future. She says they are operating as "stay the course" right now until they know what will happen, and are trying to run the best passenger rail program they can. She acknowledged that in the past the financial situation worked out fairly well, but "this year's different." A discussion ensued of a resolution proposed by the LOSSAN corridor committee and supported by the Capitol Corridor JPA that would urge the state legislature to support Amtrak funding nationally. The committee voted to authorize the Chairman to sign this resolution. Facilitator Arthur Lloyd (also a RailPAC director) reported he had met with Secretary of Transportation Mineta in Washington, who spoke of the three Amtrak choices in the administration's program: bankruptcy, privatization, and "bungle" along for appropriations as they have been doing. Mr. Mineta said the third choice is the most likely. Much criticism of the long distance trains as being unnecessary have been heard, but Mr. Lloyd reminded the committee that only 13% of the riders on the Empire Builder trains that depart Seattle go all the way to Chicago. All the rest use intermediate points, so to deprive Montana of that service, for example, would be unfortunate.
Arthur Lloyd also reported that Greyhound is leaving 64 California cities without bus service. He urged the committee to work to amend the Perata bill to provide those communities that are served now by Amtrak California Thruway buses with the ability to sell bus tickets to destinations Greyhound is abandoning. The Coast Rail Coordinating Committee is also working on this issue, as many towns along the Central Coast are being affected. An example of how this would work, according to Mr. Lloyd, is Bakersfield to Santa Barbara. Amtrak buses now connect the two directly. Amtrak cannot sell a seat on that bus unless the rider also has a train ticket. Greyhound passengers must go to Los Angeles and change to a bus going to Santa Barbara. This change could have a very positive affect on ridership on the state supported buses.

The next meeting of the SJVRC will be May 12 in Sacramento, and several legislators will be invited to attend.


RailPAC Contacts Publications Issues Meeting Reports 2005 Reports 2005-11-16 Capitol 2005-11-10 San Joaquin 2005-11 Announcement 2005-10-24 Bay Area 2005-09-21 Capitol 2005-09-14 LOSSAN 2005-09 Coast and TAMC 2005-09-08 San Joaquin 2005-07-14 San Joaquin 2005-07-11 TAMC 2005-06-25 CASHRA 2005-06-16 LOSSAN 2005-06-15 Capitol 2005-05-30 TAMC 2005-05-12 San Joaquin 2005-04-27 Coast Rail 2005-04-19 LOS-SAN 2005-03-11 San Joaquin 2005-02-16 Capitol 2005 Annual 2005-01 San Joaquin 2005-01 Monterey Membership Links	MEETING REPORT San Joaquin Valley Rail Committee Fresno, CA, March 11, 2005 Reported by Russ Jackson This was the annual election meeting for new Chair and Vice Chair. Fresno County Supervisor Bob Waterston was elected to chair the group for the coming year, and Bakersfield Mayor Harvey Hall will be the vice chair. Mayor Hall spoke at the November meeting of the importance this group has beyond what it is charged to do, which is to be the advisory committee to Caltrans and Amtrak about the operation of the San Joaquin trains. He said it was also important in that many of the elected/appointed officials who serve on the committee come to the table without much knowledge of the trains and how the program operates, but this group educates these officials to this important service that goes through their area. Chairman Waterston took the gavel from the outgoing chair, Tulare County Supervisor Connie Conway, and presented her with a railroad engineer's hat as a reminder of her service. Mr. D. J. Mitchell, a Vice President of the BNSF railroad, spoke of items concerning the railroad and the committee. A) The just completed maintenance blitz. While it lasted longer than planned because of the weather and other factors, he said the ride quality is much better. He rode train 712 with many of us from Modesto to Fresno to see first hand, and he was proud that 712 was on time to Fresno. Another two week blitz is planned for next year. B) On time performance did not recover right away after the blitz, as there were many freight trains stacked up that had to be moved. Also, C) the Union Pacific has been doing a similar blitz in the Tehachapis which delays BNSF traffic coming in from the east. Because of completion of this work now, the summer looks to be much better. D) A major construction project using state of CA money to lengthen the Fig Garden siding just north of Fresno may not be operationally needed and is being restudied. If so, according to Caltrans Division of Rail (acting) chief Bill Bronte, this would free up $10 million for other needed construction projects on the line. A new marketing phrase will be used this year, according to Caltrans Marketing director, Eric Schatmeier: "travel made simple," will be the theme, and will answer the questions that most riders ask, "where does it go and how much does it cost?" (RailPAC has advocated this approach for many years and welcomes its use.) There will be an Hispanic component. All advertising will be coordinated to this approach. Carol Shannon from Amtrak Marketing reported that the bulk of their budget goes to media, but pointed out a new partnership with the Applebees restaurants in Northern California is underway, with diners having access to a "Take 2" coupon which allows a free companion fare. It was pointed out by Sacramento County Supervisor Illa Collin that there is no car rental station in the Sacramento station, even though Amtrak has an agreement with Hertz. Caltrans and Amtrak will follow up on this Bill Bronte reported two new supervisors are now in charge of the Oakland Maintenance base, and already mechanical repairs requirements have been reduced 26%. Delays after the maintenance blitz have been reduced, and revenue and ridership dropped because of the blitz but is improving. On time performance so far in March has improved to around 60%. Mr. Bronte also reported that the Governor's new "Go California" program is being formed, and while highway oriented now it looks to reducing congestion. Its first priority is the movement of goods. An agenda item for the SJVRC was, "What happens to California Rail without Amtrak," which sparked the interest of two Fresno TV stations and three radio stations, all of whom interviewed Bronte on this subject. Bill told the committee that the R.L.Banks study on this subject will be released soon. Briefly, it contains the essence that the California rail program can operate without Amtrak, but it does not make economic sense to do so. The state would have to pick up additional costs that Amtrak now pays at a lower cost because of its size, such as track access, liability insurance, reservation centers, depreciation, and the fact that Amtrak "owns" the maintenance facilities in the state. All of those can be overcome, but the costs in a tight economy like we now have could be very large. The state is looking at contracting out some more of the ancillary services now. Bronte says they are waiting for details from the national administration to see what their proposals will cost the state, but they must be "cost neutral" to California. Liz O'Donoghue from Amtrak Planning spoke on Amtrak's future. She says they are operating as "stay the course" right now until they know what will happen, and are trying to run the best passenger rail program they can. She acknowledged that in the past the financial situation worked out fairly well, but "this year's different." A discussion ensued of a resolution proposed by the LOSSAN corridor committee and supported by the Capitol Corridor JPA that would urge the state legislature to support Amtrak funding nationally. The committee voted to authorize the Chairman to sign this resolution. Facilitator Arthur Lloyd (also a RailPAC director) reported he had met with Secretary of Transportation Mineta in Washington, who spoke of the three Amtrak choices in the administration's program: bankruptcy, privatization, and "bungle" along for appropriations as they have been doing. Mr. Mineta said the third choice is the most likely. Much criticism of the long distance trains as being unnecessary have been heard, but Mr. Lloyd reminded the committee that only 13% of the riders on the Empire Builder trains that depart Seattle go all the way to Chicago. All the rest use intermediate points, so to deprive Montana of that service, for example, would be unfortunate. Arthur Lloyd also reported that Greyhound is leaving 64 California cities without bus service. He urged the committee to work to amend the Perata bill to provide those communities that are served now by Amtrak California Thruway buses with the ability to sell bus tickets to destinations Greyhound is abandoning. The Coast Rail Coordinating Committee is also working on this issue, as many towns along the Central Coast are being affected. An example of how this would work, according to Mr. Lloyd, is Bakersfield to Santa Barbara. Amtrak buses now connect the two directly. Amtrak cannot sell a seat on that bus unless the rider also has a train ticket. Greyhound passengers must go to Los Angeles and change to a bus going to Santa Barbara. This change could have a very positive affect on ridership on the state supported buses. The next meeting of the SJVRC will be May 12 in Sacramento, and several legislators will be invited to attend.
	Photos and copy on this site are the property of RailPAC. Reproduction of anything on this site requires the permission of RailPAC. Copyright © 2007, Citizens For Rail California, Inc.