MEETING REPORT and a few comments
San Joaquin Valley Rail Committee
Sacramento, CA, March 11, 2005
Reported by Russ Jackson, RailPAC Secretary
One thing about SJVRC meetings in the past few years has been the non-confrontational nature of the relationships. For a while yesterday that appeared to have ended, although all the parties to the committee are congenial and working together to improve service in this vital CA transportation corridor.
- This was a meeting, the first this writer has attended, where all
three of the active corridors in the state (San Joaquin, LOSSAN, and
Capitol Corridor) met together to share common concerns and promise to
work together. Guests included Art Brown, Chairman of LOSSAN and
Metrolink, and Roger Dickinson, Chairman of the Capitol Corridor JPA.
Mr. Dickinson was unable to stay through the meeting, but was ably
represented by Capitol Corridor Managing Director Gene Skoropowski.
Only the Coast Corridor, which is not an operating corridor yet, was
not represented formally.
Mr. Brown spoke eloquently about the success of the LOSSAN Corridor, the Pacific Surfliners, Metrolink, and The Coaster, in the second busiest corridor in the country, proudly pointing out its 54% farebox recovery. Of course no one mentions that under the old system of accounting there was a time it was hitting as high as 104%, but that's history. He added "we need this coalition" in the state. Mr. Dickinson, who is also on several transportation boards in the Sacramento area, also spoke of the need for a collective voice for all the corridors, emphasizing the need for a "groundswell" of public awareness and the need to get the word out to support AJR 18, which calls for the full funding of Amtrak, that is having strong support in the state and is now in the (state) Senate after passing in the Assembly. A joint letter supporting this resolution has been signed by all three corridor Chairmen, and is supported by an impressive number of agencies in the state including the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Dickinson went on to urge the SJVRC members to communicate directly with their representatives in Congress and take the issue to their COGs to get more agencies involved. He concluded with, "if the money (for Amtrak) goes away, trains go away." Mr. Skoropowski called for the groups to "have an event to honor the sponsors when it passes," and the group agreed.
Sacramento County Supervisor, Illa Collin, a long time member of the SJVRC board, reported on a trip she took to the east coast and back on Amtrak. She went to Washington, DC, taking the California Zephyr and Capitol Limited, and was "surprised by the number of people, particularly young people," who were not going endpoint to endpoint, and who expressed to her their anger that they might be "deprived of service, particularly since bus service is being eliminated." Mrs. Collin's experience on the trains was excellent, and she traveled in newly-restored sleeping cars where "everything worked." Amtrak, Caltrans, and RailPAC members were greatly relieved at that report. The SJVRC Chairman, Fresno County Supervisor Bob Waterston, reported on his travels in the east where he rode the northeast corridor and was impressed with the number of "suits" that take the trains there, unlike the California corridors. He noted the lack of tables in the cars, unlike on the California cars.
- When it was time for the BNSF to make its report there was no one to do so because of conflicts, so the issue of the terrible On Time Performance of the San Joaquins was left to Caltrans' Division of Rail Acting Chief Bill Bronte to discuss. Jerry Wilmoth from the UPRR was present, the first time a UP representative has been present when this writer has been there in a long time, but his remarks were of a general nature as there is no major OT problem in the segments where the San Joaquins run on that railroad (west of Port Chicago and north of Stockton). Mr. Bronte pointed out that the OT figure is now running at 60%, down considerably due to freight interference. (In fact many days the OTP is 0, with all trains late.) The UP is planning another maintenance "blitz" in the Tehachapis in the 2 months ahead and will take 7 hour "windows" which will jam up the freight trains and affect traffic on that line shared with the BNSF. Mr. Wilmoth reported some freight trains will be diverted to the UP's Valley line during passenger train times to help out, but (more) delays are inevitable. Then the "Christmas" freight season begins, with increased container traffic coming out of Los Angeles and Oakland. Mr. Bronte reported that two double tracking projects funded by the state, Shirley to Hanford, and Calwa to Bowles, are moving along for completion by fall or early next year which will help.
- Then it was Marketing's turn. The responses to routine reports of
marketing activities were much more lively than usual, and Caltrans and Amtrak
were challenged on several points. The marketing campaigns that have been in
operation this Spring will end when the summer season begins. It was explained
that there has been no increase in funds allocated for marketing either by
Amtrak or Caltrans for several years. However, Caltrans has proudly won an
award for its current campaigns. Caltrans and Amtrak were challenged by the
Chairman about the need to increase the advertising directed toward telling car
riders they can save gas by riding the trains. Mr. Bronte did not feel justified
in telling people to ride when there is a 60% OTP.
At that point two of the newer committee board members spoke up. Madera County Supervisor Max Rodriguez said he had heard there was a radio campaign in Spanish, but although he listens all day had never heard one of the spots. He was assured they were on the air. This issue is important in the Valley with its high percentage of Spanish speaking population, and the campaign is directed at Hispanic families. This writer, in response to a RailPAC member's comment, passed along to Caltrans a simple way to help the Hispanic community would be to post instructions in Spanish in the stations, which do not have bilingual signs now. Madera City Councilman Lester Koga wanted to know why there is a three day rule for reserving space on the trains, and said that is a turnoff to potential riders. It was explained that it applies only to certain cases. Supervisor Waterston then wanted to know when the Fresno station, which was dedicated in February, will finally open. Amtrak's $600 thousand in promised payments for its requirements in the facility has not been forthcoming and the Fresno press was beginning to get the word. Amtrak will "have the money in its next budget, hopefully." That still means a long delay, and trash is beginning to pile up around the uncompleted building, which is a major embarrassment for all concerned. This writer did not feel that Caltrans and Amtrak were able to explain the situation fully in the public meeting, as the committee was told to "stay tuned."
One board member said he had discussed the poor operation of the food service refrigeration with the attendant on his train. Caltrans' Eric Schatmeier said the problem of failure of the "chillers" on food service cars has been ongoing, with the manufacturer of the units out of business, so replacements are being installed as each car goes in for overhaul. Good news is the installation of Wi-Fi equipment on the car fleet shared with the Capitol Corridor will be tested this summer, and when cars are overhauled they will be equipped with outlets at every two seats. A proposal to investigate establishing a TAC (Technical Advisory Committee) to handle committee technical business was presented by Caltrans, and the group voted to discuss its membership at the next meeting (July 14 in Martinez).
- Mr. Bronte reported on the Governor's "May Revise" budget that was announced the day before. While not guaranteed, as it must pass in the legislature, $1.3 billion in Proposition 42 funds is proposed to be restored, $127 million for public transportation. The California Transportation Commission will set the rules for disbursing this money. He pointed out the dire need of the corridors for additional "rolling stock," in order to add additional capacity to trains. There is a five-year timeline, he said, from placing an order today to getting the new cars. That didn't ring this writer's bell quite right, as Mr. Bronte went on to report the state is "starting to develop specifications for the \u2018next generation' of cars." Comment: With the manufacturer of the original California cars out of business, what's the need to start over when the Surfliner cars are first class and could be re-ordered easily? RailPAC members have expressed concern at the lack of buying "off the shelf" by Amtrak, and here we go again.
- Amtrak's Liz O'Donoghue presented the company's latest proposal that would head off the national administration's attempts to unilaterally change the company. She later told this writer that she was just back from DC, and she was gaining confidence that the new proposal will fare well in the political situation, as there are many Republican members of Congress who favor continued finance for Amtrak. Mr. Skoroposki told the committee, following his trip to DC, that there are five areas of vital concern to the California rail programs: 1) Establishing a federal matching program, 2) that it be 80%-20% matching, equivalent to highway and airport projects, 3) that it encourage establishment of a meaningful federal level of funding, and 4) there be no penalty for states, like CA, that have been funding projects at the 100% level.
A lively afternoon in the state's capitol, but the beginning emergence of unified approaches of mutual concern is definitely encouraging.
