MEETING REPORT

Capitol Corridor JPA

Suisun City Hall, June 15, 2005

Reported by Russ Jackson

With a record month of almost 116,000 riders and $1,300,000 in revenue in May, and farebox recovery at a record 43.7% year to date, the Capitol Corridor is showing excellent growth, above its forecast for this year. The January ridership survey showed 59% of the riders were on business/work trips, with 27% visiting family, friends, or were on leisure trips. The 10-ride tickets were 23% of the total sales, as small groups discovered that they could buy one to cover all their riders at a discount from regular fares. Monthly ride passes were 28% of the total. All that was good news for the CCJPA Board to hear. To top that, the "reliability" of the service (on time performance) rose to 87%, and the Union Pacific's OTP was near 95%.

Chairman Roger Dickenson asked about the on time breakdown for the various segments of the corridor, particularly between Sacramento and Auburn. Managing Director, Gene Skoropowski reported that there had been a vast improvement of the morning southbound train, but that the northbound still was having some problems until the past two weeks when it has improved. Just as a review Vacaville Mayor Len Augustine, who represents Solano County on the board, asked what "On Time" meant in this case. Mr. Skoropowski reported, "ten minutes from the scheduled time between Oakland and Sacramento and fifteen minutes from Oakland to San Jose."
A tie renewal program will be underway as a joint project of the CCJPA, ACE, and the UPRR. Currently the CCJPA is nearing completion of its own project for new track infrastructure in the Oakland to San Jose corridor. The new project will replace ties on all the existing main line tracks between Oakland and San Jose. The UP's Jerry Wilmoth told the board his company will be spending $11 million on the new project, and the CCJPA's share will not exceed $1.2 million. The board voted to authorize the agreement which will complete construction projects on this segment, bringing to seven round trip Capitols extended to San Jose, a reduction of the running time on this segment, as well as improving ride quality. The financing of the project will come from the improved revenues generated by the increased ridership, just as was the addition of the new trains a year ago. No additional state money will have to be requested.
As for the next fiscal year, ?06, Mr. Skorpowski pointed out that the state rail program will NOT be cut from the amount of yearly operational support in next year's budget it has received each of the last five years. No new service increases beyond the 24 Oakland-Sacramento trains, the up to 14 Oakland-San Jose trains, and eventual 6 daily trains between Sacramento and Roseville with 4 extended to Auburn are in the funding level for the next year. That brought up the operational difficulties through the Roseville Yard, but Mr. Wilmoth of the UPRR said his railroad "is not in a position to deal with capacity modeling for any new extensions, including Reno and Auburn," so those extensions will have to wait for their business plan to accommodate this type of activity. In other financial news, the state's release of Proposition 42, the transportation investment funds, could bring the CCJPA $2.7 million to help pay for the Oakland to San Jose work. Caltrans is looking at using up to $62 million to finance the purchase of new "rolling stock," which would add capacity to the present trains. Mr. Skoropowski pointed out the trains can haul 7 cars with one locomotive, and that's all added capacity at very little added cost.
During a discussion of AJR 18 (Jones, Leslie) regarding support for continuing funding for Amtrak, Mr. Skoropowski reported the bill had passed the Assembly, and was currently headed for the floor of the State Senate. As for Amtrak's finances, Mr. Skoropowski pointed out that the Amtrak Board's proposal, the "Laney Plan," was moving forward. This writer spoke on behalf of RailPAC, saying our organization had endorsed the Laney Plan at our June 4 meeting and urged the CCJPA members to look at it. Mr. Dickenson thanked us for that news.
In other Corridor news, the CCJPA celebrated the opening of the new Oakland Coliseum station on May 25, and announced that the new Berkeley station should open around July 15. A discussion of "high speed" rail revealed that in HR 1631, or "RIDE," under consideration in the U.S. Congress, the definition of "high speed" has been lowered from 150 mph to 90+ mph for the purpose of providing rail infrastructure bonds. The CCJPA has supported this definition.

The next CCJPA meeting will be September 21 at BART headquarters in Oakland.


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 Capitol Corridor JPA Suisun City Hall, June 15, 2005 Reported by Russ Jackson With a record month of almost 116,000 riders and $1,300,000 in revenue in May, and farebox recovery at a record 43.7% year to date, the Capitol Corridor is showing excellent growth, above its forecast for this year. The January ridership survey showed 59% of the riders were on business/work trips, with 27% visiting family, friends, or were on leisure trips. The 10-ride tickets were 23% of the total sales, as small groups discovered that they could buy one to cover all their riders at a discount from regular fares. Monthly ride passes were 28% of the total. All that was good news for the CCJPA Board to hear. To top that, the "reliability" of the service (on time performance) rose to 87%, and the Union Pacific's OTP was near 95%. Chairman Roger Dickenson asked about the on time breakdown for the various segments of the corridor, particularly between Sacramento and Auburn. Managing Director, Gene Skoropowski reported that there had been a vast improvement of the morning southbound train, but that the northbound still was having some problems until the past two weeks when it has improved. Just as a review Vacaville Mayor Len Augustine, who represents Solano County on the board, asked what "On Time" meant in this case. Mr. Skoropowski reported, "ten minutes from the scheduled time between Oakland and Sacramento and fifteen minutes from Oakland to San Jose." A tie renewal program will be underway as a joint project of the CCJPA, ACE, and the UPRR. Currently the CCJPA is nearing completion of its own project for new track infrastructure in the Oakland to San Jose corridor. The new project will replace ties on all the existing main line tracks between Oakland and San Jose. The UP's Jerry Wilmoth told the board his company will be spending $11 million on the new project, and the CCJPA's share will not exceed $1.2 million. The board voted to authorize the agreement which will complete construction projects on this segment, bringing to seven round trip Capitols extended to San Jose, a reduction of the running time on this segment, as well as improving ride quality. The financing of the project will come from the improved revenues generated by the increased ridership, just as was the addition of the new trains a year ago. No additional state money will have to be requested. As for the next fiscal year, ?06, Mr. Skorpowski pointed out that the state rail program will NOT be cut from the amount of yearly operational support in next year's budget it has received each of the last five years. No new service increases beyond the 24 Oakland-Sacramento trains, the up to 14 Oakland-San Jose trains, and eventual 6 daily trains between Sacramento and Roseville with 4 extended to Auburn are in the funding level for the next year. That brought up the operational difficulties through the Roseville Yard, but Mr. Wilmoth of the UPRR said his railroad "is not in a position to deal with capacity modeling for any new extensions, including Reno and Auburn," so those extensions will have to wait for their business plan to accommodate this type of activity. In other financial news, the state's release of Proposition 42, the transportation investment funds, could bring the CCJPA $2.7 million to help pay for the Oakland to San Jose work. Caltrans is looking at using up to $62 million to finance the purchase of new "rolling stock," which would add capacity to the present trains. Mr. Skoropowski pointed out the trains can haul 7 cars with one locomotive, and that's all added capacity at very little added cost. During a discussion of AJR 18 (Jones, Leslie) regarding support for continuing funding for Amtrak, Mr. Skoropowski reported the bill had passed the Assembly, and was currently headed for the floor of the State Senate. As for Amtrak's finances, Mr. Skoropowski pointed out that the Amtrak Board's proposal, the "Laney Plan," was moving forward. This writer spoke on behalf of RailPAC, saying our organization had endorsed the Laney Plan at our June 4 meeting and urged the CCJPA members to look at it. Mr. Dickenson thanked us for that news. In other Corridor news, the CCJPA celebrated the opening of the new Oakland Coliseum station on May 25, and announced that the new Berkeley station should open around July 15. A discussion of "high speed" rail revealed that in HR 1631, or "RIDE," under consideration in the U.S. Congress, the definition of "high speed" has been lowered from 150 mph to 90+ mph for the purpose of providing rail infrastructure bonds. The CCJPA has supported this definition. The next CCJPA meeting will be September 21 at BART headquarters in Oakland.
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