Post by jeffe77 on Feb 25, 2008 15:00:26 GMT -8
Popular Calif. rail routes need cash, experts say
San Jose Mercury News: Monday, Feb. 25, 2008
by Eric Nelson, Staff Writer
While most of their co-workers were still snug in their beds, about 60 of the Bay Area's hardiest commuters milled about the platform at Sacramento's Amtrak station waiting to board the Capitol Corridor's first train of the day, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
After a few minutes, the doors opened on Train 521 and the bleary-eyed travelers climbed aboard.
With a departure time of 4:30 a.m., it's known as the "Oh-My-God Train."
"It's a quiet train. If you walk through the train, a lot of people are asleep," said Betty Digilio, a 45-year-old Sacramento resident who starts work at 6:30 a.m. at the East Bay Municipal Utility District in Oakland.
It's not as quiet as Eugene Skoropowski expected, however.
As the Capitol Corridor's managing director, he launched the early run in 2006, thinking it might be popular with San Jose-bound commuters boarding in Oakland, where it arrives at the more human hour of 6:21 a.m.
But a year and a half later, about a third of the train's average 140 to 180 passengers board in Sacramento, and those numbers keep climbing at all times of the day.
The Corridor and California's two other intercity rail lines, the San Joaquins from Oakland to Bakersfield and the Pacific Surfliner trains from San Diego to San Luis Obispo, carry 20 percent of Amtrak's nationwide passengers.
While ridership on those California routes has grown 43 percent to 5 million annual trips in 2007, vehicle miles in the state have gone up only 8 percent and the population has risen 11 percent. State funding for this fast-growing sector has not kept pace, however.
So five hours after Train 521 departed, Oakland-based Skoropowski was also in Sacramento, sitting down with state legislators and officials from the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority and their counterparts who run the other two railroads.
A daylong series of meetings and events calls attention to the fact that as travelers and commuters clamor for seats on their trains, officials struggle to expand service to meet that demand.
Since a voter-approved bond jump-started the Capitol Corridor in 1990, the line has received only sporadic capital funding from state coffers, averaging only about $578,000 a year.
"We have worked very hard with the dollars that have been given to us," said Forrest Williams, a San Jose city councilman who chairs the joint powers authority that governs the Capitol Corridor, "but we have reached that point where we cannot expand anymore" without compromising service.
Some relief is in the works from a new statewide transportation bond, which will pump $400 million into intercity rail improvements. Last year, the Legislature budgeted $187 million, of which $150 million will pay for six new trains - two for each of the three rail routes.
To keep pace with burgeoning demand, officials said they will need a stable source of income such as the state program that helps maintain local streets and roads. The fund should start at $55 million a year and rise at the same rate as ridership, they said.
San Jose Mercury News: Monday, Feb. 25, 2008
by Eric Nelson, Staff Writer
While most of their co-workers were still snug in their beds, about 60 of the Bay Area's hardiest commuters milled about the platform at Sacramento's Amtrak station waiting to board the Capitol Corridor's first train of the day, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
After a few minutes, the doors opened on Train 521 and the bleary-eyed travelers climbed aboard.
With a departure time of 4:30 a.m., it's known as the "Oh-My-God Train."
"It's a quiet train. If you walk through the train, a lot of people are asleep," said Betty Digilio, a 45-year-old Sacramento resident who starts work at 6:30 a.m. at the East Bay Municipal Utility District in Oakland.
It's not as quiet as Eugene Skoropowski expected, however.
As the Capitol Corridor's managing director, he launched the early run in 2006, thinking it might be popular with San Jose-bound commuters boarding in Oakland, where it arrives at the more human hour of 6:21 a.m.
But a year and a half later, about a third of the train's average 140 to 180 passengers board in Sacramento, and those numbers keep climbing at all times of the day.
The Corridor and California's two other intercity rail lines, the San Joaquins from Oakland to Bakersfield and the Pacific Surfliner trains from San Diego to San Luis Obispo, carry 20 percent of Amtrak's nationwide passengers.
While ridership on those California routes has grown 43 percent to 5 million annual trips in 2007, vehicle miles in the state have gone up only 8 percent and the population has risen 11 percent. State funding for this fast-growing sector has not kept pace, however.
So five hours after Train 521 departed, Oakland-based Skoropowski was also in Sacramento, sitting down with state legislators and officials from the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority and their counterparts who run the other two railroads.
A daylong series of meetings and events calls attention to the fact that as travelers and commuters clamor for seats on their trains, officials struggle to expand service to meet that demand.
Since a voter-approved bond jump-started the Capitol Corridor in 1990, the line has received only sporadic capital funding from state coffers, averaging only about $578,000 a year.
"We have worked very hard with the dollars that have been given to us," said Forrest Williams, a San Jose city councilman who chairs the joint powers authority that governs the Capitol Corridor, "but we have reached that point where we cannot expand anymore" without compromising service.
Some relief is in the works from a new statewide transportation bond, which will pump $400 million into intercity rail improvements. Last year, the Legislature budgeted $187 million, of which $150 million will pay for six new trains - two for each of the three rail routes.
To keep pace with burgeoning demand, officials said they will need a stable source of income such as the state program that helps maintain local streets and roads. The fund should start at $55 million a year and rise at the same rate as ridership, they said.
