Intermountain Rail

In previous entries, I discussed the history of rail/travel integration, how the airlines operate and how it could work with rail passenger service. However, there are some hurdles holding us back from getting to the optimized rail passenger service that needs to happen before we can have a truly world class rail passenger service.

One of the first hurdles we need to overcome is the attitude of Amtrak’s management. Amtrak management despite having several different CEO’s over the last few years has done little to change the way their do business. There was been little attempts to better coordinate service although there has been some talks with Metrolink in Los Angeles and they do take some agencies monthly passes such as the program in the Los Angeles area.

In addition Amtrak ticketing services are largely still in the dark ages as they do not even provide E-ticketing options that most of their competitors do. In fact if I order tickets were I live they will charge me $12.00 to ship me tickets because I have a manned station near my. However, that manned station is only open from 10:00pm to 5:00am, do you really think, unless I am actually catching the California Zephyr that I am going to go and pick up tickets during those hours?

Local politics is another item keeping us in the dark ages when it comes to rail passenger service. Commuter railroads do not look at the big picture and do not see themselves as part of a bigger transportation system. Transit planners and politicians often have a hard time seeing beyond their service area and many times are too caught up in turf ward to care about effective transportation policy.

One good example is in Santa Barbara and San Diego in California. In both cases local politicians are calling for (or have talked about) cutting of Surfliner service so they can provide start up commuter train service between Santa Barbara and Oxnard or expanded service on the Coaster between Oceanside and San Diego. However you only have to look at the present situation in Oceanside to see how poorly service would be coordinated with other agencies. In Oceanside both Coaster and Metrolink trains terminate, however there is no coordination of schedules, no through fares, and no mention of services beyond their service area. In effect, they there is a commuter railroad from Los Angeles to Oceanside and then you cross an imaginary border at Oceanside and can travel from Oceanside to San Diego although you may have a wait an hour or three. If Pacific Surfliners were to be cut do you think Coaster and Metrolink would work better to provide coordinated service? Chances are just as slim that if there is new service from Santa Barbara to Oxnard that it would have coordinated and/or through service to Los Angeles on Metrolink: slim to none.

Another stumbling block is the unions and their adversarial relationships. If we were to create a more integrated rail passenger system, there would be MORE need for employees because of the increased demand for rail passenger service. However, the unions see any change as an attack on them and their establishment and are often not willing to look at ways to make rail service more efficient and effective.

The issues facing the creation of an effective rail passenger service are more complicated, but this gives some ideas of the issues keeping rail passenger service in the United States in the dark ages. If we are to have a world class rail passenger system we need to move the system into the 21^st Century and that is going to take both local and national attention to the issues.

Part 1: Poor Integration History

Part 2: The Airlines-Code Sharing

Part 3: The Airlines-The Regional Carriers

Part 4: How it can be applied to rail passenger service

Part 5: Integration of Schedules

Part 6: The California Thruway: It Can Work

Part 7: The Politics that holds us back

John Dornoff is a principal in the Dornoff Consulting Group.