Measuring the Benefits of Intercity Passenger Rail: A Study

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• Other Delays, 1,892 (8.1 percent). The three longest delay causes in FFY 2009 attributed to Amtrak were the following: • Holds for passenger boarding, 645 minutes (27 percent); • Crew-related delays or delays in signal block, 469 minutes (20 percent); and • Engine failure, 430 minutes (18 percent). A majority of the delays attributed to the host railroad (BNSF Railway), and the largest single cause of Heartland Flyer delay for FFY 2009 was for slow orders, which accounted for 11,391 delay minutes in FFY 2009 (60 percent of host railroad-attributed delays). Other substantial causes of delay minutes attributed to the host railroad included freight train interference, 3,834 minutes (20 percent); and routing delays, 2,334 minutes (12 percent). The percentage of total delay attributed to the host railroad, BNSF Railway, has improved from more than 90 percent in past years to slightly more than 80 percent in FFY 2009. It is likely that this reduction is due, at least in part, to BNSF’s increased focus on reducing delays on many of the passenger rail routes that operate over its trackage. 70
CHAPTER 4: DATA COLLECTION The main objective of this study was to examine the role of state-supported passenger rail service in a short- to medium-distance intercity corridor and measure the benefits of providing the service. In pursuit of this objective, the key task of the study was an on-board survey of Heartland Flyer passengers. This chapter describes the data collection procedures in detail, including the design of the on-board survey instrument, the data collection process and results, and the data reduction process. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the lessons learned from this on-board survey effort that can be applied by researchers or analysts when planning future on-board surveys of intercity passenger rail routes. SURVEY DEVELOPMENT This section describes the development of the survey instrument used in the on-board survey of Heartland Flyer passengers in this study. Reported are the concepts and considerations for the preliminary survey design, feedback provided by project stakeholders, and the study’s approval by the Texas A&M University Institutional Review Board. Preliminary Design Chapter 2 of this report included a discussion on the design of on-board surveys for other intercity passenger rail routes. Researchers used many of the lessons learned in the literature review and the analysis of past on-board surveys of state-supported intercity passenger rail routes to guide the design of the survey instrument and the development of the data collection procedures that were employed in this study. In the initial stages of the survey instrument design, researchers decided that the survey for this study would be most effective if it were a maximum of two letter-size pages in length. This would allow for the survey to be no more than a single sheet of paper printed on both sides and would minimize the amount of burden on the respondent, in turn increasing participation in the study. Another decision for the design of the survey was to utilize as many “closed” questions as possible. These questions provide the respondent with a predetermined set of choices for each question and a check box or other space to indicate the selected choice. Closed 71
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1. Report No. SWUTC/10/169116-1 2.
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ABSTRACT In recent years, the polic
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LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 3-1: He
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION In i
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ail service along intercity corrido
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planning faces a variety of challen
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of travel (in the absence of rail s
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participate in the study. Throughou
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such as medical appointments or fun
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Heartland Flyer annually. Induced t
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Heartland Flyer identified in this
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DISCLAIMER The contents of this rep
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION In its Dece
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to Fort Worth intercity corridor wa
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• An overview of intercity passen
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passenger deficit for the year 1969
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In April 2009, the Federal Railroad
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conditions across the United States
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Table 2-2: State-Supported Routes i
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Oklahoma and Texas support service
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conducted by the Southeastern Wisco
Page 50 and 51: Discussion of State-Supported Rail
Page 52 and 53: • The 1993 Illinois Passenger Rai
Page 54 and 55: INTERCITY PASSENGER RAIL PLANNING T
Page 56 and 57: Data Needs for Intercity Passenger
Page 58 and 59: supported routes. The following par
Page 60 and 61: • Third, the total non-business r
Page 62 and 63: demand model varies, Horowitz and F
Page 64 and 65: Survey Design Literature Deploying
Page 66 and 67: Table 2-4: Elements Included in On-
Page 68 and 69: question. This pattern is consisten
Page 70 and 71: a particular corridor. For example,
Page 73 and 74: CHAPTER 3: DESCRIPTION OF HEARTLAND
Page 75 and 76: • After passing through Davis, th
Page 77 and 78: minutes early. A later section of t
Page 79 and 80: corridor. Table 3-1 shows a snapsho
Page 81 and 82: enefits resulting from the route’
Page 83 and 84: state of Oklahoma (71). This action
Page 85 and 86: served by the route are Pauls Valle
Page 87 and 88: Figure 3-4: Typical P42DC Locomotiv
Page 89 and 90: during non-peak times when the usua
Page 91 and 92: effect during this research study w
Page 93 and 94: HEARTLAND FLYER SERVICE DATA The fo
Page 95 and 96: Examining the 10-year monthly avera
Page 97 and 98: surprisingly, is Oklahoma City-Fort
Page 99: Figure 3-9: Heartland Flyer On-Time
Page 103 and 104: amenities that could increase rail
Page 105 and 106: pool be increased to 3,000. The IRB
Page 107 and 108: Summary of Data Collection Tables 4
Page 109 and 110: Ineligible Passengers Several group
Page 111 and 112: QUALITY CONTROL After completing th
Page 113 and 114: For the access mode to station ques
Page 115 and 116: One question on the survey asked th
Page 117 and 118: trip). However, researchers determi
Page 119 and 120: eporting how far passengers were fr
Page 121 and 122: CHAPTER 5: DATA ANALYSIS This chapt
Page 123 and 124: survey item by the total number of
Page 125 and 126: Comparing the total column in Table
Page 127 and 128: Tables 5-5 and 5-6 display another
Page 129 and 130: Heartland Flyer Market Area Researc
Page 131 and 132: Table 5-9: Passenger Trip Purpose,
Page 133 and 134: PASSENGER CHARACTERISTICS Passenger
Page 135 and 136: is entirely possible that a passeng
Page 137 and 138: In both April and July, the two mos
Page 139 and 140: Table 5-19: Passenger State of Resi
Page 141 and 142: Figure 5-2: Residential Zip Codes o
Page 143 and 144: Gender Table 5-22 reports passenger
Page 145 and 146: Household Income Table 5-26 reports
Page 147 and 148: In FFY 2009, the Heartland Flyer ra
Page 149 and 150: Table 5-28: Passenger Alternatives
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Urban and Rural Mobility Another co
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passenger was approximately $120 in
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if the service did not exist (appro
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This study measured the mobility im
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questions on the passenger’s boar
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made is related to the similarity b
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valuable insight on the design of f
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REFERENCES 1. National Surface Tran
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35. Corey, Canapary & Galanis Resea
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74. Able Consulting. Tier 1 Environ
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Figure A-3: Purcell Amtrak Station
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Figure A-7: Fort Worth Amtrak Stati
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