Measuring the Benefits of Intercity Passenger Rail: A Study

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that the right passengers depart the train at the proper stations. The practice of seating passengers according to destination is commonplace across the Amtrak system. The Superliner-series coach/café cars have been a regular part of the consist since the Heartland Flyer’s inauguration in June 1999. The Superliner-series coach cars, however, were incorporated into the consist on a regular basis starting in FFY 2008 (October 2007). Prior to the use of Superliner coach cars, older Santa Fe Hi-Line coach cars were used on the route. The Santa Fe Hi-Line cars used on the Heartland Flyer were inherited from the Santa Fe when Amtrak assumed the operation of all passenger routes in the country in May 1971. The Hi-Line cars used on the Heartland Flyer were constructed in the mid-1950s; by contrast, the Superliner equipment used presently was delivered in the early 1980s (15). While the Superliner and Hi- Line coaches are similar, one key difference is in the height of the car above the tracks, with the Superliner equipment slightly taller than the Hi-Line equipment. In photos of the consist taken before October 2007, one can identify the Hi-Line equipment by noting the elevation difference along the top edge between the Hi-Line coaches and the Superliner Coach/Café equipment. Equipment Maintenance Researcher discussions with Amtrak staff in Fort Worth indicated that most of the routine maintenance for the Heartland Flyer can be performed at the Amtrak maintenance shop in Fort Worth. This routine maintenance includes the required inspections of the locomotive, NPCU, and rolling stock. If maintenance cannot be performed in Fort Worth, the impacted equipment is attached to the Texas Eagle and taken to Amtrak maintenance bases in Chicago or Los Angeles. Ticketing The ticket price structure for the Heartland Flyer is based on the distance of travel and the time of ticket purchase relative to the date of travel (i.e., advance purchase). Typical fares on the Heartland Flyer during the time of this study ranged from $5 to $8 between Oklahoma City and Norman to $25 to $42 between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth. Several discounts are available that provide a reduced fare, both from Amtrak and special Heartland Flyer-only promotions. Standard fare discounts offered by Amtrak include seniors (age 62 and over), children (age 2 through 15, under age 2 free), military personnel, organized groups, and other specified passenger types or affiliations (5). One Heartland Flyer-only promotion that was in 60
effect during this research study was a special promotion, celebrating the Heartland Flyer’s tenth anniversary, which allowed passengers a 20 percent discount on the quoted fare (78). One aspect of the ticketing arrangements that is unique to the Heartland Flyer (at the time of this writing) is worth discussing in greater detail. As previously mentioned, all of the stations along the route except for Fort Worth are unstaffed, meaning that no ticket agents are available to sell tickets or conduct other business in Oklahoma City or intermediate stations. Additionally, no automatic ticket dispensing machines (commonplace in Amtrak stations across the country) are available in the Heartland Flyer stations except for Fort Worth. Because passengers are not ticketed before boarding the train (except in Fort Worth), the Heartland Flyer on-board staff (conductor and assistant conductors) must pass through the train and sell tickets or collect money for tickets that were reserved in advance. This is particularly an issue for the southbound train run (#821) because all passengers on that train board at stations with no ticketing capabilities. Researcher observation and on-board staff reports suggest that on high-demand runs of train #821, the on-board staff can spend most of the trip’s four-plus hour duration completing ticket business in addition to their usual obligations to run the train safely. Since full ticketing facilities exist in Fort Worth, any ticket originating in Fort Worth that is purchased on-board is subject to a $9 penalty. Host Railroad Nearly all Amtrak routes outside of the Northeast Corridor spine, including the Heartland Flyer, operate over tracks owned by freight railroad companies, known as host railroads. Amtrak’s access to freight railroad-owned infrastructure is guaranteed by the RPSA (7). The BNSF Railway Company owns the entire 206-mile route traveled by the Heartland Flyer (5). BNSF Railway is the largest host railroad for Amtrak trains, hosting an estimated 6.69 million train-miles in FFY 2008 (6). While Federal statute protects Amtrak’s access to BNSF trackage (and enforceable by STB action if necessary), Amtrak and the BNSF maintain an incentive agreement for the Heartland Flyer service. The incentive agreement between BNSF and Amtrak for the Heartland Flyer is typical of incentive agreements in place with BNSF for other Amtrak routes, and is similar to Amtrak's older incentive agreements with other carriers. Under the incentive agreement, BNSF is provided with a financial incentive if the Heartland Flyer operates 61
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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
Page 40 and 41: In April 2009, the Federal Railroad
Page 42 and 43: conditions across the United States
Page 44 and 45: Table 2-2: State-Supported Routes i
Page 46 and 47: Oklahoma and Texas support service
Page 48 and 49: 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: during non-peak times when the usua
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 and 100: Figure 3-9: Heartland Flyer On-Time
Page 101 and 102: CHAPTER 4: DATA COLLECTION The main
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
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Figure 5-2: Residential Zip Codes o
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Gender Table 5-22 reports passenger
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Household Income Table 5-26 reports
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In FFY 2009, the Heartland Flyer ra
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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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