California State Rail Plan 2005-06 to 2015-16

Chapter VI – Pacific Surfliner Route
Transit are participating. Within the ten-year period, the Department plans to
expand this program to additional transit agencies. In conjunction with the free
transfer program, marketing and passenger information programs will be expanded
to provide additional information on intermodal connectivity with local transit.
The Department plans to expand and improve Amtrak Thruway bus service on the
Route, including additional connections north to the San Francisco Bay Area.
TRAVEL TIMES
Current San Diego to Los Angeles travel times average 2 hours, 45 minutes;
Los Angeles to Goleta (just north of Santa Barbara) averages 2 hours, 58 minutes;
and Goleta to San Luis Obispo averages 2 hours, 27 minutes. The travel time
goals below assume that the unconstrained capital program described in Chapter II
is fully implemented. The Department’s goal is to reduce travel times as follows:
• San Diego to Los Angeles - 2 hours, 30 minutes (15 minute reduction).
• Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo - 5 hours, 5 minutes (20 minute reduction).
Between San Diego and Los Angeles reductions will be accomplished through the
completion of capital projects that will reduce actual run times as well as reduce
the recovery time in the schedule. These projects include double-tracking in
North San Diego County, triple-tracking between Los Angeles and Fullerton, and
the LAUS Run-through Track project that will greatly improve the efficiency of
operations at Union Station. On the north end between Santa Barbara and
San Luis Obispo, updating signaling to Centralized Traffic Control (CTC),
increasing siding lengths, new siding construction, and upgrading track will also
reduce running times and allow for a reduction in schedule recovery time.
(See Chapter II, for additional information about the capital projects.)
RIDERSHIP, REVENUE, AND FAREBOX RATIO
The Department’s goals for ridership, revenue and farebox will be achieved
through the capital, operational, and service improvements and service expansions
discussed in this Chapter as well as Chapters II, III, and IV. They are as follows:
• Increase annual ridership 40 percent from 2,578,000 to 3,611,000.
• Increase annual revenues 60 percent from $28.4 million to $45.4 million for
the State-supported 70 percent of the Route.
• Increase revenue/cost (farebox) ratio from 58.0 percent to 65.0 percent.
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