California State Rail Plan 2005-06 to 2015-16

2005-06 – 2015-16 California State Rail Plan
Although recent OTP has been negatively impacted by increased freight traffic
statewide; capital projects are planned on all three Routes to increase capacity and
OTP. Operational efficiency will also be improved in the ten-year period with
capital projects to purchase equipment, construct new or improve existing stations,
build maintenance facilities, and improve track and signal infrastructure.
Schedule planning is an important component of the operations program.
The Department reviews train schedules to improve ridership, yield, and
operational efficiency, particularly in regard to equipment usage and crew
schedules. Train schedules should provide optimum flexibility and coverage
given the number of round-trips on the route. For example, passengers should be
able to make convenient business or day trips to the major urban destinations such
as San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Diego.
Travel patterns have become much more complex with population growth and
business centers moving out of cities. To serve traveler’s needs, it has become
much more important for intercity rail to connect to other systems in order to serve
a variety of travel patterns. Thus, the Department works to coordinate with other
rail and transit providers and adjust schedules whenever possible to improve
connections.
The Department also works with Amtrak to increase yields and contain costs
through analysis of segment profitability, yield pricing and other mechanisms, and
establish fares that maximize yields and ridership. This effort is coordinated with
the market research and ridership/revenue modeling work described in Chapter IV.
Additionally, the Department monitors Amtrak billings for accuracy.
Another potential avenue for reducing costs and increasing service quality is the
competitive bidding of either the entire intercity rail service function or of specific
ancillary services. The Department has examined these options in the past and
will continue to study the feasibility of competitively bidding rail services. This is
a timely issue as there has been strong pressure from the Federal administration
and many in Congress to introduce competition to Amtrak. Amtrak’s own
strategic reform initiatives concerning competition are discussed in the “Amtrak
Planning Section” of Chapter XI.
PASSENGER AMENITIES
On Board Amenities
Important on board passenger amenities include: food service, reserved seating,
and checked baggage. Food service varies on each of the three routes, however all
trains have a food service car that provides table seating, and snacks, drinks and
beer and wine. The San Joaquins also offer full meals. The food is oriented
towards quality at an affordable price. Food service is evaluated and adjusted on
an ongoing basis to improve quality and yield. Reserved seating is provided on
the San Joaquins and in Business Class Service on the Pacific Surfliners.
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