California State Rail Plan 2007-08 to 2017-18

2007-08 – 2017-18 California State Rail Planroute administration, route history, route description, and historical performance.Figure 6A is the Pacific Surfliner route map, including the connecting buses.TEN-YEAR OPERATIONAL AND SERVICE IMPROVEMENTPLANSThis Section focuses on the specific ten-year operational and service improvementplans the Department has for the Route for the three key components ofOperations: on-time performance and reliability, streamlined operations andpassenger amenities, and multimodal connectivity. Key performance goals fortravel time, ridership, revenue, and farebox ratio are also presented. The combinedoperations program, as is pertains primarily to the Pacific Surfliner andSan Joaquin Routes, is also discussed in Chapter III in further detail. (Chapter IIIalso contains some information on the Capitol Corridor operations program.)ON-TIME PERFORMANCE AND RELIABILITYThe Department’s goal is to improve service reliability and increase on-timeperformance (OTP) to 90 percent by the end of the Plan period. Increased OTPprovides improved service reliability. This goal is based on the fullimplementation of the unconstrained capital program described in Chapter II.However, even when capital projects that can improve OTP are completed, otherfactors, such as growth of freight rail traffic, local communities desire to add newstations and use intercity rail to increase transit options to meet stricter air qualitystandards will affect OTP.Between 2001-02 and 2003-04, OTP was about 87 percent, party due to thecompletion of key capital projects. However, two factors caused the OTP to fall to72.9 percent in 2004-05. First, serious winter storms damaged track, interruptingand delaying service. Second, there has been a significant increase in freighttraffic and in the length of freight trains. Since that time, OTP has remained atabout a 76 percent average and has been severely affected by the increase infreight traffic, particularly from Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo, where it isalmost entirely single track and many sidings are not long enough to accommodatethe new longer freight trains.In the near term, the completion of on-going track projects will somewhat improveOTP. Work is progressing on the large Los Angeles-Fullerton third main trackand grade separations project. To date, four miles of triple track have beencompleted. Segments are being completed sequentially and each new segmentimproves reliability and OTP for both commuter and Pacific Surfliner services.Other projects currently programmed to improve OTP include the Oceansidedouble-track project. Further into the ten-year period, projects on the north end toadd sidings, increase the length of existing sidings, and upgrade the signalingsystem will improve OTP. On the south end, double track projects andreplacement of single-track wooden bridges with double track will improve OTP.92