-
Ventura – Santa Barbara “Commuter ” Service off to rocky start – the punctuality problem
LOSSAN retimed the morning train (761) from LAUS to San Luis Obispo to make it a “commuter” train from Ventura County to Santa Barbara and Goleta. (See Surfliner schedule effective 4.1.18). Various efforts were made to try and stop the last train to Goleta at Oxnard and start the morning train from there but none…
-
Some Future Rail Connections to LAX and West LA.
Since 1995 the closest (about 2 miles) LAX has been to rail service is the Green Line Station at Aviation Blvd and Imperial Highway. That will change in 2022 when there will be a joint Crenshaw/LAX and Green Lines Station with connections to the LAX People Mover which will be a mile closer to the…
-
Notes on last Monday’s LOSSAN Board Meeting in San Diego
I rarely have a chance to attend the meetings on rail service to keep up with what is happening. I hadn’t given any thought about attending the recent LOSSAN Joint Powers Authority (JPA) Board Meeting at the SANDAG headquarters,until I figured I could take the Rapid Bus on the I-15 to it and still get…
-
What’s Needed for Rail Service to Reduce Traffic in San Diego
SANDAG , the regional planning agency for San Diego County is appealing a ruling by 2 lower courts to the California Supreme Court of a lawsuit brought by a coalition of environmental groups. The lawsuit is over SANDAG’s transportation planning for the County. The basis of this lawsuit is SANDAG’s current planning expects a net…
-
How Not to Run Rail Passenger Service
In the United States, we have been running rail passenger service the wrong way for years. What we need is a rail passenger system. What we have instead is a fragmented series of services that that don’t connect with each or serve places when and where people want to travel. Often service providers look at…
-
How to Make Grade Crossings Safer for Everyone
The derailment by a speeding Amtrak train this May in Philadelphia resulting in 8 deaths and over a hundred injuries of passengers has recently dominated the headlines. As spectacular and avoidable as such train accidents are, the majority of the damage and deaths occur on the railroads at grade crossings and trespassers on railroad rights…
-
Toronto’s Go Transit is a Great Regional Passenger Rail Service
Begun in 1967 with one commuter rail line, Go Transit now has 7 lines. Daily ridership on Go Transit trains is 215,000. This is carried with 1,500 train trips a week. The Province of Ontario this April announced a 13.5 billion dollar plan which will electrify 5 of the 7 rail lines by 2024.By 2020…