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Amtrak finds California golden Passenger line may be ailing elsewhere, but it's on track here Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer |
Sunday, August 10, 2003
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Carrie Garcia and Keri Wells from Tulare wanted to leave the kids behind and spend the weekend in the Bay Area -- clubbing in San Francisco, visiting friends in Santa Rosa, wine-tasting in Sonoma -- but they didn't want to drive. So the two friends decided to take the train. They hopped on the northbound San Joaquin in Hanford and left the driving to Amtrak. "I'll take it again and again and again," Garcia said. Thanks to weekend warriors like Garcia and Wells, briefcase-toting executives, commuters and tourists, the three Amtrak California trains -- a cooperative effort between Caltrans and Amtrak -- are enjoying a surge in ridership this year. Even as Congress debates the future of Amtrak, and California ponders whether it should pour tens of billions into high-speed rail, the Capitol Corridor, San Joaquin and Pacific Surfliner have become among the national passenger railroad's best-ridden trains. And they've become models for the future of financially and politically struggling Amtrak, which is eyeing shorter-distance corridor routes and state cost-sharing as keys to preserving and expanding passenger rail service. "It's one of the best-kept secrets in the country, how California has supported passenger rail," Amtrak President David Gunn said in a visit to Oakland last fall. "You're doing it right. It's an example that should be followed by the rest of the country." And it may be, if President Bush has his way. He recently proposed sweeping changes to the national passenger rail system that would take California's model of subsidizing in-state Amtrak service to other states and eventually withdraw federal funding. Rail still plays a relatively minor role in California; it hasn't noticeably reduced the number of cars on Interstates 5 or 80 or cut into Southwest Airlines' business. But growth in Amtrak California's ridership has made the trains among the nation's most popular outside the Northeast corridor. MOST POPULAR LINEThe Pacific Surfliner, which runs between San Luis Obispo and San Diego, was the most-ridden train in the nation outside the Northeast in the 2002 budget year, with the San Jose-to-Auburn Capitol Corridor second. In fourth were the San Joaquin trains that run from Bakersfield to Sacramento and Bakersfield to Oakland. And each of the three trains keeps setting ridership records. "California is rockin'," said Gene Skoropowski, managing director of the Capitol Corridor trains. "Record after record is being achieved." In June, 188,120 passengers rode the Surfliner, an increase of 30 percent over the same month last year. On the Capitol Corridor, 94,702 passengers -- a 6.1 percent increase -- climbed aboard. And the San Joaquin carried 71,210 riders -- 2.3 percent more than a year earlier. Transportation officials and rail advocates credit a variety of factors with driving more Californians to ride the rails -- fear of flying, worsening traffic congestion, more frequent trains, improved marketing and word-of-mouth. "Each train has its own reasons (for rising ridership), and then there are common reasons," said Richard Silver, executive director of the Rail Passenger Association of California. "Gas prices have had an effect; so has the decline in air travel." Jeff Morales, head of the state Department of Transportation, credits the success to additional trips on the routes, coupled with capital improvements. Since 1998, the state has spent $600 million on everything from railcars to additional tracks and sidings. Under California's deal with Amtrak, the state covers the full cost of operating the Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin service, and two-thirds of the Pacific Surfliner's cost. Last year, the state spent $73 million to support the three Amtrak lines, the same amount budgeted for this year. "There's a very strong relationship between investment and ridership increases," Morales said. "When the governor chose to put a large amount of money into rail, it was a good investment. It's working." DISTINCT ROUTESWhile the Capitol Corridor, San Joaquin and Pacific Surfliner trains are all state-subsidized, they traverse distinctly different terrain and have their own character. The Capitol Corridor trains have more of an urban feel, with much of their journey passing through industrial tracts and the edges of subdivisions of the East Bay. Most of the trains end in Sacramento within walking distance of Old Town, downtown and the Capitol. With 12 round-trip trains each weekday and the relatively short run, Amtrak engineers refer to the Capitol Corridor as "the commuter." But it's also popular with families on day trips and travelers to the Sierra, a destination that can be reached by connecting buses. "I took it just for the experience of it," said first-time rider Michael Plimmer, an executive assistant from Los Angeles, who was in Sacramento visiting a friend and took the train to see another buddy in San Francisco. "I've been all over Europe on trains, and this ranks right up there." Would he take the train again? "Absolutely." The San Joaquin, as the name implies, spends most of its run speeding along through the fields and farm towns of the San Joaquin Valley, with stops in towns whose names appear on produce labels: Turlock, Madera, Hanford, Wasco. Many passengers are residents of valley towns, where catching an airplane means a long drive or a steep price and a bumpy connecting flight on a puddle- jumper. For them, the train is an affordable alternative. "It's a good way to travel," said Jarone Torrence, a computer technician who rides the San Joaquin often from his Bakersfield home to visit family in Antioch. "It's pretty reliable, and you don't have to worry about it falling out of the sky." California's biggest success on the rails is, surprisingly, in Southern California, where the car is still king but traffic congestion is driving more people to try the train. Each weekday, the Surfliner makes 10 round-trips between Los Angeles and San Diego with three extending north to Santa Barbara and one to San Luis Obispo. The train's riders are a mix of commuters, business travelers, sightseers and tourists. Robert Flores, a philosophy professor at Santa Monica College, commutes twice a week on the train from his home in San Luis Obispo -- a long ride but one he enjoys. "For me, it's a five-hour block to read and relax," he said. "I don't have any problem with driving or with cars. I like to drive. But the train is really a better way to go. It's just more healthy all the way around." SLOW GOINGBut riding the state-supported trains is not without its problems. For many travelers, the trains are simply too slow, especially compared with driving. The biggest problem is delays. Like other Amtrak lines, the state trains are often late. For the third quarter of the last fiscal year -- the most recent quarterly report available -- the Pacific Surfliner was on time 85 percent of the time, the Capitol Corridor 83 percent and the San Joaquin 76 percent. The delays are such a persistent problem that even fans of the train caution the impatient. "It's an adventure," said San Joaquin passenger Lorine Snively, "and if you're not willing to go with the flow, you probably shouldn't take the train." Critics, including many Amtrak employees, blame the chronic delays on the private railroads that own and control almost all of the tracks. Too often, they say, the railroads give preference to their freight trains, though federal law and deals with the state say passenger trains should get priority. "Amtrak is seen as something that gets in the way," said Mark Jones, an Amtrak locomotive engineer, on a day when a dispute with Burlington-Santa Fe Railroad delayed one San Joaquin train more than two hours. "We're moving the most precious cargo there is -- people -- and we're treated like a second- class railroad." Officials with Amtrak, the state and the railroads say they're working together to reduce delays and improve on-time performance. The state is also helping pay for improvements -- such as an extra track across the Yolo Causeway between Davis and Sacramento -- that will increase capacity and speed trains. They're hopeful the work will keep the state-supported trains on a growth track. "Public support for rail is very good, as the ridership numbers show," Skoropowski said. "If on-time performance can be improved, we can knock the socks off of it." E-mail Michael Cabanatuan at mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com. |
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