The way it stands now is that the class one railroads wait till a local goverment begs them to let them them use there tracks for commuter rail. The Class Ones have said that running passenger trains is a money loser because the fares never cover the cost of operations.
In Chicago RTA collects the taxes and enters into “Purchase of Service Agreements” were RTA pays BNSF to run and crew there trains on BNSF track.
Statement-Commuter Railroads are now a public service and never break even but are a nessesary evil in growing dence urban areas in order for them to viable. (Like buses and sewers and the like)
Question-Should CSX and NS ACTAULY have salespeople and hire planners to SELL the idea of commuter rail “Purchase of Service Contracts” to Metropoliton Areas and States in order that they can actualy make a PROFIT from the sales of these comprehesive goverment contracts to design,build (additional track) and operate commuter and intrastate trains.
FACT- Building a new light rail line can run into the 100s of millions of dollers and so can a mile of new freeway
The Point here “Murphy Siding” is that CSX and NS and other east coast railroads unlike BNSF and UP(Ex CNW) have a real problem with passenger trains to the point of hating them. They say tha they are money losers and the few passenger trains that they do run like MARC to DC they say that they still lose money on the contracts that they do have .
NS says that a Commuter Train takes up slots on there main lines that could be occupied by more profitble trains like coal and stack trains. “100 car stack train at 2,000.00 rate of bill per container is 200,000.00 of revenue vs amtrak paying 12,000 per train to rent the track?..”
It’s going to take a pretty good salesman to “sell” a $12,000 item for $200,000 don’t you think. The railroads got rid of passenger operations because they lost money-lots of it, for a number of years. The economics of hauling passengers verses freight favors freight by a long margin.
During peak time commuters can run on 30 minute or even 15 minute headways. Weaving your own trains in and out of these windows takes a DS of exceptional skill, and a crew willing to put the pedal to the metal when they get their shot. Both of these employees are severly lacking. Plus if something happens with the train out ahead of a commuter train, causing the commuter to be delayed, the passengers get REALLY mad.
Sure you can hold your trains during these windows, but that burns up crews, and adds a significate amount of dwell time to the train. Both of which are bad, when the railroads are trying to restyle themselves as Just In Time providers.
Additionally, there are several severe restrictions in the Operating Rules concerning the operation of freight and commuter type passenger trains on the same track with regard to station stops and other Delay in Block items.
With the NS and CSX running at or over capacity in most places on the East Coast, it’s simply not worth it. Commuter traffic has a low rate of return compared to freight.
Nearly every commuter agency I’m familiar with operates at a defict. Economically, if makes little sense for railroads to actively court business, that actively interferes with their own operations, and is nearly always operates at break even or worse.
YES I know that every commuter train agency operates at a loss when it comes to the farebox…
YES I know that east coast railroads “Supposaly” dont have room for passenger trains…
BUT…Both the New York Central and the Pennsy had 4 track main lines…That were ripped up in the 1960s…and many single track lines were double track…
AND…just because the track was removed does not mean the land was shrunk down…The right of way is still in many places 100 feet on both sides of the tracks.
SO…Instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollers building high tech light rail
Spend 500,000 to a 1,000,000 a mile to build conventional commuter rail on a seperate parrell track next to the freight tracks
The direct answer to your question is NO. Let the Govts come hat in hand and with wheelborrows full of money. No need for carriers to waste money on salesman for this traffic.
I think it makes sense. I don’t pretend to imagine myself speaking on behalf of any Class One…Rather than a long theoretical laundry list of why it cannot be accomplished, one has a hundred years of experience and history that easily refutes that nay saying. The money, instead of subsidizing a quasi public ad hoc legal entity who as the GAO pointed out recently, did’nt know how much cash it had…any operating subsidy would be properly accounted for. It could be a way to: Increase a public profile, hence political capital,make a case for increasing infrastructure improvements through tax incentives, provide for better coordination of operations, better management, employee pride which was always evident in the days of passenger operation, It would take the funding situation into an arm’s length transaction out of the beltway… Federal political appointees have no business running railroad operations -period. Many Class 1’s have expressed an open mind to this concept on a smaller scale. What’s the alternative? The current status quo of half baked square pegs into round holes?
Once a track has been removed, it can be quite expensive to re-install, even if the boundaries of the right-of-way haven’t changed. Also remember that setting up for a suburban service includes a lot more than additional track: stations, storage yards, service facilities, etc. also have to be built and operated.
In the Chicago area, the North Central Line (ex-SOO) to Antioch remained at little more than three trains each way (inbound in AM, outbound in PM) in rush hour because the capacity to handle more trains just wasn’t there. Adding the additional track took a lot of time and money before the job was completed and service was finally expanded to an all-day operation in early 2006.
As Folks in Boston have found out…Runing a railroad is more then tracks, trains and conducters… The MBTA is a buracratic nightmare (as is Amtrak) as the huge headquaters in Boston can atest too.
The right of ways that I have observed are still graded and track and addtional ballast are that what would be needed. Trains can run on 10 min headways and carry 1000 people per double decker train. A two lanes road carrys 2,000 cars an hour.
Acording to PARSONS Consulting in Buffalo who I talked to today…(They are working on the Peace Bridge). Connecting right of way on existing land for 2 lane roads is 2.9 million dollers a mile. Railroad track(Source Atlas Railroad Contruction) is 500,000 to 1.5 million a mile. BUT you have the trains themselves at 15,000,000 a set.