due to the 101 closed near santa barber surfliners are overwhelmed. Reports of 500 persons at one station for a north bound. All amtrak trains filled to crush capacity. 3 extra locos and 8 california capitol and san jaoquin train cars were sent on Amtrak 11 to add capacity to the So Cal trains. Capitol corridor announced that their trains will be overcrowed until cars can be returned.
This is another example that when new Amtrak cars are delivered that the semi-retired Horizons, AM-2s & -1s need to be assigned to standby disaster & crush duty and not be retired. IMO there needs to be a storage facility built somewhere in the mid-west for the times that the need is determined. That location can dispatch equipment the quickest. Alternatively two locations somewhere outside the west coast earthquake zones and in mid atlantic states.
Uh, Amtrak already has Beech Grove Indiana…why would they need a different facility? Also, I get the dispatching advantages, but wouldn’t storing them in places like Mojave as they do for airplanes allow the cars the last longer?
At Glendale Sunday morning two Surfliner trains had nine cars each. The news anchor on KEYT (Santa Barbara TV) has been taking the Surfliner into work from Oxnard. He said the extra cars significantly reduced overcrowding yesterday.
Extra capacity is fine! Who finances and pays for it? Even Amtrak ‘tries to run as a business’. Their business model doesn’t call for keeping excess equipment on the property for ‘needs’ that may be a one time occurence that may never happen. No business can operate on that basis.
Once the other forms of transportation have recovered there will be no more need for the extra cars on the Surfliners; who will pay for keeping those extra cars around until they, if ever, are needed again?
You may not need something as dire as a mudslide blocking a main highway. Just look at the travel demand during Thanksgiving and Christmas time, as well as during other events to warrant extra rolling stock.
How much are you willing to pay so that you have extra capacity for two weekends out of a year - nominally 10 days of the 365 days that comprise the year. Capacity costs money, real money, real money that may be better invested in something that gets used for the 365 days of the year.
Perhaps something could be done similar to the Civil Reserve Air Fleet where the US government puts railcars and locomotives in various heavy rail cities that are used in daily ope
Few passenger operations in the United States have enough extra cars in their fleets to contribute to a national reserve capacity. If such a reserve fleet would be in normal daily service, how do you address disruptions in their normal service area that would occur when the cars are re-assigned for emergency service?
Message from the Managing Director Regarding Service Assistance to the Pacific Surfliner Travel
Capitol Corridor capitolcorridor@public.govdelivery.com Northern California Train Cars to be Temporarily Transferred to Southern California During Highway 101 Closure Share From David B. Kutrosky Managing Director Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority Dear Passengers, As most of you are aware, there was a devastating mudslide in Santa Barbara County earlier this week due to heavy rains that fell in the areas burned last month by the Thomas Fire. The mudslide sadly resulted in at least 17 deaths, many more injuries, and has isolated communities between Santa Ba
Unconfirmed reports that CA surfline is closed again. Checking Inter city rail map all trains showing service disruptions around various stations between Irvine & Oceanside
Would have been nice to have some of the money spent on the Cal HSR going instead to replacing the route through San Clemente. The Surf line has been closed down for extended periods a number of times over the couple of decades.
The Del Mar bluffs have been an issue at times, but not to the extent that the bluffs in San Clemente have been.
It was interesting to note that someone on the pedestrian walkway was trying to warn people of the bluuff collase in progress but was ignored by many.
You know I look at these pictures and I see a lot of urban development right up until the edge of the problematic cliffs that are collapsing. Now I get it that some of this is due to climate change and wave action on the beach but not all of it. Guess who is not properly managing urban development in the Southern part of the state? This is recent urban development too not something that has been there years and years.
According to the first link freight service just started. But there is still movement of the hillside. Several points that the line is still in some of a peril. The next wave of storms coming may cause other landslides?