Monday, August 25, 2008

Rail Passenger Service Integration...

Map of the Metrolink system.Image via Wikipedia One of the problems our present rail passenger service faces is the lack of integration between different carries such as Amtrak and Metrolink. This hold true here in Utah as there is no integration between Amtrak and the Front Runner Commuter Rail Service or TRAX however, most of that can be blamed directly on Amtrak being a none factor in our region. Here is links to a seven part series from the Intermountain Rail blog about integrating rail passenger service using examples from the airlines and the Thruway bus connections in California.

Poor Integration History

The Airlines-Code Sharing

The Airlines-The Regional Carriers

How it can be applied to rail passenger service

Integration of Schedules

The California Thruway: It Can Work

The Politics that holds us back
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

To blame Amtrak for the disconnect between Frontrunner and Amtrak service in Utah is to make a blind assumption, an exercise in naivity. Throughout the (re)construction of the Intermodal Hub in downtown Salt Lake City, Amtrak was left out of the loop despite the fact that Amtrak was on the property first! Going farther back in time, the State of Utah (UTA's Rich Daddy) and Salt Lake City relocated Amtrak from a more centrally located station to the site of the present-day Intermodal Hub, which is much worse than any other feasible location in Salt Lake City to arrive. The promise was, "you'll be in a new station by the Olympics..."

Which Olympics? It's been NINE
YEARS, no new station. UTA barged in, built the Intermodal Hub around Amtrak's "temporary" station, and neither the city of Salt Lake City nor the Utah Transit Authority has included Amtrak in any discussions of how Amtrak fits into THEIR plans, which reflects poorly on both Salt Lake City and UTA considering they are the landlords.

To jump on the Blame Amtrak bandwagon is naive. UTA has been a bad neighbor to all involved in the construction of it's Frontrunner system.

John Dornoff said...

First of all you must have not read the complete final part of the article because I pointed out their was plenty of blame to go around.

Second, when Salt Lake City and Boyer first started working on the Gateway, Amtrak basically said they could care less about the station and were they ended up so blame can go to Amtrak.

It is up to Amtrak as a carrier to get involved in the process and they never do whether it is Oceanside, California; Santa Ana, California; Albany, New York; St. Louis, Mo; etc, etc, etc, etc.

synjones said...

I have gone through the article its great.The Lake City relocated Amtrak from a more centrally located station to the site of the present day Inter modal Hub,and this is the place you can find all them.

Synjones

Utah Alcohol Addiction Treatment

Anonymous said...

I worked for 15 years and had people help from all across the state concerning getting rail service from St. Louis to Springfield and Branson and on the Tulsa. Last year in Missouri the highway department tried to convince the State Legislature to help get funding for Amtrak from Stylus to Branson and on. They say it will help relieve traffic on interstate 44 and help drivers have other options. Rolla, Lebanon, Springfield, Branson and many other cities could benefit from the economic development it could bring

Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden has spent many years promoting the idea that additional routes will increase traffic in general on Amtrak. . What about those gas prices? If Biden becomes vice president he will bring more Rail Passenger Service to Missouri and the United States.

Sincerely,

Steven L. Reed
1441 South Estate Ave.
Springfield, MO 65804

stevenlloydreed@hotmail.com