Notice: All Amtrak Service Suspended Between SD and San Juan Capistran

[John Bredin]

LA Resident, you're correct that the HSR will not use the coast route. However, California is receiving as part of the federal stimulus funding for HSR around $100 million for improvements to the existing conventional lines, specifically including 110mph service on the Pacific Surfliner between San Diego and Los Angeles.

Here's a blog posting stating that the HSR money for non-HSR lines is about $100 million.

And here from the White House press release from January 2010 is a clear statement that some of the HSR money will be spent on improvements to the existing Los Angeles-San Diego line.

The following isn't addressed at you specifically, LA Resident, but as a general rant. :angry2: HSR isn't a conspiracy to drain money from the conventional lines as some believe, nor are long-distance trains stealing money that could be better spent on corridor lines as others claim. We need all the components of a passenger rail system: true high-speed, conventional corridor service, and long-distance trains. They all serve slightly different purposes and are complementary of each other, of local transit, and even of aviation.

The opponents of improved passenger rail in the U.S. love to divide-and-conquer rail advocates with sound bites condemning one part or the other of the system as wasteful while making a seemingly reasonable concession that some other part is useful. This is IMHO done to give false hope to some advocates that if they join in supporting the complimented portion of the system and opposing the condemned portion that a compromise can be reached. Nope; the opponents will merely shift the goalposts again, pulling the football away from Charlie Brown rather than let him kick it. One conservative group (like URPA) will spin a vision of dozens of long-distance trains and pooh-pooh the NEC, while another conservative faction (like Congressman Mica) will praise the NEC and pooh-pooh long-distance trains.

Advocates of better passenger rail must not rise to the bait but instead push for funding adequate for all the components of a proper passenger rail system.

 

[LA Resident]

LA Resident, you're correct that the HSR will not use the coast route. However, California is receiving as part of the federal stimulus funding for HSR around $100 million for improvements to the existing conventional lines, specifically including 110mph service on the Pacific Surfliner between San Diego and Los Angeles.

Here's a blog posting stating that the HSR money for non-HSR lines is about $100 million.

And here from the White House press release from January 2010 is a clear statement that some of the HSR money will be spent on improvements to the existing Los Angeles-San Diego line.

The following isn't addressed at you specifically, LA Resident, but as a general rant. :angry2: HSR isn't a conspiracy to drain money from the conventional lines as some believe, nor are long-distance trains stealing money that could be better spent on corridor lines as others claim. We need all the components of a passenger rail system: true high-speed, conventional corridor service, and long-distance trains. They all serve slightly different purposes and are complementary of each other, of local transit, and even of aviation.

The opponents of improved passenger rail in the U.S. love to divide-and-conquer rail advocates with sound bites condemning one part or the other of the system as wasteful while making a seemingly reasonable concession that some other part is useful. This is IMHO done to give false hope to some advocates that if they join in supporting the complimented portion of the system and opposing the condemned portion that a compromise can be reached. Nope; the opponents will merely shift the goalposts again, pulling the football away from Charlie Brown rather than let him kick it. One conservative group (like URPA) will spin a vision of dozens of long-distance trains and pooh-pooh the NEC, while another conservative faction (like Congressman Mica) will praise the NEC and pooh-pooh long-distance trains.

Advocates of better passenger rail must not rise to the bait but instead push for funding adequate for all the components of a proper passenger rail system.

I agree with you that in a perfect world, there would be all the necessary components for California, indeed for every state, to have a comprehensive and balanced public transportation system.

But the reality is that HSR hopes, past and present, whether sustained or not, have in fact diverted funds that otherwise would have been spent on upgrading the existing rail systems, especially in Southern California and along the SF-San Jose and San Jose-Sacramento corridors.

The SD-LA line, which is the most patronized passenger rail line outside of the Northeast Corridor, would have been double-tracked and would be offering service at two hours or less if public money targeted for it in the early 1980s had not been diverted because the American High Speed Rail Corp., whose top officers were ex-Amtrak officials and Japanese National Railway honchos, made everyone swoon for a fully private proposed bullet train that never had a chance to succeed. Subsequently, there was never another comprehensive plan laid out for the SoCal corridor; only step=by-step projects that simply kept things from getting worse.

Two years ago, the Schwarzenegger Administration cut out all funding requests to Washington for non-HSR construction/upgrading in California in order to improve the state's chances of getting as much of the new HSR money as possible. The state succeeded, but at the price of further delaying long, long overdue construction on the existing line. As one example, the single-track bridge over the Santa Margarita River just north of Oceanside is nearly 80 years old and in urgent need of replacement. It is on a short list of practically every rail plan yet is still waiting for funding. Ditto several other rickety single-track bridges on the line.

The critical point for Southern California coastal riders is that the HSR, even if successful, will bring no benefit because it will run inland from San Diego. It's simply a fact that the estimated $1 to $1.5 billion (from regional planning agency documents) needed to bring the existing SD-LA line running times of two hours and less is not going to be forthcoming for decades at this point. The state and federal budgets are empty, and any hint of a financial heartbeat for the HSR project will undoubtedly mean that any and all available rail funds will go toward that endeavor.

The paltry money that may be available for the coastal route will do only what the incremental upgrades have done for the past three decades now: allow Amtrak, Metrolink and Coaster to keep running times as they are, and not let them get slower and slower.

The other salient fact is that you don't need HSR between SD and LA to lure people from the always clogged I-5 and I-405 corridors.

You just need reliable service, not hampered by single-track limitations, so that trains can run at two hours or less one-way. Caltrans, LOSSAN, Sandag, Metrolink and every other Southern California transportation agency with skin in the game have studies showing that two-hour one-way running times would bring substantial new ridership.

So yes, HSR would be great to have all over the nation but the specific needs of the SD-LA corridor are not going to be met by the present project. It's just a fact. And while governors in other states do use rail as a moving target to campaign against--no matter high-speed, low-speed, many projects or few--California has consistently pushed rail travel since 1979, when the state first began using its own funds to add service to the paltry Amtrak schedules then in effect. So in California, the choice comes down to realistic but comprehensive improvements to existing trackage in corridors with proven ability to attract riders and compete with the auto, or an all-eggs-in-one-basket roll of the dice for HSR==which even then leaves key corridors gasping for help.

 

[Al Bagdon]

12-27-2010 Leaving for San Diego from San Juan Capistrano (I hope!) Wed. 12-29-2010. Can't get any info from Amtrak...anyone know if service is back up to noted destinations???

 

[Grandpa D]

12-27-2010 Leaving for San Diego from San Juan Capistrano (I hope!) Wed. 12-29-2010. Can't get any info from Amtrak...anyone know if service is back up to noted destinations???

The service is running as of mid-Saturday, 12/25, according to the Amtrak website. But there's a forecast of more rain on Wednesday although amounts should be less than an inch along the coast. You'd best check closer to departure.

 

[Al Bagdon]

Thanks for the help! Happy New Year! Al