SoCal - Amtrak Pacific Surfliner - Sat Jan. 29

[MP57313]

What follows is a description of local rail trips I took yesterday. This post is not intended to be disrespectful towards anyone who was killed or injured in the Glendale collision, or anyone else associated with it. Instead, I am just describing what I saw, and the journeys are one way of showing support to the rail passenger system we have.

On Saturday morning I rode a short distance on the MTA Gold Line from LA Union Station up to the Lincoln Park area and return. With the UP and Metrolink still sorting out everything in Glendale, there was no mainline activity where the Gold Line crosses over the UP lines next to the LA River. At least inbound (LA-bound) passenger loads on the Gold Line looked pretty good.

LAUS itself had only a small fraction of the passengers I would normally see on any given Saturday. Metrolink's Antelope Valley line service was still annulled (it normally runs on Saturday) but is planned to resume Monday (31st). Amtrak service north of Los Angeles is still annulled due to mudslides and will not return until February 8 {estimate}, when service as far north as Santa Barbara resumes.

I rode one of the Surfliners down to Oceanside; the trip was on time or early (lingered at Irvine a few minutes) and there was a s-l-o-w rolling meet with a northbound Surfliner at Stuart Mesa. {Stuart Mesa is a rail maintenance facility with an adjacent freight yard a few miles north of Oceanside. Some freight cars there included flatcars with military vehicles on them, plus other flatcars with several lengths of "stack track" on them}.

Near the south end of the Oceanside station property there is a large sign announcing the future arrival of the "Sprinter". The Sprinter will run on the BNSF branch to Escondido; the planned opening date is December 2007.

While waiting for the northbound return train, a northbound BNSF freight came roaring through. A few minutes later the Surfliner arrived, in "push" mode this time (again very close to schedule) and it later passed the BNSF freight at Stuart Mesa. This return trip was a mid-afternoon run and as usual the passenger load was light.

The northbound Surfliner was held at Fullerton Jct. for a few minutes while a westbound BNSF freight went by on the transcon. That freight was then held just up the line a short distance past the Fullerton station. Between Fullerton and LA we passed several other BNSF trains...another westbound at Buena Park, an eastbound at Montebello...the Surfliner's arrival into LA was a few minutes late.

The Surfliner trains cross several grade crossings at speed throughout the route. While some road crossings have been replaced by grade separations over the years, there are still many major streets cross the line.

In So Cal, more and more housing is being built, which in turn results in more road traffic. Maybe the developers could be required to pay for grade separations as a condition of getting the developments approved. Then again, that's probably not the way to go...the grade separations benefit the existing community too, not just the new development.

MP

[Anonymous]

I also road Surfliners on the 29th between Anaheim and L.A.U.S., as well as the Metrolink Saturday service San Bernardino line. Both had much lighter than usual passenger loads. I was also told that Surfliner service to Goleta will resume by Feb. 8th, and service to S.L.O. will resume by Feb. 28th.

Several nice Russian gals visiting as tourists asked the Surfliner conductors if there was some sort of condolence card or book that people could sign in regards the Glendale wreck, and everyone was rather taken aback when the conductors said that this was a sore point with Amtrak operating personnel (Amtrak provides Metrolink crews from now until the new Connex West, LLC/BNSF consortium takes over Metrolink operations in July). The conductors said that, so far, Metrolink is not contemplating any sort of memorial service, nor offering any sort of condolence book or card, even though the crews would much appreciate such a symbolic act for a means of closure. They also said that in addition to one Metrolink crewman killed in the wreck, yet another had his back broken and was turned into a paraplegic.

BTW, the visiting Russian tourists were very complimentary regarding the speed, comfort, and convenience of Amtrak Surfliner services, as well as the friendliness and helpfulness of the crews.

Sincerely, Ross R. Moore, Jr.

[MP57313]

For reasons not known to me, the relations between Amtrak and Metrolink have always seemed to be chilly, both at LAUS and Fullerton. (This was true long before the Glendale collision). It could be that the Amtrak agents get tired of being asked for Metrolink tickets, no matter how many signs, arrows, etc point to the Metrolink ticket machines. At least the LAUS schedule board lists both Amtrak and Metrolink trains, while the Fullerton one lists Amtrak only [there's no room to add any more trains on the board there!] In contrast, the Amtrak agents in Alexandria, VA have no problem issuing Virginia Railway Express (commuter rail) tickets.

The truth is, much of the public is not aware of the distinction between Amtrak, Metrolink, MTA MetroRail (Gold Line), etc. or the various bus transit lines. No one would go up to an American Airlines counter and buy a ticket on Delta, but "brand awareness" for trains is not nearly as strong.

[Anonymous]

Better late than never..........At 12 Noon on Wednesday, Feb. 2nd Metrolink finally did something to give the crews at least a small amount of closure. They had all crews sound their train whistles/airhorns simultaneously.
Mind you, later Wednesday evening, a completely private candlelight memorial for the crash victims was organized and held at the Glendale Train Station by the wreck survivors themselves and by off-duty crew members, and did not appear to have any participation by Metrolink management. I wonder why their P.R. guy, Francisco Oaxaca, couldn't have arranged for just a couple of their top management to show up at this well-publicized event?

Sincerely, Ross R. Moore, Jr.

[spbed]

rossrobertmoorejr I have ridden the St. Pete/ Moscow overnite expresses several times in the 90s. Like comparing even American commuter trains with Russian so called elite trains is sort of like comparing night & day IMHO.

[Anonymous]

Metrolink had info regarding the funeral of the Amtrak conductor on their web site within a day or so after the wreck, along with a very nice and well-thought-out expression of condolences.

Hate to bring this up, but it should be remembered that Metrolink is a likely target in any ensuing legal action, deserved or not (how deep do you think that deranged motorist's pocket is????), and anything they say or do as an entity (1) likely will be used against them, even if it is totally innocuous, and (2) is most probably being controlled by their legal counsel (see #1). Probably worth cutting them a little slack on this one until the DA, NTSB etc get it all sorted out.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by drephpe

Metrolink had info regarding the funeral of the Amtrak conductor on their web site within a day or so after the wreck, along with a very nice and well-thought-out expression of condolences.

Hate to bring this up, but it should be remembered that Metrolink is a likely target in any ensuing legal action, deserved or not (how deep do you think that deranged motorist's pocket is????), and anything they say or do as an entity (1) likely will be used against them, even if it is totally innocuous, and (2) is most probably being controlled by their legal counsel (see #1). Probably worth cutting them a little slack on this one until the DA, NTSB etc get it all sorted out.

I do understand and agree with your main points, drephpe; indeed, in the grand tradition of "Dewey, Cheatham and Howe", the local slimeball law firms have already been running radio and TV ads encouraging potential plaintiffs in this mess to contact them "if they suspect railroad negligence" and, according to both last Friday's L.A.Times and several TV reports, the State of California has had to hire several investigators to attempt to head off a number of "cappers" from unethically initiating direct contact with the grieving family members to solicit plaintiffs' lawsuits for the blood-sucking lawyers.
My point was that both the operating crews, the survivors, and countless supportive well-wishers tend to have a need for closure that involves something more tactile and interactive, such as condolence books/cards, memorial services with participation by senior management, etc. All of the major Business and Communications Departments of the big universities offer training to their Public Relations and Corporate Communications students about how to handle situations such as this (AND what to say) so as not to hand the money-grubbing shylock lawyers any potential ammunition. I highly respect most Metrolink management and fully support them in 99% of what they've done over the years; however, in this one case, I believe that their P.R. people let them down, by not really following through on a timely basis with such items of tactile and interactive closure which would have been so sorely appreciated by the affected people. BNSF's P.R. people were organized and classy enough to have handled the 2002 Pacentia wreck situation in such a manner, and Metrolink's P.R. people should have shown the same acumen with the Glendale wreck.

Sincerely, Ross R. Moore, Jr.