(The following article by Ben van der Meer was posted on the Tracy Press website on August 8.)
TRACY, Calif. — Top officials with the Altamont Commuter Express and San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission have sent a letter to Union Pacific railroad asking for better cooperation to get ACE’s trains to run on time every day.
The letter, which ACE executive director Stacey Mortensen released Thursday, points out that the commuter line has paid more than $41 million to Union Pacific for the right to run trains six times daily between the Central Valley and the Bay Area.
Board chair Brent Ives and Mortensen wrote to Dennis J. Duffy, Union Pacific’s executive vice president of operations. Their letter also mentions that the commission, which runs ACE, has invested several million dollars in capital projects that benefit both the commuter trains and Union Pacific’s freight trains.
“However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify sizable capital expenditures when our product is not meeting the demands of our customers,” the letter said.
Rail officials said the letter was prompted by an abysmal on-time performance for Altamont Commuter Express trains in June 2005.
During that month, trains arrived on time only 41 percent of the time, mostly as a result of speed restrictions imposed by Union Pacific and by Union Pacific trains that took up track space and kept the ACE trains from reaching their destinations on time.
The letter notes that the contract between ACE and Union Pacific stipulates that 95 percent of all commuter express trains arrive on time. So far in 2005, according to the letter, ACE trains have met that mark only 72 percent of the time.
Ives said he hopes the letter compels Duffy to share its contents with rail managers in the area and work to improve the situation.
“I think they understand the fact that we have some different constraints, and we understand that they have different constraints,” said Ives, who is also a Tracy city councilman. “I don’t believe it will upset them in any sense.”
The letter also asks for a response to a February request for trains to be allowed to traverse curves in the Altamont Pass at higher speeds.
“As of today we are still waiting for a response to this request,” the letter states.
Ives said that with Union Pacific’s status as the big dog on Bay Area rail, local rail officials have discussed other options for future trains, such as new track dedicated for ACE trains.
Mark Davis, a spokesman for Union Pacific in Omaha, Neb., said company officials have yet to receive the letter, which is dated Aug. 4.
“We would be happy to look at the request and work through the issues raised by the request with the rail commission,” he said.
In passenger surveys, trains that don’t arrive on time are consistently a top complaint.