(The Oakland Tribune posted the following article by Lawrence M. O’Rourke on its website on June 30.)
WASHINGTON — Railroad passengers could take millions of additional trips a year at higher speeds from Sacramento to Oakland, Bakersfield and San Jose as well as Reno, Nev., under a proposal unveiled Tuesday by Amtrak.
Trains could also run more often, more safely and more smoothly, according to the proposal.
The cost of the passenger railroad’s improvement would be borne by the federal government at perhaps 80 percent and state governments at the remaining 20 percent under a proposal by David Gunn, the Amtrak president.
The proposal would appear to be a wish list at best since Congress regularly threatens to roll back spending on Amtrak for operations as well as capital improvements, but Gunn insisted it could go forward.
“The corridors highlighted in our strategic plan have the full support of state and local policy-makers,” Gunn said. “They have detailed capital and operating plans. They have sign-off by the host railroads. The only thing missing is availability of a federal match.”
An Amtrak spokesman said Congress would be asked to earmark about $40 billion for Amtrak over five years,
$60 billion over 10 years, to finance the strategic plan.
In Sacramento’s case, the plan calls for $200 million to improve tracks and bridges in the Sacramento/Oakland-Bakersfield corridor.
By straightening curves, eliminating highway grade crossings and adding constant-warning devices, speed could be increased and safety enhanced, the railroad said.
Travel time from Oakland to Bakersfield would be cut from six hours and 13 minutes to just under five hours.
Amtrak said the improvements could cut travel time from Sacramento to Bakersfield from the current five hours and 19 minutes to just over four hours.
The Amtrak proposal estimated that the improvements would increase the annual number of passengers over 10 years in the 365-mile Sacramento/Oakland-Bakersfield corridor from the current 783,000 to 2.7 million.
It said that the number of riders in the 291-mile San Jose-Sacramento-Reno corridor could increase from 1.1 million to 3.8 million.
The railroad also said it needs at least $110 million for tighter security, including prevention of terrorism at stations and better communications between trains and command centers.
Amtrak said the passenger line improvements would benefit freight shipments.