(The following article by Erik N. Nelson was posted on the Inside Bay Area website on December 9.)
OAKLAND, Calif. — Rising from the ashes of early 1990s Amtrak cutbacks, the Capitol Corridor passenger rail service between Sacramento and the Bay Area celebrated its 15th birthday Thursday as the nation’s third-busiest intercity service.
Increasing service to reach a critical mass of available trains running from before dawn to well into the evening has lured riders, including many regular commuters, to the point where they took 1.26 million trips in 2005. That’s up 272 percent in eight years since Caltrans ceded control of the line to transit agencies representing the eight counties served by the line.
And in August, a 52 percent increase in trips — most significantly between Oakland and San Jose — have further added to the rail service’s allure, said Eugene Skoropowski, the Capitol Corridor’s managing director.
But the celebration over stuffed salmon and prime rib at a restaurant in Oakland’s Jack London Square was tempered by reminders that the line has significant problems that still need work.
“I think it’s fair to say that none of us is satisfied,” said Joe Deely, General Superintendent of the Pacific Division of Amtrak, which operates the trains and stations for the Joint Powers Authority. “It’s a good service, but it could be a hell of a lot better.”
Among the problems is chronic tardiness, with the Corridor’s double-decker trains frequently stopping to let freight traffic pass.
An official of the freight railroad Union Pacific, which owns most of the track along the corridor, warned that growth in demand to move both passengers and freight portends further conflict if the state and nation don’t invest in more rail capacity.
“We don’t want to create a false expectation,” said Tom Mulligan, who heads Union Pacific’s dealings with passenger trains. “It’ll probably be more challenging than it is today.”