Pacific Surfliner

Pacific Surfliner
Pacific Surfliner at San Clemente
Amtrak California, Pacific Surfliner in green
Route length:	563 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Stations
Legend 0 San Luis Obispo 19th Grover Beach 40 Guadalupe - Santa Maria 82 Surf Lompoc 177 Goleta 192 Santa Barbara 208 Carpinteria 233 Ventura 249 Oxnard 266 Camarillo 282 Moor park 299 Simi Valley 312 Chatsworth 327 Van Nuys 336 Burbank-Hollywood Burbank Airport 348 Glendale 357 Los Angeles Union Station 399 Fullerton 407 Anaheim 415 Santa Ana 431 Irvine 451 San Juan Capistrano 463 San Clemente Pier 497 Oceanside 502 Carlsbad Village 509 Carlsbad Poinsettia 517 Encinitas 523 Solana Beach 534 Sorrento Valley 558 San Diego (Old Town) 563 San Diego

The Pacific Surfliner is a 563 km long rail connection in the US state of California between San Diego and San Luis Obispo . The trains are operated by the state company Amtrak under the Amtrak California brand. The offer has been gradually expanded since the takeover by Amtrak and the state of California; as of March 2020, up to 13 train pairs were running depending on the section. The section of the Pacific Surfliner from Los Angeles to San Diego was previously served by the San Diegan trains of the former railroad company Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe until Amtrak took over operations.

Timetable and operation

On the northern section between Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo (as of November 2016) a total of five daily train pairs operate, three of which only go to Goleta. In addition, the Coast Starlight serves the northern section of the route to and from Seattle , but only stops at a few train stations. The southern route between Los Angeles and San Diego is more frequented, with a total of 13 daily train pairs. In the off-peak times, individual pairs of buses also run. Amtrak also offers Thruway Motorcoaches as connections, including from Fullerton to Palm Springs and from Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo to San Jose and Oakland .

Since there are no ways to turn the train set in San Diego, San Luis Obispo or Goleta, the trains run as push-pull trains . The diesel locomotives push from San Luis Obispo or Goleta to Los Angeles and from San Diego to Los Angeles; in the opposite direction, the locomotives are at the top of the train set. In Los Angeles Union Station the trains turn heads. The Federal Railroad Administration and Los Angeles County are planning to convert Union Station into a through station to avoid the headache .

The 350 miles or 563 kilometers long connection between San Luis Obispo and San Diego are covered by the Pacific Surfliner in about 8.5 hours, the maximum speed is between 79 and 90 miles per hour depending on the section, the equivalent of 127 to 145 km / h. The trains serve some of the stations only in peripheral locations, especially on the sections between Santa Barbara and San Diego, which are also served by Metrolink and Coaster. Much of the scenic route of the Pacific Surfliner follows the Pacific coast , only in the narrower metropolitan area of ​​Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley does the route run through residential areas, industrial plants and extensive agricultural areas. In the section between Goleta and Lompoc, the route passes the premises of Vandenberg Air Force Base on a narrow strip of the coast. The routes are mostly single-track outside the metropolitan area of ​​Los Angeles, north of Los Angeles to 80%. Due to the location directly on the Pacific coast, expansion measures are only possible to a limited extent, both the coast and the partially parallel Highway 101 are in the way of expansion. In this area, the route is partially endangered by the erosion processes on the coast.

The Amtrak-operated Pacific Surfliner is funded by the State of California and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is responsible for this . The regional traffic authorities of the counties around San Diego and Los Angeles founded the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency (LOSSAN) in 1989, together with the state and the owners of the Pacific Surfliner , to plan, control and finance the Surfliner Services take place. The Fahrgastverband 2009 Rail Passenger Association criticized the role of the regional transport authorities, especially they would neglect the Pacific Surfliner against local suburban trains Metrolink and Coaster San Diegan. Fare income covered approximately 63% of operating expenses for the Pacific Surfliner in 2007, well ahead of the other two California-funded regional corridors, which covered 51% (San Joaquin) and 47% (Capitol Corridor) . Compared to the other two corridors, the Pacific Surfliner are the least punctual. While 96% punctual trains were reached in the Capitol Corridor in August 2013 and 80% drove on time in the San Joaquin Corridor, the Pacific Surfliner lagged behind with 77%. According to the original plan from 2007, the Pacific Surfliner's offer on the northern section to Goleta was to be expanded from four to six train pairs and to San Luis Obispo from two to three train pairs by 2015/16. As of November 2016, only one additional pair of trains was introduced to Goleta. The punctuality should be increased to 90% and the cost recovery rate increased to 65%. Expansion plans for the southern section are primarily based on the double-track expansion between Orange County and San Diego.

The Surfliner trains drove in fiscal year 2011 approximately 2.8 million passengers, an increase of 6.6% over 2010. Total revenues in 2011 amounted to 55,317,127 US dollars , an increase of 11.7% over 2010. The Pacific Surfliner is Amtrak's third busiest service and the busiest outside of the Northeast Corridor . In the 2016 fiscal year, demand rose to a good 2.92 million passengers, after having made up for the decline since 2012 with just under 2.83 million in 2015. Revenues were $ 70,488,654 in 2015, up 7.6% from 2014.

vehicles

Pacific Surfliner's control car near Lake Forest

Basement of a double-decker car with "Pacific Business Class" in the Pacific Surfliner

An EMD F59PHI in front of a Pacific Surfliner in Santa Barbara

In the trains of the Pacific Surfliner, Amtrak mainly used double-deck coaches supplied by Alstom and known as "Surfliner" from 2000 to 2002 . The majority owner is Amtrak, 22 of the total of 62 vehicles are owned by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Each train set consists of a business class car , three normal open- plan cars , an open-plan car with a café and a control car with open-plan space and a luggage compartment. In the luggage compartment can surfboards taken and, since June 2013 to seven places for bicycles are reserved.

The color scheme of the Surfliner car is blue and silver and differs from the usual color scheme of Amtrak trains as well as the colors of the other Amtrak California trains. The trolleys are equipped with luggage racks, folding tables, footrests, reading lamps and a ramp for wheelchairs . Wi-Fi is also available on the trains .

The third open seating car was added later due to the high demand. Since there are not enough “Surfliner” cars available, “Superliner” cars are often used, which are otherwise used in Amtrak's long-distance trains. As they do not have automatic doors in contrast to the surf liners, they are usually placed directly behind the control car. The shortage of cars has also led Amtrak to use a train set made up of one-story Amfleet and Horizon open-plan cars. A former EMD F40PH diesel locomotive serves as the control car, some of which Amtrak has converted by removing the engines and installing a luggage compartment in the control car.

All Pacific Surfliners are hauled by Amtrak locomotives. For this purpose, 14 diesel locomotives of the Siemens Charger type financed by Caltrans have been available since the beginning of 2019 . They replaced 15 EMD F59PHI locomotives , which were also specially designed for the Surfliner and painted in its colors. Amtrak also uses other locomotives from the park for the long-haul trains, such as the GE Genesis .

Operator of the routes used

• North County Transit District : San Diego ↔ San Diego County's border
• Southern California Regional Rail Authority : Orange County ↔ Fullerton border
• Burlington Northern Santa Fe : Fullerton ↔ Los Angeles
• Southern California Regional Rail Authority: Los Angeles ↔ Moorpark
• Union Pacific Railroad : Moorpark ↔ San Luis Obispo

Web links

Commons : Pacific Surfliner  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Amtrak Pacific Surfliner
• Amtrak California
• Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency (LOSSAN)
• Lossan Schedule (Surfliner, Metrolink, Coaster) (PDF; 3.3 MiB)
• Pacific Surfliner Schedule effective November 7, 2016 (PDF; 1.9 MiB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Pacific Surfliner Schedule, Effective November 7, 2016. (PDF; 1.9 MiB) Amtrak , November 1, 2016, accessed January 4, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Introduces 13th Roundtrip. Amtrak, October 10, 2019, accessed August 18, 2020 . 
3. ^ Los Angeles Union Station Run-Through Tracks Project. (No longer available online.) Federal Railroad Administration, archived from the original on March 25, 2014 ; Retrieved October 8, 2013 .  
4. ^ Regional Rail Capital Funding Plan For FY 2012-13. (pdf; 1.8 MiB) Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority, July 18, 2012, accessed July 3, 2013 . 
5. ↑ LOSSAN NORTH STRATEGIC PLAN. (PDF; 4.6 MiB) LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency / California Department of Transportation, pp. 2–3 , accessed on October 13, 2013 . 
6. ↑ LOSSAN NORTH STRATEGIC PLAN. (PDF; 4.6 MBi) LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency / California Department of Transportation, pp. 2–4 , accessed on October 13, 2013 . 
7. ↑ LOSSAN BOARD DISCUSSES JPA AND THE FUTURE GOVERNANCE OF PASSENGER RAIL IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. Rail Passenger Association of California & Nevada, July 7, 2009, accessed October 13, 2013 . 
8. ↑ Lam Nguyen: FY 2007-08 Rail Operations Report. (PDF; 138 KiB) State of California Department of Transportation, September 23, 2008, p. 4 , accessed October 13, 2013 . 
9. ^ Capitol and other CA Corridor Statistics (August, 2013). Rail Passenger Association of California & Nevada, September 20, 2013, accessed October 13, 2013 . 
10. ↑ LOSSAN Rail Corridor Improvements. San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), accessed October 13, 2013 . 
11. ↑ ^{a b c} Amtrak Ridership Rolls Up Best-Ever Records. (PDF; 743 KiB) Amtrak , October 13, 2011, accessed October 7, 2013 . 
12. ↑ Amtrak Media Center: Amtrak Delivers Strong FY 2016 Financial Results , November 17, 2016 , accessed February 28, 2016
13. ↑ Amtrak Media Center: Amtrak FY15 Ridership & Revenue - Amtrak Media , Revised 7/7/16 , accessed February 28, 2016
14. ↑ Meeting notice and agenda, Friday, August 23, 2013. (PDF; 1.1 MiB) Lossan Rail Corridor Agency Joint Powers Board, p. 8 , accessed on October 13, 2013 . 
15. ↑ Amtrak Pacific Surfliners. In: trainweb.com. Retrieved October 13, 2013 . 
16. ↑ AMTRAK diesel passenger locomotives. In: US-Modellbahn-Lexikon. Retrieved October 13, 2013 . 
17. ^ A Look Inside the Locomotives Powering Our Trains. Amtrak, November 13, 2018, accessed August 18, 2020 . 
18. ↑ 14 new Siemens Charger locomotives deployed on Pacific Surfliner route. Railway Pro Magazine, April 23, 2019, accessed August 18, 2020 .