Commuter Rail Lessons Learned

1
Commuter Rail Lessons Learned

• Dale Zehner
• Chief Executive Officer
• Virginia Railway Express

2
Virginia Rail Express (VRE)

• Began service in 1992
• Serves 18 stations in 8 cities and counties
• Connects to Metro in 5 locations Amtrak in 7
  locations
• Operates on 90 miles of track
• 15,000 daily riders

3
VRE Basics

• VRE Operates 30 trains on both lines
• Lease access from CSX and Norfolk Southern (NS)
• 14 trains on CSX line
• 16 trains on NS line
• Number of trains limited by track rights with
  railroads
• Employ 36 full time staff
• Annual budget of 64.4M

4
Cost to Initiate Service
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Who Are Our Riders?

• 63 Male/37 Female
• 80 Married
• 46 Have Children Living at Home
• Average Ages
• 35-44 years 31
• 45-54 years 36
• 51 have household income greater than
  100,000/year

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Commuter Rail What is it?

• Traditional suburb-to-downtown
• AKA suburban rail
• Locomotive-hauled or self-propelled
• Travels mainly on leased RR tracks
• Characterized by
• Multi-trip tickets
• Station to station fares
• Key stations in central business districts
• 20 to 30 minute headways

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Commuter Rail What its Not

• Not a subway or light rail or trolley
• Not heavy volume
• Not high speed and rapid acceleration
• Usually does not have exclusive rights- of-way
  has shared access with host freight railroads
• limits number of trains and hours of operation

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Commuter Rail What it Is

• Some times call Cadillac of transit
• Higher priced viewed as high end
• Long-haul commute 50 to 60 miles from central
  business district
• Transverses multiple jurisdictions
• Little competition until close in

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What Do People Want

• Drive from house to work
• Without congestion or delays
• Park near the front entrance
• Will consider commuter rail only if they cannot
  achieve the above
• Commuter rail does not have to be faster or less
  expensive only more reliable

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Difficult to Set Up

• Governance Structure - Critical
• Heavily influences how organization performs
• Multiple jurisdictions involved
• Large and small players
• Can be complicated voting structures
• Must be weighted between local, state, or
  regional representation/desires
• Structure heavily affects ultimate funding
  structure and success

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Important Steps

• Dont ask voters/leaders to approve open ended
  commitments
• Specify what service will be provided
• Dont accept defeat easily - be resilient
• Package project in well-defined phases
• Dont promise more than can be delivered
• Settle cost sharing arrangements early

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Funding is Difficult to Set Up

• Funding Structure
• Who pays local, state, regional, federal
• Need shared funding arrangements
• Difficult to negotiate
• Sources of funding usually affect structure
• More you put in the more control you have
• Greater local control great customer service
• Need stable funding source(s)

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Advantages of Commuter Rail

• Use of existing railroad ROW
• Does not require acquisition of property
• Dispatching and maintenance of ROW provided by
  railroad
• Minimizes number of public staff
• Can be established relatively quickly

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Disadvantages of Commuter Rail

• Must negotiate access to ROW
• Responsible for liability coverage railroads
  will demand extensive coverage
• Do not have complete control on schedules
• RRs will be asked to fund upgrades to the
  infrastructure
• Will ask public to fund most improvements
• If more capacity needed will ask public to fund
  cost
• Railroads are tough negotiators

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Railroads are Expensive

• Capital intensive industry
• Most decisions are 40 year decisions
• Equipment has 40 year life
• Railroad improvements good for 40 years
• Need public commitment to start process
• Cannot easily back out and recover
• Need long-term vision
• Must see benefits well into future
• Must justify the expenditures needed

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What is Needed to Start

• Define success what is your vision?
• Attempt to quantify ridership, congestion
  relief, economic development, etc.
• Ensure all parties agree with vision
• Estimate costs capital and operating
• Get commitments from all levels
• Need strong support to sell concept
• Expect fierce opposition