John Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FUD Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Does SMART/NWP have any places in Petaluma or
> > Santa Rosa for transload operations? THAT is
> the
> > way you get freight traffic these days. Nobody
> who
> > doesn't already have one is going to pay to
> > install a switch and spur from PTC track, for a
> > few cars a week. Using trucks for "local
> > switching" though makes plenty of sense. See
> for
> > instance Strasburg.
> >
> > Everybody (except maybe Brightline; we don't
> know
> > about their whole operation yet but when
> running
> > just the coast line they did lose money) loses
> > money hauling passengers in the US. The best
> you
> > can hope for is, perhaps, breaking even on
> > operating expense (not including capital and
> even
> > track maintenance). Losing money on freight is
> a
> > different story, and if SMART is doing so there
> > needs to be some reevaluation of the
> arrangements.
>
> SMART has no transload facilities.The one facility
> in Windsor currently has no switch or track to it.
> This privately owned property charges a fee to
> trasload making it less advantageous to use
> rail.Trying to entice shippers to use rail is
> complicated by a less than eager Union Pacific
> connection. The reference to SMART losing money on
> their passenger operations is as seen from the
> voters point of view.While everyone in Marin and
> Sonoma county pays the sales tax to fund SMART a
> very small percentage of tax payers actually use
> it. It has poor bus scheduled connections and
> almost a half mile walk to the Ferry Terminal in
> Larkspur.

I would 100% bet if they had a direct link into San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge or other means, the ridership would increase. Homes are expensive and people need to work in the cities. We need to move people quickly into the cities for work. CHSR would be better suited if the High Speed Rail went from Bakersfield to LA and Fresno to the Bay Area. You dont need to link Fresno to Bakersfield. They are one in the same. No one is going from Bakersfield to Fresno.