UP does not want additional passenger rail on the Coast Line

Late last night, I got a phone call from a reporter for the Santa Barbara Newsroom (that site in itself has an interesting story) - she said she was writing a story about Santa Barbara’s plans for commuter rail and Union Pacific and wanted to use one of my pictures on their site. I said, sure, go ahead, and this is the result.

However, the real story is what she says in her article (Commuter Rail to Santa Barbara Faces “Huge Obstacles”): Santa Barbara would like to set up a commuter rail service to Ventura County (Oxnard), but Union Pacific does not want to allow this without double-tracking the line. In fact, they said “Commuter trains on the single-track section between the San Fernando Valley and San Jose might degrade the freight service that Union Pacific is committed to.” Did you notice that? Not “between the San Fernando Valley and Santa Barbara“, no, they said “between the San Fernando Valley and San Jose“. So not only do they not want any new passenger rail service to Santa Barbara, they do not want any new service on the whole Coast Line!

Posted in: A Word from the Editor, California, Commute, Union Pacific | April 12, 2007 10:08 pm