MEETING NOTICE AND AGENDA LOSSAN RAIL CORRIDOR AGENCY TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE (TAC) The LOSSAN TAC may take action on any item appearing on this agenda. Wednesday, August 31, 2011 9:45 to 11:30 a.m. LA Metro Monterey Conference Room One Gateway Plaza Los Angeles, CA Staff Contact: Danny Veeh (619) 699-7317 [email protected] AGENDA HIGHLIGHTS • LOSSAN STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION PLAN BOARD MEETING FOLLOW-UP ON THE BUSINESS CASE AND GOVERNANCE CONCEPTS • CALIFORNIA STATE RAIL PLAN UPDATE • LOSSAN STATION INFORMATION CHECKLIST To request this document or related reports in an alternative format, please call (619) 699-1900, (619) 699-1904 (TTY), or fax (619) 699-1905. MEETING LOCATION The main location for this meeting is at Metro in Los Angeles, CA. Several LOSSAN member agencies will be attending this meeting via teleconference from the following locations: Amtrak, 530 Water Street, Oakland, CA San Diego Association of Governments, 401 B Street Suite 800, San Diego CA The public is welcome to attend and testify at any of the LOSSAN member agency locations listed above, all of which are accessible to the public. For more information, please contact LOSSAN staff at (619) 699-7317 or e-mail [email protected] for specific meeting room locations at least 72 hours in advance of the meeting. Otherwise, conference calling is available. 2 LOSSAN RAIL CORRIDOR AGENCY TAC MEETING Wednesday, August 31, 2011 ITEM # RECOMMENDATION 1. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS 2. PUBLIC COMMENT/COMMUNICATIONS Members of the public shall have the opportunity to address the LOSSAN Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on any issue that is not on this agenda. +3. JULY 14, 2011, MEETING MINUTES (Danny Veeh, APPROVE SANDAG) The minutes from the last meeting are attached. 4. LOSSAN STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION PLAN BOARD DISCUSSION MEETING FOLLOW-UP ON THE BUSINESS CASE AND GOVERNANCE CONCEPTS (Linda Culp, SANDAG; Michael Litschi, OCTA) The LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency Joint Powers Board held a meeting on August 24, 2011, focusing on the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP). Staff will update the group on the Board comments and actions for both the SIP Business Case and the Governance Concepts. +5. STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION PLAN STATUS REPORT ON DISCUSSION SHORT-TERM IMPROVEMENTS (Gene Skoropowski, HNTB) Since 2008, member agency staff has been working to implement a number of quick service improvements in the corridor. In addition, the member agency memorandum of understanding outlined a number of early action successes to be completed over the next six months. The strategic implementation project management team will provide an update on the progress of these improvements. 3 ITEM # RECOMMENDATION +6. LOSSAN STATION INFORMATION CHECKLIST INFORMATION (Gabriela Fernandez, SANDAG) The LOSSAN Board directed staff to establish a customer-focus SWAT Team, with station-focused representation by Amtrak, COASTER, Metrolink, and a novice user. It should be the responsibility of this SWAT Team to visit each LOSSAN station site to document customer information areas that need improvement. Surveys will be conducted throughout September with the attached LOSSAN station information checklist. 7. CALIFORNIA STATE RAIL PLAN UPDATE (Lea Simpson, DISCUSSION Caltrans) Caltrans Division of Rail prepares the California State Rail Plan every two years as an examination of passenger and freight rail transportation in the state of California. Caltrans will discuss the schedule, process, and stakeholder involvement for the next update to the California State Rail Plan. Caltrans held a concept meeting on August 29 for representatives from the Federal Railroad Administration, Caltrans, California High-Speed Rail Authority, and staff representatives from the intercity rail corridors and will provide a summary. 8. LOSSAN NORTH PROGRAMMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION IMPACT REPORT/ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT AND SERVICE DEVELOPMENT PLAN (Lea Simpson, Caltrans) The Caltrans Division of Rail is working collaboratively with Caltrans District 5 to prepare a program-level environmental document and a Service Development Plan (SDP). Project scoping meetings were held in January and the draft document is expected to be released in October. The Federal Railroad Administration requires rail corridors to have a programmatic Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) and a SDP in order to receive federal funding for capital projects. 4 ITEM # RECOMMENDATION +9. CORRIDOR TRENDS (Danny Veeh, SANDAG) INFORMATION The latest Amtrak, Metrolink, and COASTER ridership, revenue, on-time performance (OTP), and customer satisfaction index (CSI) will be discussed at the meeting. An update on the San Diego- Los Angeles Limited Stop Express Service is included. 10. UPDATE ON THE AMTRAK CUSTOMER ADVISORY INFORMATION COMMITTEE (Richard Bent, Chair of Amtrak Short Distance West – Customer Advisory Committee) The Amtrak Customer Advisory Committee (ACAC) is a volunteer organization that represents the needs and concerns of the traveling public to Amtrak management. Established in 1997, the committee’s purpose is to establish and maintain consistent and responsive communications between Amtrak and its customers, improve the quality of service from the customer's point of view, provide an avenue for direct input to management about customers' perception of service, and facilitate inclusion of customer observations into service monitoring and modification. +11. REVIEW SEPTEMBER 28, 2011, DRAFT BOARD OF REVIEW/COMMENT DIRECTORS AGENDA (Linda Culp, SANDAG) The LOSSAN TAC will review the draft agenda for the LOSSAN Board of Directors’ September 28, 2011, meeting. 12. LOSSAN TAC MEMBER UPDATES INFORMATION 13. NEXT MEETING APPROVE The next LOSSAN TAC meeting is scheduled for October 13, 2011, at 11:30 a.m. in Los Angeles. + next to an item indicates an attachment 5 Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE August 31, 2011 AGENDA ITEM NO.: 3 Action Requested: APPROVE JULY 14, 2011, MEETING MINUTES File Number 3400600 The LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) met on July 14, 2011, in Los Angeles, CA. In attendance were: Rod Bailey, Amtrak Ryan McCure, PB James Campbell, PB Sheldon Peterson, RCTC Jennifer Cohen, Metrolink Karen Sakoda, Metrolink Linda Culp, SANDAG Kirk Schneider, Caltrans D 7 Gabriela Fernandez, SANDAG Lea Simpson, Caltrans Rail Jay Fuhrman, Metro Eugene Skoropowski, HNTB Robert Gates, RCTC Scott Spaulding, SBCAG Matt Gleason, SCAG Mark Thomsen, MTS Gary Hewitt, City of Irvine Mary Travis, VCTC Michael Litschi, OCTA Danny Veeh, SANDAG WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS Danny Veeh (SANDAG) welcomed all members and began the meeting. PUBLIC COMMENTS/COMMUNICATIONS/MEMBER COMMENTS Paul Dyson (Burbank/RailPAC) questioned if there has been any movement regarding through ticketing between Amtrak and the LAX Flyaway bus service. Gene Skoropowski (HNTB) noted that there has been some action taken and Amtrak is taking the lead on implementation. Bart Reed (Transit Coalition) distributed a letter from a passenger who expressed concern over the apparent loss of on-board bicycle parking. The letter was distributed to Caltrans and Amtrak staff. Mr. Skoropowski commented that Caltrans has been retrofitting cars to improve bike storage. JUNE 9, 2011, LOSSAN TAC MEETING MINUTES The meeting minutes were approved. 6 LOSSAN STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION PLAN BUSINESS CASE James Campbell (PB) provided an update on the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) Business Case operations modeling. Progress is being made on the short-term scenario as work continues with the LOSSAN Technical Working Group (TWG). A draft report will be ready for review by the end of July documenting the short-term operations modeling. The 2030 long-term modeling efforts are also moving forward with the TWG discussing service patterns, frequencies, and capital infrastructure. The operations modeling reports will indicate constraints and bottlenecks along the corridor indicating where to make capital investments. The ridership modeling results were not yet available but progress is still being made and the preliminary results are expected to be available next week. Michael Litschi (OCTA) noted that an executive summary version of the results will be presented to the Board. STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION PLAN STATUS REPORT ON SHORT-TERM IMPROVEMENTS Mr. Skoropowski outlined the recent progress of the short-term improvements. Conceptual designs are being developed to identify the required capital infrastructure for the East Ventura to Goleta service. The current Rail2Rail agreement will continue until fall between Amtrak and Metrolink while surveys and audits are being resolved. The Rail2Rail between Amtrak and COASTER is moving quickly and is slated to start in August. It was noted that Metrolink has added service on the Orange County line as part of the Metrolink Service Expansion Program. DRAFT LOSSAN STATION INFORMATION CHECKLIST Mr. Skoropowski mentioned a personal experience where he was unable to buy a Metrolink ticket for future travel and that the LAX Fly-away ticket booth does not take cash. Mr. Litschi noted that there were major signage issues directing people from the temporary parking lot to the platform at the Tustin station. These examples prove that many improvements can be made to station information along the LOSSAN corridor. The LOSSAN Board directed staff to establish a joint customer-focus SWAT Team, with station- focused representation by Amtrak, COASTER, and Metrolink.