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CHAPTER 2
Shared-Track: Laying the
Foundation--Policy and Strategy
Introduction
The evolution of a shared-track project from concept to an operating system is likely to be
tedious and extended. Planners should anticipate as much as 6 to 10 years from start to finish,
with a potential for unanticipated delays. The way forward is littered with seemingly burden-
some requirements, extended procedural steps, and the possibility of failure. The research chal-
lenge was to identify a series of necessary and sufficient steps, along with effective actions, to
provide a reasonable certitude of project fruition.
This guide should enable originators to navigate the process to advance a proposed shared-
track system, to better direct their efforts and to address the inherent ambiguities common to
many public/private sector, multi-party endeavors involving bureaucracies and competing
demands for limited resources.
Part II explains the key policy and strategic factors essential to achieve the sharing of track by
a freight operator and a passenger operator using light passenger rail cars. These are broadly cat-
egorized as "Institutional Issues"; a complex panoply of policy, organization, administration, reg-
ulatory, liability, access, private, public, and other stakeholder perspectives, funding and busi-
ness considerations. Coordination and integration of these myriad aspects is critical to success.
A strong oversight function and negotiation skills are essential.
Why Share Track?
A convincing answer to this fundamental question is essential. The strongest reason for
shared-track occurs in situations where a transit need that would go otherwise unmet is made
possible by track-sharing. In cases where conventional solutions might be acceptable, it
is almost always cheaper and faster to start a commuter rail service, and from a regulatory
point of view less burdensome to construct a stand-alone light rail system. The transit needs
that require shared-track tend to fall into three distinct categories or combinations of these
categories:
1. The need to expand the reach of an existing light-rail system by using radial railroad rights-
of-way, but the existing freight operation cannot be completely moved into the night-time
nor abandoned.
2. A transit or planning agency wants to use an existing radial or conveniently linked branch line
connection, but also wants to fulfill a downtown distribution function by traveling on city
streets to reach major downtown destinations not proximate to the railroad terminal.
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