Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook (2018) / Chapter Skim
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84 A P P E N D I X A Case Studies
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Case Studies 85 Altamont Corridor Express San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission Stockton–San Jose, CA Figure A1. ACE commuter rail.
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86 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook Ownership Track and Rail Infrastructure • Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) owns the rail line from Stockton to Santa Clara.
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Case Studies 87 • SJRRC recognized that hiring employees to operate and maintain commuter rail would likely mean adding an obligation for railroad retirement and railroad workers compensation (Federal Employers Liability Act)
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88 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook competitors are interested in proposing on commuter-rail contracted services. SJRRC expects to find a number of contractors interested in the new RFP.
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Case Studies 89 Contract Performance Measures The contractor is accountable for the availability and functionality of SJRRC-owned equipment and train operations that optimize on-time performance. The contractor is subject to penalties to cover certain events and assessed against the next month's management fee.
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90 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook 2016 National Transit Database Operating Data Directional Route Miles 172 Unlinked Passenger Trips 1,290,085 Annual Total Passenger Miles 55,471,664 Passenger Car Revenue Miles 1,078,543 Annual Operating Cost $17,380,023 2016 National Transit Database Performance Metrics Operating Cost per Passenger Car Revenue Mile $16.11 Operating Cost per Passenger Trip $13.47 Passenger Trips per Passenger Car Revenue Mile 1.20 Passenger Miles per Passenger Trip 43.00 Table A1. ACE operating and performance statistics.
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Case Studies 91 Sources Alameda County Congestion Management Agency, San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Cooperative Services Agreement for Altamont Commuter Express (ACE)
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92 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook COASTER North County Transit District San Diego County, CA Timeline for Public Commuter Rail: 1995 Governance North County Transit District (NCTD) is a public transit agency in San Diego County, California.
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Case Studies 93 Timeline 1982–1992 Planning studies conducted for a coastal commuter rail. 1992 NSDCTDB acquired rail lines from Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF)
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94 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook Oceanside, Metrolink commuter rail trains use the northern portion of the rail line for the Metrolink Orange County Line from Orange County to the terminus at Oceanside. The state-sponsored, Amtrak-operated Pacific Surfliner trains use the entire length of the rail corridor from Los Angeles to San Diego.
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Case Studies 95 Direct Operation or Contracted Since the initial planning for COASTER, the objective was to contract the primary functions to a qualified third-party contractor. NCTD contracts with private operators for the provision of all modes of public transit service.
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96 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook by function, for the major services provided by the contractor: rail operations, maintenance of way, rail systems, information technology, safety oversight, etc. NCTD will maintain policy control of all aspects of COASTER and SPRINTER services and operations and has an active oversight role in order to ensure contractual and regulatory compliance and customer satisfaction.
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Case Studies 97 Notable Practices and Lessons Learned • NCTD believes that a fully bundled contract combining both the conventional FRA- compliant COASTER commuter rail and the non-FRA-compliant, time-separated SPRINTER diesel hybrid transit rail will result in a more efficient and cost-effective operation for NCTD by ensuring consistent procedures and more efficient management and oversight. • In preparation for the implementation of the fully bundled contract, NCTD realigned its internal organizational structure and organizational chart to match each of the major service functions provided by the new rail contractor.
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98 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook Sources Bombardier Transportation. North County Transit District (NCTD)
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Case Studies 99 Metrolink Southern California Regional Rail Authority Southern CA–Los Angeles, CA Figure A3. Metrolink commuter rail.
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100 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook coordinate intercity passenger rail service between Los Angeles and San Diego. The LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency coordinates planning for the Pacific Surfliner state-supported corridor service and also cooperates with the California High-Speed Rail Authority for high-speed rail integration.
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Case Studies 101 authority between Metro, OCTA, RCTC, SANBAG, and VCTC. SCRRA chose Metrolink as the name of the commuter rail service.
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102 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook Equipment • SCRRA owns 52 locomotives: 40 new F125 Electro-Motive Diesel Tier 4 locomotives delivered and placed in service in 2018 and 12 older F-59PH locomotives that will be retired or converted for alternate fuel testing when the new fleet completes the break-in period. • SCRRA owns an active fleet of 233 passenger rail cars, including 166 trailer cars, 57 cab control cars, and 10 cab control cars used as trailers.
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Case Studies 103 Violating its operating authority by proceeding past a signal and switch, Metrolink Train 111 was a textbook case of a train crash that PTC could have prevented. Congress swiftly took action a month later by enacting the Passenger Rail Improvement and Investment Act of 2008 (see https:// www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/house-bill/6003)
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104 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook • In 2003, SCRRA awarded Bombardier the contract for maintenance of equipment. Amtrak continued to dispatch and operate trains.
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Case Studies 105 SCRRA outsources much of its commuter-rail-related functions and typically has up to 260 active contracts and a large number of purchase orders. The lengths of major contracts vary from a minimum of 4 years to a maximum of 12 years, depending on the type of contract.
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106 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook executed. In the recent option extension, SCRRA and Amtrak agreed that the contingency fees would be removed during the final 3-year option period and retroactively for fiscal years 2015 and 2016, and the management fee was reduced for the 3-year option period and retroactively for 2015 and 2016.
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Case Studies 107 The contractor replies with a proposed annual budget for providing those services, and the budget adopted by the SCRRA Board serves as the basis for monthly invoicing. The contract also calls for an additional 20% of the annual budget for special supplementary maintenance, track maintenance associated with train operations or other construction contractors, and work that is performed on a contract task order basis.
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108 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook • Focus on upcoming renewal of Big Five contracts (train operations, maintenance of equipment, maintenance of infrastructure, maintenance of communications and signals, and security) and automatic annual increases; • Improve benchmarking of costs to better understand where Metrolink underperforms; • Eliminate contingency fees on operating contracts that do not reflect actual expenditures in the performance of the services; and • Rigorously enforce the liquidated damages associated with not meeting the performance elements outlined within each contract to help improve overall system performance.
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Case Studies 109 Commuter Rail Directional Route Miles Annual Passenger Trips Annual Passenger Miles Annual Passenger Car Revenue Miles Annual Operating Costs Metra 975 72,289,606 1,616,847,589 43,521,315 $722,591,592 Metrolink 824 13,758,419 425,150,283 13,089,698 $218,012,890 MBTA 776 33,830,904 697,963,284 23,532,668 $403,654,786 SEPTA 447 36,187,570 455,691,636 19,334,288 $267,844,193 MARC 400 8,961,892 266,288,367 6,386,294 $139,558,116 VRE 174 4,352,814 145,777,038 2,289,083 $69,874,827 Caltrain 154 18,355,641 488,208,148 7,215,731 $112,219,456 Source: National Transit Database 2016. Table A10.
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110 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook Metrolink. Contract OP136-10 -- Operator Services Contract -- Exercise Final Three-Year Option -- National Railroad Passenger Corporation (AMTRAK)
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Case Studies 111 Tri-Rail South Florida Regional Transportation Authority Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami–Dade Counties, FL Timeline for Public Commuter Rail: 1989. This is the first new start commuter rail in the United States.
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112 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook on the South Florida Rail Corridor (SFRC) and the Florida East Coast Railway (FECR)
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Case Studies 113 Level of Service The Tri-Rail commuter rail service operates along a 71-mile double-track rail line (142 directional route miles)
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114 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook • SFRTA shares station access with the respective local transit agencies Palm Tran, Broward County Transit, and Miami–Dade Transit. • SFRTA is extending Tri-Rail service to downtown Miami, where service will terminate at the MiamiCentral Station on the FECR.
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Case Studies 115 In 2015, Florida DOT and SFRTA agreed that SFRTA would assume dispatching and maintenance of infrastructure for SFRC from CSX. SFRTA contracted with VTMI for maintenance of infrastructure and assigned dispatching to Amtrak.
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116 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook 2005 SFRTA removed station maintenance from the bundled contract and separately procured the services in 2005. A contract for station maintenance services was awarded to Meridian Management Corporation, commencing August 1, 2005.
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Case Studies 117 VTMI or other contractors may provide extra work activities at SFRTA's sole discretion. Extra work may include the following: • Installation and maintenance of wayside PTC equipment and back-office server; • Heavy station maintenance; • Maintenance of the public information system; • Flagging, except for those provided for the services; • Capital improvements; and • Grade crossing replacements.
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118 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook and the terms of the agreement. The contractor prepares a scope, budget, and schedule for the work to be performed that is requested by SFRTA for each item of extra work, and submits them for approval by SFRTA before the work can be performed.
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Case Studies 119 are on random Tri-Rail trains. G4S Secure Solutions provides armed security, fare enforcement, and revenue collection services.
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120 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook reprocured the independent contract in 2010. The current scope of work for operating services bundles the station maintenance function again with train operations, maintenance of equipment, and train dispatching.
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Case Studies 121 2016 National Transit Database Operating Data Directional Route Miles 142 Unlinked Passenger Trips 4,241,486 Annual Total Passenger Miles 117,303,700 Passenger Car Revenue Miles 3,595,531 Annual Operating Cost $89,987,616 2016 National Transit Database Performance Metrics Operating Cost per Passenger Car Revenue Mile $25.03 Operating Cost per Passenger Trip $21.22 Passenger Trips per Passenger Car Revenue Mile 1.18 Passenger Miles per Passenger Trip 27.66 Table A14. Tri-Rail operating and performance statistics.
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122 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook Sources Moore, T
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Case Studies 123 MBTA Commuter Rail Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Boston, MA Timeline for Public Commuter Rail: 1964 Governance Commuter rail is one of several modes operated by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) (Figure A6)
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124 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook develop 1-, 5-, and 20-year fiscal plans. By statute, FMCB consists of five members: one member with experience in transportation finance, one member with experience in mass transit operations, and three members of the MassDOT Board.
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Case Studies 125 • MBTA owns 11 overnight layover facilities for revenue vehicles in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. • MBTA also owns maintenance facilities for non-revenue vehicles.
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126 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook Decision to Contract for Service Freight Railroad MBTA purchased the south rail lines from Penn Central in 1972 and purchased the north rail lines from B&M in 1976. In 2013–2014, MBTA completed acquisition of the remaining part of the Worcester Line still owned by Conrail's successor, CSX Transportation.
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Case Studies 127 In 2002–2003, MBTA established a formal, three-step procurement process and then repeated the process in 2012–2014. The number of respondents to the three-step process in 2012–2014 included the following: 1.
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128 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook In addition to the ODRLs, MBTA uses two primary tools to ensure contract compliance and measure operator performance: • A series of inspections and audits conducted by the team of inspectors from MBTA Railroad Operations. • The penalty provisions, referred to as performance evaluation.
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Case Studies 129 conducted according to procedures for supplemental work. The supplemental work provisions are used to cover the cost of any work performed in the categories covered by the allowances but in excess of the total cost allotted to that particular allowance in a given year.
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130 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook • The contractor is responsible for on-train fare enforcement, including selling tickets and collecting revenue, checking tickets, and validating tickets (i.e., punching to indicate usage)
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Case Studies 131 MBTA Operating and Performance Statistics Table A17 provides operating and performance statistics for MBTA. Peer Performance Comparisons Table A18 provides the MBTA peer group by directional route miles and annual passenger trips.
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132 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook Sources Keolis Commuter Services. (April 1, 2016)
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Case Studies 133 Westside Express Service Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon Wilsonville–Beaverton, OR Figure A7. WES commuter rail.
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134 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook Construction and purchase of vehicles were funded with federal funds, state grants, and regional and local funds. Operating costs are funded through operating revenues (including fares)
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Case Studies 135 Equipment • TriMet owns the WES dedicated fleet comprising six units. • Four FRA-compliant DMU train cars were custom ordered by TriMet for WES in 2008.
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136 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook Conversely, all P&W employees assigned to WES are full-time railroad employees of the short-line railroad and are covered by RRTA/RUIA. Bundled or Unbundled Contract The decision to enter into a bundled agreement with P&W for dispatching, train operations, and maintenance of infrastructure, coupled with the decision to maintain equipment with TriMet personnel, limited the range of contracted services that TriMet might have considered for WES.
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Case Studies 137 P&W using the existing terms for extra work or obtains agreement from P&W to publicly bid out a contract for this specific work. • Since short-line freight such as P&W generally uses a track warrant system rather than the centralized traffic control in use over the section on which WES operates, TriMet is responsible for reimbursing P&W for the full cost of the electronic signal system.
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138 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook simplicity of the policy as well as the rider perception that there is zero incremental cost to use commuter rail if already a TriMet customer. • TriMet is satisfied with the initial decision and intends to continue using its own dedicated mechanical staff for WES equipment maintenance, housed in a TriMet-constructed and TriMet-maintained facility.
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Case Studies 139 Table A22 provides the performance metrics for WES and peer commuter rail systems. Sources Portland and Western Railroad.
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140 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook MetroRail Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Austin, TX Timeline for Public Commuter Rail: 2010 Governance MetroRail is a commuter rail line provided by the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Capital Metro) in Austin, Texas (Figure A8)
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Case Studies 141 Voters approved Capital Metro's plans to develop a commuter rail corridor in 2004. After overcoming challenges in funding, construction, and mobilization of the commuter rail line, Capital Metro began MetroRail commuter rail service in March 2010.
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142 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook Ownership Track and Rail Infrastructure In 1986, in partnership with the City of Austin, Capital Metro purchased the 162-mile Giddings-to-Llano segment of the Austin and Northwestern Railroad from SP. In 1998, Capital Metro acquired the City of Austin's share in the railroad.
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Case Studies 143 responsibilities to Watco. Due to a dispute over contract terms, Capital Metro terminated the contract with the original contractor in December 2009.
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144 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook of Transportation regulations pertaining to commuter rail operations and maintenance. Capital Metro is responsible for meeting FTA grant obligations.
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Case Studies 145 – Lighting system failure – Cleanliness failure – Communication system failure – Ride quality failure • Vehicle availability must be 80% of rail vehicles available for standard revenue service at least 2 hours before the start of revenue service. • Preventive maintenance inspections must be performed by the maintenance date recorded in the asset management system.
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146 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook • Accidents. An accident is any contact with an object, vehicle, or person that results in property damage or injury.
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Case Studies 147 • Capital Metro developed detailed performance standards and metrics to quantify contractor performance and link performance to financial incentives and disincentives. • Capital Metro hired commuter rail staff with railroad experience to be subject matter experts.
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148 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook Table A28 provides a comparison of MetroRail performance metrics with the peer group average and median. Sources Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
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Case Studies 149 FrontRunner Utah Transit Authority Ogden–Salt Lake City–Provo, UT Figure A9. FrontRunner commuter rail.
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150 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook FrontRunner was constructed with a Full Funding Grant Agreement from the FTA. Fares, revenues from a local sales tax from member jurisdictions, and federal funds fund the operation.
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Case Studies 151 Equipment • UTA owns coach cars, cab cars, and locomotives. • Qualified UTA technicians maintain the entire fleet of coach cars at the Warm Springs O&M facility.
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152 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook Bundled or Unbundled Contract UTA decided to contract three specific services in unbundled contracts.
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Case Studies 153 • UTA attributes a portion of its cost-efficient service to its agreement to operate FRA-regulated commuter rail with only one hours-of-service employee per train on agency-owned track (with the exception of four peak-period round trips that also operated over UPRR track from Ogden to Pleasant View)
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154 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook Sources UTA.
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Case Studies 155 Virginia Railway Express Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission Northern VA–Washington, D.C. Figure A10.
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156 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook employees of PRTC for administrative purposes. VRE reimburses the commissions for staff time and expenses devoted to VRE support.
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Case Studies 157 2009 VRE issued a competitive procurement for train operations and maintenance of equipment and facilities. Keolis Rail Services Virginia, LLC, replaced Amtrak as the contractor.
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158 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook own the stations. Local jurisdictions or independent contractors hired by VRE provide maintenance for the stations.
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Case Studies 159 Direct Operation or Contracted VRE is a joint project of NVTC and PRTC and has no independent legal standing. The commissions created VRE to implement and administer commuter rail service.
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160 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook In the event that a contractor is found to be in violation of any FRA regulation that results in a fine being assessed by FRA, the contractor is responsible for correction of the violation and for paying the assessed penalty at no additional charge to VRE. VRE staff members are responsible for contract oversight.
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Case Studies 161 • Task order work is charged at a rate per hour. The markup on materials for task order work is set at a percentage of the cost of the materials.
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162 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook • With multiple contractors, VRE staff suggests that it is best to put everyone in the same space (building) to create opportunities to work together and establish common goals.
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Case Studies 163 Sources Interviews with VRE staff, April 18–20, 2016. Parsons Brinckerhoff.
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164 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook GO Transit Greater Toronto Transportation Authority Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, Ontario, Canada Figure A11. GO Transit commuter rail.
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Case Studies 165 seven GO Transit rail lines. Federal funding primarily goes to capital projects, supplemented by provincial funds.
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166 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook The ERMF will add capacity and flexibility for GO Transit. The ERMF will reduce GO Transit's operational risks.
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Case Studies 167 • GO Transit has acquired more and more of the rail infrastructure, now about 80% of the lines over which commuter rail operates. As GO Transit acquires a rail line or rail segment, the agency assigns maintenance of infrastructure to one of two contractors, PNR RailWorks and Toronto Terminal Railway.
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168 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook for train operations. When the process began, GO Transit intended a single procurement for a combined train operations and maintenance of equipment contract.
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Case Studies 169 the contract standards and provisions they are responsible for monitoring. As examples of this training: • The compliance officers involved in train operations are trained and qualified in Canadian operating rules and procedures and actually conduct joint operational testing with Bombardier, CN, and CP operations management personnel.
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170 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook Each contract also specifies a transition process at the end of the contract term and the requirements, which the contractor must fulfill during such a process. Liquidated Damages There are no incentives contained in GO Transit's agreements, and Canadian law prohibits the assessment of penalties.
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Case Studies 171 services throughout the greater Toronto and Hamilton area. PRESTO is an operating division of Metrolinx.
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172 Contracting Commuter Rail Services, Volume 1: Guidebook Sources Bombardier.
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