Richard
Phelps,
Vice President of Transportation
Amtrak, Washington DC
Mr. Phelps
will be joined by:
Jack
Rich,
Director of Product Management
Amtrak, Los Angles
Joe
Yannuzzi,
General Superinendent Southwest Division
Amtrak, Los Angeles
Mr. Phelps is visiting his former home of Southern California
after his move earlier this year to Washington DC for his promotion to
Vice President of Transportation for Amtrak. He will give a
"State of Amtrak" address and an overview of operating
performance from a national to a California perspective. He will
address issues on all West Coast corridors and long-distance trains
which traverse California, including the status of "simplified
dining." He will also discuss the challenge of future
freight capacity needs and of partnering with Class I railroads and
sharing corridors with other passenger and freight operations.
In keeping with our theme, Mr. Phelps will address ways to improve
coordination between agencies in the region and along the LOSSAN
corridor regarding scheduling, ticketing and transfers.
SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA RAIL TRANSIT
FORUM
This forum will feature speakers from up and down the
LOSSAN corridor and south state. They will discuss operations
and future plans for their individual operations. We will
encourage a creative discussion of ways to improve interline
transfers, seamless ticketing between agencies, and coordinated
scheduling. Each agency will give a talk for this Forum,
followed by a lively discussion spurred by questions from the audience
which will include all Forum participants and our guests from
Amtrak.
Patrick
Merrill,
Chief
Office of Capital Project Development, Operations and Marketing
Caltrans Division of Rail Pacific Surfliner Operations and Future Plans
Wayne
Penn,
Manager of Rail Safety
North County Transit District The Coaster: Operations and Future Plans
Walt
Stringer,
Manager of Light Rail
North County Transit District The new Sprinter Service
Jim
Linthicum,
Manager of Capital Projects
San Diego Association of Governments The MidCoast LRT corridor, a proposed extension from Old Town
to UCSD/University City
John
Haggerty,
Senior Engineer
San Diego Association of Governments Rehabilitation planned for the Blue Line LRT; how to make
upgrades while keeping a major rail line open.
SPECIAL
GUEST
Josh
Shaw,
Executive Director
California
Transit Association We invited Mr. Shaw because his organization has taken on the
admirable and monumental task of suing the State of California to
reclaim a good portion of the $1.3 billion in transit funds which was
illegally diverted to the general fund in the last budget
process.
Josh will also speak on a proposed initiative that will protect all
state transit funds from diversion, preventing the shell games which
got around the intent of Prop. 1A by simply diverting funds not
specifically protected.
OTHER
FEATURE SPEAKERS
David
Blue,
Director of Marketing Western Region
Cubic Transportation Systems Automatic fare card technologies; seamless transfers between
transportation agencies with one universal ticket; development of the
new COMPASS card good on all San Diego Country transit
systems.
John
Hoegemeier,
Consultant
SD Freight Rail Consulting The history and the future of The Carrizo Gorge Desert Line
From California to Mexico and back again.
George
Chilson,
President
National Association of Railroad Passengers Mr. Chilson, a San Diego resident, will give a presentation
about the NARP Vision Plan for the future of passenger rail in the
US.
The San
Diego Electric Railway Association (SDERA)
A short
introduction to the museum, its location and a brief description of
logistics for our Sunday excursion on the Sprinter
Line.
