Hello, can anyone put me in touch with planning officials at the state or regional level for Amtrak California or the Caltrans peninsula operations? I am a PhD student working on new mathematical models for railway scheduling and track layout. I know changes were made for the "Baby Bullets", and that other track investments are likely for capacity expansion on other routes. I am looking for field data and applications ideas for my research.Other comparable lines nationwide would be interesting too, I just happen to have personal experience with the Bay Area.

Dear Stephen,I would suggest contacting Chris Barkan at the University of Illinois. He is leading an effort to re constitute the Railroad Engineering Program at the University of Illinois http://cee.uiuc.edu/research/railroad/ He may be able to point you in the right direction. Otherwise, if you have an interest in a specific agency, I would suggest contacting them directly - The schedulers and planners I have spoken with have been more than happy to explain how they do what they do.I hope this is of use - please let me know what you find as I will be doing similar research for a different part of the country shortly.Tom Cornillie

I can get you a contact for Caltrain. I sit on the San Mateo County Transportation Authority Advisory Committee. (We fund the capital improvements for Caltrain in San Mateo County) Contact me off line at hees-AT-rcn.com.Their latest schedule re-work is a work of genius. The line, which is owned and operated by a three county consortium (the Peninsula Joint Powers Board) and as is common with an agency which is dependent on three agency's each with their own priorities for funding, has been on short rations.The new schedule, rolled out August first ADDED trains to try to reduce the deficit in the process making many of the trains into high speed (one hour from San Jose to San Francisco) "Baby Bullets." They did this by dropping three stations, having two different Baby Bullet schedules, each skipping different stations, with the result that train sets and crews each make an additional round trip each day, increasing productivity, while increasing train speed drawing more riders. They ran into one problem. Passenger loadings have increased enough to cause delays loading at some stations.

At least two former MARC (Maryland) rail "officials" (meaning they had salaried positions, at least) used to lurk infrequently on this forum. Let me know if you don't get any reply from them, and I'll shake the dusty mailboxes a bit. They should be able to refer you to the correct persons.

Thanks, yes I know Chris Barkan. I have also cold written some officials, but I knew this forum had many personal contacts.

As a side note, I have some in-law family in Mountain View. I had to listen politely while they told me the other day of this "NEW" train service to San Francisco. They have lived there for 20 years, and it was obvious they had never considered using the train before.

...if you build it,(or improve it) they will come.sc 'doc' lewis(at one time four years on the Berkeley side of the Bay)