EXPERIENCING FRAGMENTATION. Transport Blog and Cold Spring Shops have traded tales over the years about the pros and cons of railway fragmentation, defined as multiple operating companies using the same tracks. In the UK, the experiment has not been without its troubles. See this. In the United States, multiple passenger operators have an uneasy coexistence with the freight railroad that owns the tracks, but after a fashion it works. In Germany, one company offers different kinds of passenger services. Elsewhere on the Continent, there is talk of a British-style restructuring: one Swiss participant at the railway history conference complained that train operators tend to think of the rail network as a steel highway, and they want free access for their trains at any time. Alas, that doesn't work out so well.

Let's start with the German service, all of which is integrated under the Die Bahn label. Train-specific timetables are available on the major intercity trains, listing connections (research those here or auf Englisch) to other intercity trains, local trains, and suburban services, with assigned departure tracks listed in the timetable. The timing is not quite as tight as it is in Switzerland (George Drury's The Reluctant Railfan's Introduction to Europe notes, "a difference in time of two minutes is a valid connection unless otherwise noted") but six- or seven-minute connections are common.

In the UK, multiple train service operators coexist on the same routes. A holder of a rail pass has the option of taking the next service out, no matter whose it is, but if you're at Doncaster headed for York on a Virgin ticket and the next down train is one of those Great North Eastern expresses, you just have to wait. (Let's see, a bad parody of the New Haven Comet or an electric high-speed train with a real dining car??) I noted several places where I had the choice of different operating companies, perhaps with different running times and more or fewer stops, depending on the franchise.

Less known to many readers is that there is a similar coexistence in the United States. On the east coast, the Amtrak Northeast Corridor is also home to the Virginia Railway Express south from Washington, D.C., and the Maryland Rail Commuter to the northwest and north, reaching as far as Perryville, Maryland. Further north, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority shares Amtrak tracks in the Philadelphia area, south to Wilmington, Delaware, north to Trenton, New Jersey, and west as far as Paoli. New Jersey Transit operates Trenton to New York's Penn Station, with numerous connections available at Newark and at Penn Station. Although New York's Metro-North operates out of Grand Central Terminal, its trains share tracks with Amtrak's Empire Corridor line (125 mph speeds being promised) to Poughkeepsie. The Metro-North service extends to New Haven, Connecticut, in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Transportation, and Connecticut operates a Shore Line East service as far as New London. (Thus, if one wanted to do a bit of exploring one could travel from Fredericksburg to Perryville or from Wilmington to New London without buying an Amtrak ticket.) There are additional connections in Connecticut. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority operates a service from Providence to Boston, and other service in Boston out of both the North and South Stations.

In the Midwest, Chicago's Metra Rail shares tracks with Amtrak, although, owing to Chicago-area restrictions on picking up and setting down passengers, the use of Amtrak as a faster alternative to Metra is not available.

The California service is turning into an example of cooperation among the operating companies. Amtrak runs one intercity train from Los Angeles to Oakland, and northern and southern corridor operations. There is a commuter service out of San Francisco. The southern corridor is also home to the Los Angeles Metrolink, sharing the Pacific Surfliner route between Oxnard and Oceanside, with additional branches. There are additional connections at Los Angeles. South of Oceanside, the Coaster service runs to San Diego, with a trolley connection to the Mexican border. Oceanside now has what it bills as a transportation center serving all three routes. And Amtrak California offers one truly promising development:

Beginning April 1, 2004. COASTER Monthly Pass holders became able to ride COASTER Commuter trains AND any AMTRAK train between Oceanside and San Diego (within the limits of their monthly pass). Conversely, Amtrak ticket holders became able to ride on any COASTER train within those same limits on their Amtrak ticket.

The program began over a year ago on Metrolink, and has resulted in much more convenience for both Metrolink and Amtrak riders AND significant ridership increases for both train services.

COASTER monthly pass holders will be able to ride AMTRAK on SUNDAY, when COASTER has no service, and Amtrak passengers will be able to ride the Coaster's new late night return from Petco Park weekdays.

The absence of any single pass good on all trains occurred to me several times during my recent trip. It appears as though the Californians are taking steps in that direction. (There is talk of providing run-through tracks in Los Angeles as well, no more Frankfurt-style reversal of direction.)

On both coasts, there appears to be reason to issue German-style connection leaflets. Currently, a traveler must use his wits to get from Paoli to Attleboro (change from SEPTA to Amtrak in Philadelphia, change from Amtrak to MBTA either at Providence or Boston Back Bay) or from Pasa Robles to Mission Valley (left as an exercise).

So, do we have trains in the United States like they have in Europe? Definitely, where road congestion and population density warrant it. Could we borrow some ideas from the Europeans? Yes. Seamless ticketing and shared connection information would help. Do we want to borrow more ideas from the Europeans? Perhaps, but it won't come cheaply. Consider providing something analogous to the Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive in the Midwest. One could offer an hourly dmu service from Milwaukee to Kenosha, connecting there with the Metra service to Chicago, as a supplement to the every-two-hour fast trains on the Hiawatha line. But would the taxpayers of Wisconsin really want to dig down for something like that, and would the Union Pacific countenance such puddle-jumpers getting in the way of the Oak Creek coal trains? Perhaps not, if this Ross Clarke essay on the behavior of passenger transport executives generalizes:

Berney Arms is one of numerous "ghost" stations in remote corners of the countryside where once or twice a day is played out the bizarre ritual of a train service with no passengers. It might seem to make sense to close the station and the eight-mile stretch of track which serves it exclusively, but that would require a considerable amount of bureaucracy, and private operators are not prepared to go to the trouble. Far easier and cheaper, they have realised, to avoid the issue by keeping a skeleton service.