MAKING THE CASE FOR THE TRAIN.

My post suggesting the California high speed rail line commence construction by providing a path from the San Joaquin Valley line into Los Angeles proper relied in part on the reality that there are more traffic sources in the Valley than there are on the Coast Line, where one train a day, scheduled to provide scenic views for cruise passengers destined for or from the Pacific Northwest, runs through an attractive traffic desert between Santa Barbara and San Jose, getting only one solid traffic hit, at San Luis Obispo.

Let the land slip, though, and even that train, and the regional trains linking Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, take on a sudden utility, despite never having been sung about by the Beach Boys.

The Surfliners are the only alternative to a 200-mile detour necessary since mudslides closed the [fabled Route 101] highway on Jan. 9. Union Pacific’s Coast Line, also closed by the slides, reopened Jan. 11. Cleanup of the highway continues, but the California Department of Transportation will not estimate a date for its reopening.

The highway closure has created heavy demand for the five daily round trips between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara (with two extending to San Luis Obispo, Calif.)

On Wednesday, Amtrak sent three additional Superliner coaches south from Seattle on the Coast Starlight, adding to the 8 California-owned and leased Superliner bilevels that have been redeployed from San Joaquin and Capitol Corridor trains. Those cars arrived on Jan. 13.

“Currently, we are adding blocks of three bilevels to every consist that operates north of Los Angeles,” [regional rail corridor agency] Deputy Managing Director Michael Litschi tells Trains News Wire.

He says the three Superliners will be added to the mix as early as Friday. This will allow every train to operate with at least nine cars north of Los Angeles.

The regional trains only require reservations for business class.

Alas, Union Pacific are unlikely to be receptive to additional frequencies north of Santa Barbara without additional track capacity, and that line faces a slog between San Luis Obispo and San Jose.

For the duration of the emergency, the single-level Horizon coaches familiar to Chicago Regional Rail passengers will protect only the Los Angeles and San Diego service.