Capital Metro plans to spend a total of $27.3 million with the aid of a federal grant to add double tracking and other improvements needed to lay the foundation for the agency to increase capacity on MetroRail.
Last September the Federal Transit Administration awarded the agency an $11.3 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery—or TIGER—grant to use toward the upgrades for commuter rail as well as the freight rail that runs on the Red Line tracks.
"We have a lot of capital needs, and we're looking to get any help we can get," said Melvin Clark, Capital Metro's vice president of rail operations. "The TIGER grant is just one of the ways."
Capital Metro will spend $16 million in addition to the federal grant. Included in the $27.3 million package is $6.2 million for double tracking and $2 million to modify MetroRail cars so that commuter and freight rail can operate at the same time, spokesman John Julitz said. The agency expects to start construction on upgrades in 2015.
Without the upgrades, Capital Metro will not be able to increase capacity for its commuter rail, which already has packed trains during the morning and evening peak hours and an average headway—the distance between trains—of 34 minutes.
Double tracking, often referred to as sidings in the industry, would add a second set of tracks at the Lakeline, Howard and Crestview stations. The agency would also realign the track near the junction at East Sixth Street and Northwestern Avenue—called the Austin wye—to reduce the angle of the turn, Julitz said.
"Double tracking will provide us with the opportunity to run 15-minute headways as well as provide us with service recovery options if we have a failure on our line," Clark said, indicating that a "failure" could include accidents with pedestrians or motor vehicles. " We're not going to be able to see a lot of the possibilities until we get more rail cars."
Other upgrades include crossing signal improvements to allow trains to run at 60 mph. Clark said currently trains run at a slower speed because of the existing crossing signal limits.
With the increased speed and the sidings, Julitz said Capital Metro might be able to add an additional trip during the morning and afternoon peak hours.
Capital Metro's commuter rail has 36 runs on weekdays with 12 runs on Friday evenings and 28 runs on Saturdays. Ridership has been increasing since its launch in March 2010, mainly because the agency added midday runs in 2011 and Friday night and Saturday service in 2012.
Clark said the agency cannot run more trains right now because it does not have enough rail cars and does not want to cut the length of trips to run more trains. It also cannot run rail on Sundays when freight trains use the tracks.
Although Capital Metro owns the 32 miles of railroad tracks that commuter rail uses, between 40,000–50,000 freight cars also use the line annually. Clark said most of the cargo is aggregate, or rock. The proposed siding at the Lakeline station would be long enough for a freight train to park if needed.
Freight rail typically enters Capital Metro's line from the northwest, as far out as Llano, traveling through the Hill Country before entering the Austin area. Clark said some rail exits Capital Metro's line at the McNeil junction near the McNeil post office and Howard Lane. Other freight continues down to the Austin wye junction.
Freight rail cannot run on the tracks while MetroRapid is in service but is permitted to run on Sundays. Clark said Capital Metro could open the window for more freight operations with the upgrades.
"We'll still have some service restrictions because freight goes slower than [MetroRail]," Clark said.
