RASC wrapped up the year with a holiday mixer at Traxx in Union Station on their private patio courtyard, lit with fairy lights, enjoying a delicious buffet of roasted brussels sprouts, grilled chicken skewers and cold pesto pasta salad. (I may have eaten more than my share of brussels sprouts.) J.P. Ziegler always pulls together a great menu.
The party marked the end of the Board’s 2024 term and the introduction of 2025’s officers (you’ll have to go check out the website for names!), a group of gracious rail professionals volunteering their time to bring you important speakers from our local agencies while raising funds for scholarships to encourage the next generation of transportation engineers. Nathan Ortega emceed the evening, and introduced our entertainment: Darren Kettle, CEO of Metrolink.
Darren wowed the crowd—first by letting us know his adult son and significant other chose to tag along! Tells you how great a party RASC throws.
After making it clear that this was the ‘it’ event of the season, Darren gave us a little history on the making of Metrolink, its development into a regional passenger service, with goals of more consistent service and better utilization of Metrolink crews and trains. “Metrolink reimagined.”
Now at 174 trains per day, Metrolink has seen an increase in ridership of 12%, encouraging that big-picture thinking. “I have never driven to the office from my home in Camarillo,” he pointed out with great pride.
“The schedule is what’s important—life revolves around that schedule! The riders come up and tell us,” Darren explained as he discussed the intricacies of trying to maximize efficiencies. He shared the lessons learned from tweaks to the San Bernardino line, and how the vocal ridership made it clear which changes they would accept and which they would not.
He talked about the give-and-take with the freight lines, and how their operations impact schedule. He was frank about their discussions, and sympathetic to the constraints affecting the big locomotives and the important role they play in our economy.
Darren touched on the success of the student adventure pass, and how other agencies are following Metrolink’s lead. “As long as we have seats available, let’s continue to offer it.”
SCORE work continues throughout the system, and SOGR is doing well with a reference to the big Union Station modernization (look in our previous blogs for a talk from Aaron Acevedo).
With big projects on the horizon and LA28 around the corner, Metrolink is the backbone of the system. The focus is on optimizing the schedule. Darren talked about the great job Paris Metro did at the Olympics this year. “But we’re going to be different—we don’t have the history, the maturity of the system. We’re going to do the best we can with the resources we have. The legacy is going to be that transit can work in Southern California.”
With 540 miles of track and billion dollar contracts, there’s a lot of work to do!
Thank you, Darren Kettle, for the lovely close to RASC’s 2024 year. And thank you to J.P. Ziegler for arranging a delicious spread at Traxx in Union Station. Most of all, thank you to our attending RASC members and our annual corporate sponsors RailPros, Mott MacDonald and GHD, whose participation makes our scholarship program possible.
RASC’s is committed to the education of the next generation of rail engineers, with the goal to provide scholarships for undergraduates interested in transportation. Funds raised from these luncheons support that initiative directly.
Join us! Sign up now to become a member of the Railway Association of Southern California (2024 RASC Membership) and be first in line for the next program.
Sponsor us! Help us grow our scholarship base. Sponsor a program by reaching out to J.P. Ziegler (jackson.ziegler@railpros.com) or become an annual corporate sponsor (RASC Sponsorship Levels).