Friday September 5th, the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission board meeting will be broadcast live online.  Please click here to register using the event number: 662 209 855.  The board meeting begins at 8:00 AM and you can view the agenda here.  If you have any question please contact Thomas Reeves. 

New ticket validation machines are in the process of being installed at Pleasanton, Tracy and Lathrop/Manteca.  The new Pleasanton validator will be located at the East end of the platform.  These stations now each have three working validators.  If you have any questions, please contact John Giovannoni.

Demolition will begin soon is complete on the Bockmon & Woody buildings adjacent to Stockton’s ACE Cabral Station in order to make way for the new station entryway.  As many of you may know, we have been working for quite a while on a design for this project, and we are now ready to begin construction.  The first phase of this construction project includes the demolition of the old Bockmon & Woody Electric property, which will begin this week.  The Bockmon & Woody property is located to the west of the Cabral Station on the corner of Aurora Street and Miner Avenue.   

ACE passengers will not be affected by this demolition phase and should expect no disruptions to normal business activity. 

Coming soon – construction of the new entryway off Aurora Street, a new traffic circulation plan through the station property, and repositioned parking stalls.  Stay tuned for more information regarding this second phase of the construction project.       

The SJRRC August 1, 2008 board meeting can be seen live via the web.  Please register here to participate in the board meeting.  Once registered, you will be able to "join the event" during the scheduled start time using event number 664 023 156 666 010 958.  Participants will have the opportunity to comment and ask questions during the meeting using a moderated chat forum.  You can also review the agenda for the August board meeting and other board meetings here. 

*UPDATE  

Contact Information:     Thomas Reeves

                                    209.944.6242 office

                                    209.649.1762 cell

                                    Thomas@acerail.com

ACE Rail Trains Delayed Because Of Thermal Misalignment

-High Temperature caused tracks to expand-

July 9, 2008

News Facts 

• High temperatures caused train delays and tracks to expand, resulting in a thermal misalignment (sun-kinks) along ACE tracks 3 miles south of the Pleasanton station between Fremont and Sunol at Hearst Siding. A thermal misalignment is the result of the high temperatures causing the track to warp and/or kink.
• Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) performed maintenance on the track to allow ACE trains to operate; the portion of damaged track was extracted and replaced.
• ACE 04 was ultimately delayed three and one-half hours while ACE 04 and 06 were delayed about 90 minutes.
• Union Pacific Railroad constantly patrols the tracks during hot weather, and because of their efforts, they found the sun-kinks and did not allow ACE trains to operate on the tracks.
• Operating a train on tracks damaged by thermal misalignment is prohibited under federal regulations.

    Quotes

• “Thanks to the vigilance of the UP track inspection department, they prevented ACE from running on the damaged track,” said Doug Honn of Herzog Transit Services Inc., which operate the commuter rail train.
• Today and tomorrow, we are paying for buses and drivers to be on standby.  We have an insider at the UP headquarters in Omaha who will be staying after office hours to alert us if there are any heat related alerts within UP.  If we get the hint of anything along those lines, we will activate the buses to give people an option, regardless of whether the trains are on the move.  We are better prepared today to operate as best we can under these extreme circumstances, and I will be mindful of everyone’s time and concerns,” said Stacey Mortensen, Executive Director of ACE.

Please be advised that we have bike lockers available at the following stations: Lathrop/Manteca, Tracy, Vasco, Livermore and Pleasanton.  Also, due to the increase in bike riders, please bring a bungee cord on the train to secure your bike.  We have a limited number of bike ties and bike racks on the train.  For any questions please contact Susan Payan at susanp@acerail.com.

If you are a passenger from the Riverbank or Oakdale area, please contact ACE Operations Supervisor John Giovannoni for possible commute assistance to the Lathrop/Manteca station.  John can be reached at 209-944-6247 or johng@acerail.com.