Passengers Recognize Metrolink and Metro With “Tracks to the Future”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (#11-20)
October 14, 2011

Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail – 202-408-8362 [mobile: 202-320-2723]

Passengers Recognize Metrolink and Metro For Excellence in Growing Rail Network in America’s “Car Capital”

Metrolink and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority were honored with the National Association of Railroad Passengers’ (NARP) Tracks to the Future award today, in recognition of their outstanding work creating an efficient, attractive public transportation system in a city many call the “car capital of the world.”

“The work done in tandem between Metro and Metrolink has created a vital alternative to driving in the Los Angeles County region,” said Ross Capon, NARP’s President & CEO. “For the first time, workers and families in the region are getting a sense of what it means to be able to travel and live in a city that caters to them, not their cars.”

Metrolink worked to enhance safety following a 2008 collision between a Metrolink train and a freight train. CEO John Fenton—who took over in April of 2010, and personally attended NARP’s event to receive the Tracks to the Future award—has overseen the introduction of a new fleet of passenger rail cars that rank among the safest in the nation. Metrolink has accelerated its implementation strategy for Positive Train Control, a technology capable of detecting and preventing collisions before they occur, and is on schedule to put the system into operation ahead of the 2015 federal deadline. Additionally, the agency has launched a rail-specific safety leadership program with the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.
“I’m honored to accept this award on behalf of Metrolink’s forward-looking board of directors and dedicated staff,” Fenton said. “Our focus on people, whether it’s our passengers or employees, drives our uncompromised commitment to safety.”

Metro—which has more than 318,861 rail boardings on an average weekday—offers a variety of service, with five separate lines operating on subterranean heavy-rail, elevated rights of way, and light-rail lines all crisscrossing the city. The Metro Rail Red and Purple subway lines alone carry enough people to make it the ninth busiest rapid transit system in the U.S.
“We are partners with Metrolink’s commuter rail in Southern California, and work on such things as goods movement through the ports of L.A. and Long Beach—the biggest ports in the country—as well as the high-speed rail program,” said Metro CEO Art Leahy. “We really are revolutionizing Los Angeles.”

Previous “Tracks to the Future” recipients include the City of Portland, Ore.—another forward-thinking transportation leader on the West Coast.

About the National Association of Railroad Passengers

NARP is the only national organization speaking for the users of passenger trains and rail transit. We have worked since 1967 to expand the quality and quantity of passenger rail in the U.S. Our mission is to work towards a modern, customer-focused national passenger train network that provides a travel choice Americans want. Our work is supported by over 22,000 individual members.

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