Ideas

Ideas, suggestions, hopes

I'd like to see Amtrak stop at more hiking destinations. For example, the Capitol Corridor route literally passes right through Point Pinole Regional Shoreline near Richmond, Calif., a fantastic park with lots of trails right on the shore of San Pablo Bay. But there is currently no easy way to get to this park by train, because the train doesn't stop anywhere nearby.

The travesty is, there's even a convenient place for the train to stop right next to the park's entrance kiosk. So I'd like to see the train stop at this park on a regular basis. I know it's a tall order, given the political and practical realities of train scheduling. But maybe it could happen only on Saturdays, and maybe just two stops a day (morning and afternoon). That doesn't seem a lot to ask.

There is precedent for this. Amtrak and the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority arranged toprovide passenger train service from the Sacramento Area to the Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR race at Sonoma Raceway on June 23, 2013. If they can do it for a car race, they oughta be able to do it for hikers.

Another issue is that where Amtrak does stop, schedules are sometimes not conducive to hikers. The prime example is the Capitol Corridor schedule at Auburn, the easternmost station on this route. This stop offers access to miles of great hiking at Auburn State Recreation Area. But the train makes only two stops a day, and they are timed to serve only local resident commuters. There are no morning arrivals, and no afternoon departures. A hiker cannot arrive in he morning, hike all day, then ride the train home in the evening.