What's up with the recent SunRail service interruptions?

Recently we heard complaints from a few riders annoyed with a few of the SunRail service interruptions that have occurred since operations began last month on the Southern Expansion.

We understand how frustrating delays can be, so we asked the SunRail bosses what was up.

Here is how they responded in a written statement:

“The SunRail team and its leadership acknowledge there have been a few issues during the expansion of service and the new schedule. We are operating more trains at more stations on a longer corridor.

"Even so, our goals remain the same; to operate a safe, welcoming and efficient system with an on-time performance (OTP) of better than 95%. We understand there have been some recent interruptions. We will continue to work diligently to improve and deliver the service our customers need and deserve. We also wish to thank our customers for their patience and continued support of SunRail.”

See you on The Rail.

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Rough day on the rails

On Thursday SunRail had another rough day on the rails.

A freight train derailed near Sanford blocking one of the two tracks used by SunRail, so operations had to be slowed down to let northbound and southbound commuter trains share one set of tracks.

We think SunRail did a much better job this time than they did last Friday. They pushed out messages much faster and more frequently to let riders know what was going on. Good job guys.

Service interruptions, such  as the one on Thursday morning are going to happen. Much of the time they are beyond the control of SunRail. What is in SunRail's control and responsibility is to let riders know what's going on.

SunRail Ambassadors 2.0

SunRail, please bring back the platform Ambassadors to assist riders.

Ambassadors were a great help when SunRail launched in May, and they are still needed.

Sure bringing back the Ambassadors will cost money, but they would have been worth their weight in gold last Friday when service SunRail suspended operations when a dead body was found on SunRail tracks in Sanford. No SunRail representatives were at stations to assist stranded riders.

SunRail needs to launch Ambassadors Program 2.0. SunRail probably doesn’t need to staff all 12 stations with Ambassadors. Just put Ambassadors at the 6 busiest stations, and move them around as necessary.

Also give Ambassadors equipment to communication with train-operations managers. The big weakness with the earlier version of Ambassadors is that they didn’t have a reliable way of knowing about problems in the systems because they were not issued  radios, tablets, or even cheap cell phones. Usually they didn't know any more about delays than the passengers at the station.

In addition to their value during emergencies, Ambassadors are needed to answer questions from riders. Most seasoned SunRail riders get it, but there are new people riding the system every day. People walk up to the station at Lynx Central Station and they don’t know if they need to be on the north or south platform to reach Lake Mary. Or they don’t understand the automated ticket-vending kiosk. The number of new riders continues to grow, and will likely get much larger when the massive Interstate 4 construction project begins next year.

Please bring back the Ambassadors.

Communicate, communicate, communicate

SunRail has one major responsibility: Provide safe, reliable mass transportation.

SunRail is top notch when it comes to safety.

SunRail also deserve very high marks for reliability. But sometimes things go wrong that are beyond its control, such as people and vehicles on the tracks -- where they’re not supposed to be.

Granted SunRail is only 4 months old, but the railroading is nearly 200 years old, so service interruptions aren’t new. That’s why SunRail’s response to a service interruption on Friday morning was so disappointing. Inadequate communications was the major problem.

Passengers arriving at SunRail stations at 6 a.m. were greeted with a number of confusing messages on the public address system. Initially riders were told all train service had been canceled for the morning. That proved to be incorrect. To SunRail’s credit, service resumed around 7 a.m.

Some will say SunRail was being cautious when it said train service was canceled for the morning. How many passengers heard that announcement, threw up their hands and went home, or called in sick.

It would have been better if SunRail was more forthcoming and said, “Service has been interrupted, but we’re working to restore it as quickly as possible.”

SunRail kept playing recorded messages so it was impossible to know if conditions had changed. During an emergency, people want real-time updates, so it would be better to have live announcements, and to let riders know the announcement is live. Begin it like this: “Good morning passengers, the time is 7:10 a.m. and we now have a southbound train approaching the Maitland station.”

You can’t communicate too much during an emergency.

SunRail also needs to do a better job keeping its transportation partners in the loop. Lynx drivers bringing passengers to the Sand Lake Road station had no idea SunRail service had been interrupted. There are 2-way radios on the buses. Let the bus drivers know so they can alert their passengers.

SunRail is an important part of the Central Florida community. We count on SunRail to take care of us.

Friday's SunFail

SunRail we still love you guys.

But Friday morning you dropped the ball --- big time.

Certainly it's tragic that someone was killed by a SunRail train late Thursday, but that's a sad reality that comes with running a railroad, and SunRail needs to be prepared to deal with it. If SunRail has a service-interruption plan, it didn't work Friday morning.

Alerted to the SunRail service interruption by one of our Twitter followers in Sanford we rushed to the Sand Lake Road station shortly after 6 a.m. Friday. Information at the station was limited and confusing.

People getting off Lynx buses at the station started walking toward the train platform while bystanders were yelling out that all trains had been canceled. Lynx bus drivers didn’t know that the trains weren’t running until they heard the announcements at the station.

Periodically recordings played on the station’s PA system telling riders that all SunRail service had been canceled this morning “sorry for the inconvenience.” There were no SunRail representatives at the station to assist riders because, you may remember, SunRail laid off the station Ambassadors a couple of weeks back. Many passengers and SunRail conductors said getting rid of the Ambassadors was a big mistake. Friday morning they were proven right.

Lynx, the regional public bus system, was the hero of the day. Shortly before 7 a.m. a Lynx supervisor arrived at the Sand Lake station and brought a convoy of buses with him to start shuttling stranded SunRail riders to their destinations.

But of course there was still no SunRail rep on scene. Then there were confusing recorded announcements saying there would be no SunRail train other than train P308. Who knows what that means? 

Then the announcer said there was a southbound train coming from Lake Mary – but no estimated time of arrival.

The good news is the first SunRail train arrived in Sand Lake at about 7:30.

Now some will say: What could SunRail have done?

1.    Provide real-time updates on what was going on. That means SunRail should have had representatives at the stations to help riders. That responsibility belongs to SunRail, not Lynx. Please bring back the Ambassadors!

2.    Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket. SunRail keeps all of its trains overnight in Sanford. That sets the stage for a disaster because if there’s a service interruption in or near Sanford, then the entire system comes to a halt. Why not store at least two trains on the southern end of the system in the Taft railroad yard south of the Sand Lake Road station? Those trains could have been running this morning to serve riders south of Sanford.

SunRail is not the Hogwarts Express theme park attraction ride. People depend on SunRail to get to work. “We apologize for the inconvenience,” just doesn’t cut it.

---- happens, everybody knows that. But we’re counting on SunRail bosses to be ready for it. Theme parks, hospitals, airlines and schools have plans to address emergency situations. Come on SunRail, we need you guys to step up your game.

Video shows Lynx riding to the rescue!