OAKLAND, CALIF. January 25, 2007 – At the November 15, 2006 meeting of the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority Board of Directors, Forrest Williams, of The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Agency, was elected Chair, and Mary Ann Courville, of Solano Transportation Authority, was elected Vice Chair.
Williams, a member of the San Jose City Council since November 2000, serves on various City Council committees and is the current Chair of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. “I’m honored that my fellow board members have put their trust in me to help lead the Capitol Corridor service. This is an exciting time for me to be part of the CCJPA, particularly because of our recent service expansion to San Jose earlier this year.” Williams holds a BSEE, MSEE and DEECS degrees and served as Senior Engineering Manager for IBM Corporation.
Courville, who has served as Mayor of Dixon since 2000 has been active on the Capitol Corridor board and is leading efforts for a rail stop in downtown Dixon. “As Dixon has grown, so has the need for intercity rail in this community. Capitol Corridor helps connect the communities along its route and provides a viable transportation option to Sacramento, the Bay Area, and Silicon Valley from many Northern California communities.” Courville holds a B.A. in English and a Teaching Credential in Secondary Education from Lone Mountain College (known as the San Francisco College for Women).
Williams and Courville will lead the Capitol Corridor board for the next two years. The board is comprised of 16 members from six local Northern California transportation agencies that encompass eight counties from Santa Clara County to Placer County.
The CCJPA Board of Directors provides policy direction to the CCJPA staff in delivering quality passenger rail service along the 170-mile corridor that stretches from San Jose to Sacramento and into the Sierra Foothills. The Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority (CCJPA) is a unique organization tasked with providing the administrative management of an intercity passenger rail service. The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) provides the full-time management staff, Amtrak operates the service for the CCJPA, and Union Pacific Railroad dispatches the trains and maintains the tracks. The State of California provides operating support.
Funding is virtually 100% from passenger fares and state transportation funds. Over the past eight years under CCJPA management, the Capitol Corridor has achieved enormous strides in service performance – a 175% increase in ridership, a 158% increase in revenues, a 53% improvement in revenue-to-cost ratio, and a 300% increase in service levels, and it is now the third busiest Amtrak-operated route in the nation, with 1.3 million passengers generating more than 100 million annual passenger miles.
This past December, Capitol Corridor celebrated 15 years of service. Asked about this milestone, Williams remarks, “Our riders have asked for more high-quality, frequent service along the corridor, and we are providing them an unbeatable travel choice. We are proud to be celebrating 15 years of intercity train service and look forward to meeting their travel needs for the next 15 years.”
