John Q. Citizen wrote on Jan 25, 2008 11:08 PM:I wonder if the NCTD hired an out of house council to draw up contractual legal recourse clauses? In this event of such blatant ignorance of what seems to be basic design flaws, one has to wonder who, if anybody, has proven skill and responsibilities in the realm of construction management. An embarrassment for this agency and shame on all the parties involved. Never underestimate how hard it is to think.

Tony wrote on Jan 25, 2008 11:50 PM:Are you sure they said they would be starting in "late December 2007"? If all they said was "late December", they've still got eleven months before this year's deadline.

Suggestion wrote on Jan 25, 2008 11:54 PM:As a reporter, shouldn't someone ask what the cost will be?

David wrote on Jan 26, 2008 12:07 AM:The train will not carry passengers for 2 months but it will continue to run daily without passengers. What sense does this make that we must continue to stop at the crossings and the trains are empty. Why not have paying passengers with the exception of the Escondido station that was poorly planned and built?

Larry wrote on Jan 26, 2008 1:05 AM:This wreaks of such incredulous incompetence on the part of the District-- it just numbs the mind that the NCTD is dis-serving our communities to this degree. This Sprinter is a Money Pit. Ticket prices will rise to cover the financial drain of this boondoggle. Since SANDAG is partly to blame for promoting this project, it should pick up some of the additional cost.

March 9th .... wrote on Jan 26, 2008 2:19 AM:of WHAT YEAR? LOL

Neighbor wrote on Jan 26, 2008 5:27 AM:For residents of the San Marcos Loop portion of the Sprinter project, NCTD's arrogance has caused permanent harm. When NCTD closed Shelly Drive, they caused a permanent 2 minute delay in paramedic and fire department response to about 800 people. Imagine waiting an extra 2 minutes while your house is burning or your loved one is suffering a heart attack. NCTD is evil to the core.

Willie: wrote on Jan 26, 2008 5:38 AM: Go SANDAG, go NCTD!

Kevin wrote on Jan 26, 2008 5:53 AM:Why is the marketing director the one getting quoted about design flaws? The marketing director understates the Vista flub. The tracks curve, but the platform is straight. Never underestimate how important it is to look over the plans before building.

Randy wrote on Jan 26, 2008 6:47 AM:We are fortunate that NCTD is the goose that never ceases to lay the golden egg!

Ann wrote on Jan 26, 2008 7:30 AM:Perfect...inept city officials combine with ... NCTD and this is what we get. NCTD is quoted as having money problems so watch this nightmare get even worse. The bureaucrats at NCTD should not be running a railroad (or anything else for that matter).

Nanchi wrote on Jan 26, 2008 7:38 AM:Hope they check the signal at I-5 and Oceanside Blvd before the other 81, because it often doesn't work correctly. The gates close for no reason. The traffic light is still green as the arms are coming down.

Al wrote on Jan 26, 2008 7:38 AM:Can you spell "boondagle"? What about accountability? Who will be fired? In private industry, someone would be losing their job over a complete fiasco like this.

Nathan wrote on Jan 26, 2008 8:02 AM:The Executive Director of NCTD should be canned. Is she not the captain of the ship? What are her qualifications and her immediate subordinates who are tasked with this project? Clean house.

Where's the horn ? wrote on Jan 26, 2008 8:22 AM:At the Las Posas and Mission intersection just last night at 7:00, the Sprinter went through the intersection without any horn that could be heard from within the 2nd car waiting northbound. No horn. No sound that could be heard from within the auto. If someone doesn't do something, we are really looking at a tragedy in the making. The signal arms were down this time, fortunately, minutes in advance of the Sprinter, which was travelling toward Oceanside.

Alf wrote on Jan 26, 2008 8:45 AM:You are right, "Al" at 7:38AM. In private industry or as a private contractor, such incompetence would result in firings or going out of business. What of the "officials", the planners and plan-check people whose job it was to check for these things? ... Regards, Alf.

Alf wrote on Jan 26, 2008 8:48 AM:Wasn't there something several months ago about the same thing or something similar regarding a Sprinter platform? Regards, Alf.

OMG! wrote on Jan 26, 2008 9:10 AM:What is gonna happen when it rains? I bet this 'delay' is because of the 'rain', (can't be a storm, we have not had one) As for the Escondido Ave. eastbound platform? What an ABSOLUTE JOKE. They had to have known this the moment they tried it, after all- it worked at 14 other stops, or did it? The Sprinter is a big fat joke! It needed to be a late night running thing that actually went places. As for empty trains running, I'm not even convinced they have made a full days schedule yet, I've yet to see it more than 3 times near Crouch street.

Oh and when is Old Grove Road going to be open?

Absolute waste... wrote on Jan 26, 2008 9:14 AM:What an absolute waste of taxpayer dollars. Seriously, some one should be fired over this. Who the Hell approved a boarding platform that doesn't line up with the train's doors? This project has been a complete waste of money from the start. The repeated delays only add to the waste. Marketing people can spin this as much as they want, the bottom line still remains that this project will be overpriced, underutilized, and will end up causing more traffic than it will alleviate. Time to recall everyone involved with this stupid idea.

San Marcos Resident wrote on Jan 26, 2008 9:26 AM:While driving through Escondido and San Marcos, my kids love being entertained by the passing trains... then one of them asks... why are there no people riding on it?

All the while I am wondering the same thing and now I have an answer.

Pathetic. How much does it cost to run these trains everyday with no one riding them?! The fuel costs must be outragious!! What other problems does this train system have?! Am I the only one weary of crossing the tracks for fear that the signals, gate arms, and traffic lights are not working right when a train is coming down the tracks?! Honk at me if you will, but I stop at those railraod crossings even at green lights to be sure a train isn't coming! Better safe than DEAD.

Jake wrote on Jan 26, 2008 9:39 AM:And some people regularly recommend turning things over to a government entity?

Ralphs wrote on Jan 26, 2008 9:51 AM:Every single person involved with this fiasco should be fired. This is an absolute waste of taxpayer dollars - in fact 500 million of them. If this happened in the private sector, heads would roll. Do we as citizens have recourse - yes we do, vote everyone involved out of office or impeach the whole lot.

GFN wrote on Jan 26, 2008 10:13 AM:The most disturbing thing, and there are many, is this part of the article: "Gallo and several other district members said they were not aware that the eastbound platform at Vista's Escondido Avenue station would need to be removed and replaced.
"I don't recall hearing that," Gallo said. "Obviously we have to get together with some folks and find out what happened and who's responsible." Do you realize that Mr. Gallo is the CHAIRMAN OF THE DISTRICT'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS!!!! WE NEED AN INVESTIGATION INTO THIS PROJECT! Where is Congressman Issa????

Zman wrote on Jan 26, 2008 10:56 AM:Come on people, give it a chance!

Reardon wrote on Jan 26, 2008 11:33 AM:CAL Fire and the NCTD are perfect examples of a government program disaster with no accountability -- no one ever loses their jobs over what is obvious incompetence. In other parts of the country this fiasco would be exacerbated by graft and fraud, so i guess we should be happy with incompetence. ... we have become numb with continual incompetence. At least in Japan the entire NCTD staff would resign in disgrace! Now we want to turn medical care over to government.

No horn, no warnings = accidents wrote on Jan 26, 2008 11:55 AM:We have this half-BILLION dollar project that is NOT safe at all of the at-grade crossings, which are the places most feared by train engineers. Accidents happen at them even out in the country, and when we have them slapped in the midst of our cities - crossing our very busy high-traffic roads, we are staring at a big problem. What about those crossing arms that go up and down when they want to, and the horns that are silent when the Sprinter approaches the pedestrian crossings and intersections ? The headlight is small and not obvious from a distance, and we have NO warnings.

ugh wrote on Jan 26, 2008 12:29 PM:If the government can't build a railroad properly (meaning within budget and time constraints) how in the world does anybody think they could manage universal health care?

to Zman wrote on Jan 26, 2008 12:39 PM:How much money must be thrown at this project? Trains have been built for the past 100 years. This isn't rocket science.

Dare I say? wrote on Jan 26, 2008 12:54 PM:I'm still looking forward to riding the Sprinter. It's going to be convenient for me and many other people.

What? wrote on Jan 26, 2008 1:03 PM:Better than average comments on this story. But lets face it this is a pretty easy target. This project has been a goat rope from day one. I need to get down to the Escondido Ave station. I thought it was a single track there so I don't understand the east bound west bound talk. I also have to laugh that this problem wasn't caught sooner. How many engineers looked at these plans and saw nothing wrong with them? Why didn't any of them notice that there were 14 stations set up one way and one station set up another way? I mean the doors on the train are X feet wide and are spaced Y feet apart. If the boarding ramps don't match these dimensions they aren't going to work.

Carlsbad native wrote on Jan 26, 2008 1:19 PM:Next time you feel lulled into believing government can take care of your healthcare, think of this...Or better yet drive by the DMV before they open some morning and imagine yourself with a sick child in that line of 200 snaking around the corner.....

NCTD Flub wrote on Jan 26, 2008 1:21 PM:The original designer, the NCTD plan checkers, the NCTD inspectors or even the contractor should have noticed that the tracks curve and the platform was straight. This is lots of folks getting paid big money that didn't do their job. This easement belongs to NCTD and they are responsible for everything within the easement. They need to answer whom will be paying for this extra work. If not the Contractor, then the original designer.

Tuck wrote on Jan 26, 2008 1:39 PM:Is this what the U$A has become? We can't even build a 22-mile railroad. I sure hope China isn't paying attention.

Karl wrote on Jan 26, 2008 3:19 PM:


Surprise, Surpise.

Harry wrote on Jan 26, 2008 4:35 PM:Does the CEO of NCTD have the skill to handle contractors, does she have the skill to get in a company car and drive to the various construction sites with a contractor and ask various questions relative to the construction at hand. Or is her skill pretty much related to entertaining the various civic officials who comprise the Transit Development Board? You know, the two martini lunch.

Gringo wrote on Jan 26, 2008 4:46 PM:The inability of the bumbling bureaucracy to get the tragic train on the rails can only be seen as a positive. The train to nowhere will clearly lose much less money so long as it fails to go into daily operation. The millions wasted on the construction of this unneeded eyesore are merely the down payment on several generations of squandered resources. Even the most delusional leftist must know that the slothful Sprinter will never make a dime. Another positive; the Sprinter will cut across North San Diego County for the next fifty years as a constant reminder of bankrupt, liberal Democrat "vision" and incompetent government.

The problem wrote on Jan 26, 2008 5:19 PM:started when the design of the trains was changed. I have heard rumors from some of the people that did the construction about the platforms not meeting the trains at numerous locations. I tried to post comments regarding this before, but nctimes censored them. NCTD has known about this for months was trying to find a positive way to spin it. It is cheaper to rip out the construction and redo it than to purchase new trains.

Reardon wrote on Jan 26, 2008 5:45 PM:Gringo: Incompetence knows no political party. Most of these elected officials are Republicans, but there is not a dime's worth of difference. Deming was wrong when he said: "There is nothing more unproductive than to do something efficiently that should not have been done at all." Doing something like the Sprinter inefficiently is FAR WORSE than even doing it efficiently or, better yet, not doing it at all. This is the San Diego County “Big Dig.”

Hey Gringo wrote on Jan 26, 2008 6:26 PM:The last I checked, this project has REPUBLICAN written all over it! The NCTD Board is almost entirely REPUBLICAN. The Federal Government gave NCTD $152 million during a REPUBLICAN President and Congress. And the last I checked, North County is almost 100% REPUBLICAN politicians!!!!

Gallons per Mile - MPG wrote on Jan 26, 2008 6:28 PM:The Sprinter's fuel economy is not measured in miles per gallon but instead in gallons per mile. According to NCTD, the Sprinter has great fuel economy at one gallon of diesel fuel per mile.

Rider wrote on Jan 26, 2008 6:38 PM:Even as a beneficiary of the line, I have to admit that this project has been a failure even before it has started. The amount of incompetence, matched only by the sheer arrogance of the NCTD, does not give me much hope for the long term operational survival of this line.

Delusional Leftist wrote on Jan 26, 2008 7:02 PM:You're right, the Sprinter will never make a dime.

Fed Up wrote on Jan 26, 2008 7:35 PM:22 miles with 15 stops. How long will it take to go from Escondido to Oceanside and visa versa. 500 million dollars wasted. At 4 dollars a ticket, it would take 10 years and 34,722 riders a day to pay back what it took to make. This does NOT include daily operating expenses, salaries, etc. What a huge waste of our money. How much would it have cost to add a lane to the 78 freeway and build a real road along the 76? How amazing that these idiot's arent held accountable for this boondoogle. And every time something goes wrong they always seem to have someone else to point the finger at. I guess that if McDonalds wont hire you, you just get a job in government.

You can't make this stuff up wrote on Jan 26, 2008 7:48 PM:"Passengers who wish to return to their vehicles from west to east will have to get off one stop ahead of schedule at the Vista Village Drive Transit Center and ride a bus east to the Escondido Avenue station". That's just hilarious!

Senior Rider II wrote on Jan 26, 2008 7:54 PM:NCTD AND SANDAG knew about this before now.....or is Robolini area another area and we have two issues. Best thing is that NCTD bus riders are not having to wait in the cold for their nonexistent schedules.

Jerimiah wrote on Jan 26, 2008 8:21 PM:The cars were delivered over a year ago, before the platform was built. Wasn't there anyone who could take a tape measure and see that the doors would not line up?

Larry wrote on Jan 26, 2008 8:42 PM:What's with all the lame comments about health care? Health care has nothing to do with this fiasco. By the way, our private, for-profit health care system is also a fiasco, costing much more and delivering less medical care than do the health care systems in other developed countries.

John Q. Citizen wrote on Jan 26, 2008 8:47 PM:I'm sure The Sprinter Line will go on. I know many people who were eager to park their cars in December and use the line to commute to work -it can be cheaper than gas and their car gets to sit. No doubt professional nescience of government employees and unethical business practices preceded this debacle.

What? wrote on Jan 26, 2008 9:05 PM:The problem, the problem with the train design change theory you are putting forward is the fact that there is only one station that isn't right. If it was due to a change of train design it would be a problem at all of the stations not just one.

Susan wrote on Jan 26, 2008 10:23 PM:Reardon is sure to hear from the "CalFire Anti-Defamation League" for daring to compare them to NCTD. Mark my words!

Gringo wrote on Jan 26, 2008 10:56 PM:Public rail transportation projects are now and have almost exclusively always been the domain of the social-engineering liberal left. It isn't as if this is their first failure. Challenge to the liberals, name a public transit system in the United States that makes money, or at least pays it's own way.

Stella wrote on Jan 26, 2008 11:30 PM:Yes, there are many stops to be made between Oceanside and Escondido. Worried about the schedule viability and making your connections? Wait until a handicapped person with more rights that you ever thought about having rolls onto the Sprinter at any one of the numerous stations and can't figure out how to tie themselves in. Is the motorman supposed to hold everything and go back and fool with that? On a bus, the driver does it, and the driver gets in trouble if the wheelchair is not secured just so. Of course, this often interferes with making connections at the depot, as it will with the Sprinter.

What? wrote on Jan 27, 2008 8:04 AM:An update to my first post. It is a double track at Escondido Ave. Not a single track like I thought.

T.R. wrote on Jan 27, 2008 11:25 AM:It is so easy to be negative about a huge major civic improvement project.The Sprinter will be a wonderful asset to our community for years to come. Our safety is much more important than any artificial schedule. Be patient. Be realistic. Be positive!

What? wrote on Jan 27, 2008 12:44 PM:TR they dropped half a billion dollars of our tax dollars on a train that I will only use a couple of times to check it out. But I will have to wait for it on a daily basis at crossings. What do I have to be positive about in regards to the Sprinter?

O'side Res wrote on Jan 27, 2008 3:35 PM:Grip, Gripe, Gripe!

Chris wrote on Jan 27, 2008 8:18 PM:I like when it comes to the crossings with its little car horn beeping its fun!!

david wrote on Jan 28, 2008 10:15 AM:despite this big negitive postponing the arrival of this new componte in NCTD's arsonal of transportation options here in the north county, which by the way is going to have a huge impact on just about all other services when finally intagrated. I would say dollars are really not the long term issue, what is will the people make use of it when it goes operational? Only time will tell, so stay tuned to find out.

to Larry wrote on Jan 28, 2008 10:24 AM:Why are you complaining that people are relating this issue of government incompetence to the broader issue of universal health care, then proceeding to argue about health care?
BTW if our capitalist health care system is so bad why to rich people from other countries (like Canada, France and the UK) come to the US when they get sick?

Mike wrote on Jan 31, 2008 4:29 PM:Let's support public transportaion for the intelligent reasons that the REST of the world supports it. Let's quit acting like spoiled American brats !!!! Have some patience, I think that's what my grandmother tried to teach me.

Michael wrote on Jan 31, 2008 5:14 PM:Ed Gallo involved?? That's sez it all. Little wonder that this project is the epitome of human blunder--looks what he's done in Escondido!

Polar Bear wrote on Feb 9, 2008 12:59 PM:To Mike who wants to "support public transportation for the intelligent reasons that the REST of the world supports it". The problem is, Sprinter is not being built using intelligent reasons as the rest of the world does it. It is a 22-mile road to nowhere, which still does not work. It is a typical money-laundering operation.