Overview

Project Design

Project Construction

Project Benefits

Facility Site Plan

The project addresses the inadequacy of ARRC’s depot. The current facility has inefficient baggage handling, limited passenger service capability, and baggage handling and passenger loading/unloading activities that share a platform, resulting in conflicts.

The depot location also affords poor traffic circulation and poor pedestrian access.

The project addresses the inadequate parking areas and sidewalks leading to the depot.

The project will accommodate an estimated 3% annual growth rate in mass transit via rail over the next 30 years. Projected rail traffic increases would require multiple trains on the platform, construction of additional tracks and platforms to enable efficient, safe boarding procedures. The proposed track layout includes 4 tracks comprising a “passenger yard” and one fenced main track north of the passenger yard to allow trains to pass by without disrupting depot operations.

Long-term projections consider increased train activity via a shuttle service from downtown Anchorage to the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (TSAIA), where ARRC’s new rail station opened in May 2003. By 2030, up to 60 trains may be departing / arriving from the Ship Creek ITC per day – 10 trains would run in the critical morning time frame. This figure includes the shuttle service between TSAIA and downtown Anchorage, trains running between Anchorage and Seward, and trains running between Anchorage and Whittier. The long-term shuttle service projection assumes 30 minute headways (4 trains per hour), 12 hours per day.

Projections also anticipate increased rail activity stemming from development of commuter rail service to the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. By 2024, such service is expected to handle 40,000 passengers per week. This translates into an additional 1,000 commuters per day moving through the depot. The morning commuter period alone may include at least four train arrivals /departures between 7:00-9:00 a.m.

The project takes into account other impacts from commuter service, including the need for long-term parking. This would accommodate the likely number of commuters opting to drive a vehicle into Anchorage at the beginning of the week, commute via train throughout the week, and then drive their vehicle home at the end of the work week.