SacRT has announced on their website (Folsom Light Rail Service Schedule Update) and in an email that only some Gold Line to Folsom service will be on the 15-minute frequency that was promised by the the passing track at Glenn/Robert G. Holderness station. This project was initially referred to as ‘double-tracking to Folsom’, though it was never that, it was only a passing track for a short distance. In a unusually worded sentence, “Some of these outside factors included unrelated power loss; weather; and tight scheduling and system constraints all along the Gold Line”, SacRT seems to be saying that scheduling and system constraints are outside their control. SacRT designed the passing track and the service scheduling, and SacRT thought that it would work. This is hardly an outside factor. The entire page tries to minimize the issue, saying “Most riders will still have a train every 15 minutes during weekday peak hours at all Folsom stations.” Is 3/4 of the riders ‘most riders’? Technically, yes, but the statement seems strange.
The solution from, February 19, which may or may not be permanent, is that on weekdays every fourth train will turn back at Sunrise Station, and not go to Historic Folsom Station. Service from Folsom towards Sacramento Valley Station will be only three times per hour rather than four. Check the page, or the travel planning app you use, for details. SacRT is promising a consistent schedule, which is certainly an improvement over the seemingly random turn-backs and late trains that have characterized service since January 5.
It is not clear whether this change will result in more of the trains consisting of new low-floor cars, or whether random trains will be the old high-floor cars.
Sacramento Transit Advocates and Riders (STAR) 
I also read the e-mail communication. Convoluted at best. Plus, the new schedule to mitigate this is completely confounding.
The situation is appalling for an agency as mature as this one. How after all these years is SacRT not aware of the weather, the traffic downtown, system constraints, and scheduling difficulties!?! Any average rider can tell you this.
Why doesn’t SacRT own up to making a mistake. Downright insulting that they seem to think we are this stupid.
In the case of planning this service change, it would have been good to, for instance, compile data from the previous 2 years of Gold Line on-time performance and challenges, and then put that through a digital modeling of the system to show what would be feasible versus not. I have a bad feeling that what actually happened is that someone declared that the passing track would have a certain time tolerance, and that nobody even bothered to show data that would either support or refute it.
My confidence is getting lower-and-lower that SacRT can pull off a project without backtracking later on.
Note To Self and other Advocates: Keep an oversight eye on new projects, like Dos Rios, to see if we can help mitigate lack of common good engineering and planning before the mess happens.
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SacRT has not updated its GTFS feed to reflect the new schedule. GTFS (general transit feed specification) is the data source that apps such as Transit.app and Google Maps use to show service. If the GTFS is incorrect, then so is transit planning.
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SacBee/Emma Hall: Folsom light rail rolls out 15-minute train frequency. Riders say delays continue
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article302858224.html
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