ARTICLE
The Great Train Debate Continues As most of you know who have followed the decades-long debate about a passenger rail system in Santa Cruz County, the noise has become a lot of thunderous commentary these last couple of years. It is getting louder and more contentious. The community engagement has broken down into two camps — supporters for the Rail-Trail and proponents for Trail Now — each placing a hard bet on the outcome of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission’s (RTC) vote on the Transit Corridor Alternatives Analysis and Rail Network Integration Study – Business Plan for Electric Passenger Rail. According to the RTC staff report, in February the RTC accepted the TCAA/RNIS that selects Electric Passenger Rail as the locally preferred alternative. The Business Plan was developed to provide a guiding document for potential funding and implementation of electric passenger rail on the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line. The 25-year business plan included cost estimation, an implementation plan, a project financing and revenue plan, a funding strategy, which included a cash flow analysis, and risk identification factors. The Commission requested that the RTC staff come back with recommendations on the plan and next steps. On April 1, 2021, RTC Commission moved in a deadlock 6-6 vote to essentially put a hold on the next steps. The Transit Corridor Alternatives Analysis and Rail Network Integration Study (TCAA/RNIS) is a year-long study that analyzed various transit alternatives to identify a locally preferred alternative that provides the greatest benefit to Santa Cruz County residents, businesses, and visitors in terms of the triple bottom line goals of improving the economy, equity, and the environment. After the 6-6 vote, the RTC requested that the RTC staff return in May with options on whether to “accept” the business plan and to direct staff not to pursue financing strategies for implementing the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that is a significant undertaking and required next step. Where does the next RTC meeting take the community? The Trail Now camp has signaled that the train is dead and the focus of the RTC should be on other transportation improvements. The Friends of the Rail-Trail believe that there is still an opportunity to move forward with a plan. In a sense, both parties are correct. A stalemate in chess requires the two players take a step back, view the chessboard differently, and return with a new strategy. This leads me to a couple of interesting ideas that are in process. First, there is renewed discussion “over the hill” in the Bay Area about a potential merger between CalTrain and BART. In an April 14th San Jose Mercury News article by Nico Savidge, he states: “Imagine if transferring from BART to Caltrain was as easy as taking a few steps from one train to another. Their arrivals would be synced up, so you wouldn’t be greeted by an empty platform and a long wait. The price of your ticket would be based on how far you go, not which train you use, so you wouldn’t have to pay extra for the switch. Maps at every stop would show Caltrain’s line of stations up the Peninsula alongside BART’s routes through San Francisco, the East Bay, and the South Bay.” Backers of this vision say merging BART and Caltrain into a single regional rail system, set to eventually encircle the Bay, would make public transportation faster, cheaper, and easier for riders to navigate. It’s a long-debated idea, but there are signs momentum could be building. A merger with BART is one of the concepts Caltrain’s board is considering this year as it overhauls the railroad’s management. And COVID-19 has upped the pressure throughout the Bay Area to better coordinate service between agencies if they want to win back riders in the post-pandemic world. While there is no official decision on a possible merger, the discussion provides a telling storyline of how passenger rail systems are moving in and around California. You can read the article here: https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/04/13/bart-and-caltrain-could-merge-in-effort-to-fix-one-of-bay-area-transits-biggest-problems/ Closer to the Central Coast, the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) is working on a project entitled Monterey County Rail Extension. You can read about it here: https://www.tamcmonterey.org/monterey-county-rail-extension The opening statement of the project recites the mission: “The Monterey County Rail Extension project extends passenger rail service from Santa Clara County south to Salinas. This is a transformative project that will revitalize the downtown Salinas train station and create new multimodal transportation hubs for the disadvantaged communities of Pajaro and Castroville.” These multimodal stations will be served by new passenger rail service and bus transit that will provide peak period connections for the residents of Salinas and their north Monterey County, Monterey Peninsula, and Santa Cruz County neighbors, to access Silicon Valley, San Jose, the greater San Francisco Bay Area, and Sacramento. In recognition of the importance of service to these populations, the 2018 California State Rail Plan includes the Monterey County Rail Extension Project in the near-term (2022) scenario. Why bring up the California State Rail Plan if the current thinking of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission is to pause on any further action with the rail corridor line in our county? It seems that having both a short-term and long-term strategy is a critical and necessary step toward better mobility between Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties and beyond. Read what TAMC states about the status of connecting Monterey to Santa Cruz County. The Pajaro/Watsonville Multimodal Transportation Station is Phase 2 of the Monterey County Rail Extension project. The proposed Pajaro/Watsonville station is located in the Monterey County unincorporated community of Pajaro. The station site is approximately 1.5 miles from downtown Watsonville. This station will be the connection point for Santa Cruz County to new passenger rail service on the Coast mainline tracks between Salinas and the San Francisco Bay Area. The station will transform a currently blighted area by providing a new community transportation hub that will entice transit-oriented housing and community services to the surrounding area. > Estimated Capital Cost: $30-50 million > Status: 60% design, environmentally cleared, unfunded > Next steps: secure funding for final design, construction There are more details of that project here: https://www.tamcmonterey.org/monterey-county-rail-extension-phase-2-pajaro-watsonville. The draft of the Monterey County Rail Extension is scheduled to be released next month. So where do we go from here? We are stuck in between two polar opposites. Does the current strategy by the RTC provide for a long-term transportation plan? I will leave that to your own conclusion. Transportation is a pressing issue in our county. It affects people's access to work, school, and recreation, which can be either helpful or harmful to the economic vitality of Santa Cruz. While the Chamber advocates for the usage of multimodal transportation, we understand that access to public transportation networks, safe streets to school, increased active transportation for bicyclists and pedestrians, as well as highway improvements are a packaged plan. That is what the voters said when they passed Measure D in 2016.
The Great Train Debate Continues
As most of you know who have followed the decades-long debate about a passenger rail system in Santa Cruz County, the noise has become a lot of thunderous commentary these last couple of years. It is getting louder and more contentious. The community engagement has broken down into two camps — supporters for the Rail-Trail and proponents for Trail Now — each placing a hard bet on the outcome of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission’s (RTC) vote on the Transit Corridor Alternatives Analysis and Rail Network Integration Study – Business Plan for Electric Passenger Rail.
According to the RTC staff report, in February the RTC accepted the TCAA/RNIS that selects Electric Passenger Rail as the locally preferred alternative. The Business Plan was developed to provide a guiding document for potential funding and implementation of electric passenger rail on the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line. The 25-year business plan included cost estimation, an implementation plan, a project financing and revenue plan, a funding strategy, which included a cash flow analysis, and risk identification factors. The Commission requested that the RTC staff come back with recommendations on the plan and next steps.
On April 1, 2021, RTC Commission moved in a deadlock 6-6 vote to essentially put a hold on the next steps. The Transit Corridor Alternatives Analysis and Rail Network Integration Study (TCAA/RNIS) is a year-long study that analyzed various transit alternatives to identify a locally preferred alternative that provides the greatest benefit to Santa Cruz County residents, businesses, and visitors in terms of the triple bottom line goals of improving the economy, equity, and the environment. After the 6-6 vote, the RTC requested that the RTC staff return in May with options on whether to “accept” the business plan and to direct staff not to pursue financing strategies for implementing the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that is a significant undertaking and required next step.
Where does the next RTC meeting take the community? The Trail Now camp has signaled that the train is dead and the focus of the RTC should be on other transportation improvements. The Friends of the Rail-Trail believe that there is still an opportunity to move forward with a plan. In a sense, both parties are correct. A stalemate in chess requires the two players take a step back, view the chessboard differently, and return with a new strategy.
This leads me to a couple of interesting ideas that are in process. First, there is renewed discussion “over the hill” in the Bay Area about a potential merger between CalTrain and BART. In an April 14th San Jose Mercury News article by Nico Savidge, he states: “Imagine if transferring from BART to Caltrain was as easy as taking a few steps from one train to another. Their arrivals would be synced up, so you wouldn’t be greeted by an empty platform and a long wait. The price of your ticket would be based on how far you go, not which train you use, so you wouldn’t have to pay extra for the switch. Maps at every stop would show Caltrain’s line of stations up the Peninsula alongside BART’s routes through San Francisco, the East Bay, and the South Bay.”
Backers of this vision say merging BART and Caltrain into a single regional rail system, set to eventually encircle the Bay, would make public transportation faster, cheaper, and easier for riders to navigate.
It’s a long-debated idea, but there are signs momentum could be building. A merger with BART is one of the concepts Caltrain’s board is considering this year as it overhauls the railroad’s management. And COVID-19 has upped the pressure throughout the Bay Area to better coordinate service between agencies if they want to win back riders in the post-pandemic world.
While there is no official decision on a possible merger, the discussion provides a telling storyline of how passenger rail systems are moving in and around California. You can read the article here:
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/04/13/bart-and-caltrain-could-merge-in-effort-to-fix-one-of-bay-area-transits-biggest-problems/
Closer to the Central Coast, the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) is working on a project entitled Monterey County Rail Extension. You can read about it here: https://www.tamcmonterey.org/monterey-county-rail-extension
The opening statement of the project recites the mission: “The Monterey County Rail Extension project extends passenger rail service from Santa Clara County south to Salinas. This is a transformative project that will revitalize the downtown Salinas train station and create new multimodal transportation hubs for the disadvantaged communities of Pajaro and Castroville.”
These multimodal stations will be served by new passenger rail service and bus transit that will provide peak period connections for the residents of Salinas and their north Monterey County, Monterey Peninsula, and Santa Cruz County neighbors, to access Silicon Valley, San Jose, the greater San Francisco Bay Area, and Sacramento. In recognition of the importance of service to these populations, the 2018 California State Rail Plan includes the Monterey County Rail Extension Project in the near-term (2022) scenario.
Why bring up the California State Rail Plan if the current thinking of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission is to pause on any further action with the rail corridor line in our county? It seems that having both a short-term and long-term strategy is a critical and necessary step toward better mobility between Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties and beyond.
Read what TAMC states about the status of connecting Monterey to Santa Cruz County. The Pajaro/Watsonville Multimodal Transportation Station is Phase 2 of the Monterey County Rail Extension project. The proposed Pajaro/Watsonville station is located in the Monterey County unincorporated community of Pajaro. The station site is approximately 1.5 miles from downtown Watsonville. This station will be the connection point for Santa Cruz County to new passenger rail service on the Coast mainline tracks between Salinas and the San Francisco Bay Area. The station will transform a currently blighted area by providing a new community transportation hub that will entice transit-oriented housing and community services to the surrounding area. > Estimated Capital Cost: $30-50 million > Status: 60% design, environmentally cleared, unfunded > Next steps: secure funding for final design, construction There are more details of that project here: https://www.tamcmonterey.org/monterey-county-rail-extension-phase-2-pajaro-watsonville. The draft of the Monterey County Rail Extension is scheduled to be released next month.
So where do we go from here? We are stuck in between two polar opposites. Does the current strategy by the RTC provide for a long-term transportation plan? I will leave that to your own conclusion. Transportation is a pressing issue in our county. It affects people's access to work, school, and recreation, which can be either helpful or harmful to the economic vitality of Santa Cruz. While the Chamber advocates for the usage of multimodal transportation, we understand that access to public transportation networks, safe streets to school, increased active transportation for bicyclists and pedestrians, as well as highway improvements are a packaged plan. That is what the voters said when they passed Measure D in 2016.