From Caltrain:

The plan to electrify Caltrain will achieve a major milestone pending certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report and Project Adoption on April 1 by the Board of Directors.

Approval by the board completes the environmental process for the Caltrain Electrification Program, a major element of the plans to modernize the Peninsula rail system, and positions the railroad to seek federal and state funding.

Caltrain began the environmental clearance process for electrification t in 2001, but the project faced various delays over the years mostly due to funding concerns. By approving this document, Caltrain will be able to receive additional funding and proceed onto detailed engineering. BayRail Alliance has been a strong supporter for electrification as it would transform Caltrain into a rapid transit system and permit Caltrain to serve the proposed underground station at the Transbay Terminal in Downtown San Francisco.

Electrification FEIR

As the HSRA is currently conducting planning and engineering studies for high speed rail on the Peninsula, the communities along the corridor are proposing many alternatives in hopes of reducing the impact resulted from the project. This is not surprising, partly because high speed rail is a new form of transportation for California and because HSRA has not been transparent with the public regarding its decision making process.

One of the alternatives suggested is to build high speed rail between Southern California and San Jose. Under that scenario, high speed rail riders would transfer to Caltrain heading to San Francisco. This alternative is opposed by San Francisco, which has been planning a new “Grand Central Station” at the current Transbay Terminal site since 2001. A Deputy Attorney General also issued a statement advising that ending HSR in San Jose would not be permitted under Proposition 1A.

Despite our differences with the HSRA, BayRail Alliance supports high speed rail service to San Francisco because the city has the highest population and employment density in the region. It also has a vastly better transit access to the East Bay and North Bay via BART, buses, and ferries. It is also important to note that Proposition 1A was passed by a higher margin in San Francisco than any other region in the Bay Area.

By sharing infrastructure with Caltrain, we believe that HSR can serve San Francisco with less impacts than some may believe. For many years, we advocated Caltrain to pursue light-weight electric trains, which in Europe, those very same regional trains share stations and tracks with high speed intercity trains in urban areas.  By the same token, we have opposed many BART extensions on grounds that BART can never be compatible with Caltrain and high speed rail. BART runs on tracks with 5′6″ non-standard track gauge. Caltrain runs on tracks with 4′8 1/2″ standard gauge, the same gauge used by high speed trains in Europe, Japan, and beyond.

For us, a more pressing question is how to complete high speed rail. Currently Proposition 1A bond and funding from ARRA aren’t enough to complete the entire system between the Bay Area and Los Angeles. The project will be dependent on future government and private funding that has yet to be identified. If HSRA does not earn the public’s confidence, the statewide network will never become reality.

If HSRA could develop a service plan first and add tracks and other structures on a incremental basis based on realistic ridership demands and service needs, the agency would be able to stretch the funds to support other parts of the network, which would help ensure early success of the system.

Although we are not sure whether HSRA shares our values and vision, we know that it is not necessary to force HSR riders to transfer to get to San Francisco, and that it is possible for HSR to be more integrated with Caltrain.

From sf.streetsblog.org:

California transit operators are poised to receive a temporary infusion of $400 million in cash from the state for operating funds, a move that could defray immediate shortfalls and set up a steady stream of state money for the foreseeable future.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ratified last night the laws (ABX8 6 and ABX8 9) that eliminate the gas tax, which included stipulations on transit funding, and replace it with an excise tax. Despite the removal of the transit funding mechanisms in the gas tax, these bills ensure that transit operators have steady funding for operations by using the sales tax on diesel to replenish the State Transit Assistance Fund (STA).

See:

About Face: Governor Signs Gas Tax Swap Legislation, After All – Transbay Blog

Governor grants relief to transit riders – VTA Watch

We would like to thank Rafael Bolon from Caltrain for speaking at our meeting on March 18. Here’s some notes taken at the meeting:

• Project was proposed in the early 2000’s to eliminate crossing hazard because of a number of pedestrian/vehicle collisions with trains in the area. San Mateo Avenue was particularly dangerous because it crosses the tracks at an angle.
• Grade separations have to be elevated because of the adjacent BART tunnel. The tracks cannot be lowered because the BART tunnel crosses under Caltrain at the current San Bruno station. If the tracks were to put underground it would have to be over 100 feet deep to get under BART. BART tunnel also ruled out the option of lowering the roads. Read More

After last year’s rocky episode over onboard bike capacity, Mark Simon, Caltrain’s Executive Officer of Public Affairs, said the agency will form a new Bicycle Advisory Committee to formalize dialogue between rail staff and bike advocates, as well as to help Caltrain on how to better serve bike riders. Read More