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#11 KevinKorell

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Posted 28 March 2012 - 12:13 AM

On Wednesday March 28 the Metropolitan Transportation Commission is poised to approve an agreement to fund Caltrain electrification, with a $1.5 package of funds from High Speed Rail, federal, state, and regional sources.

This Early Investment Plan provides welcome funding for a badly-needed, long-awaited upgrade to Caltrain. Ridership has been increasing for the last 18 months and some peak hour trains are standing room only. Electrification will provide a welcome increase in capacity, service frequency, and station access. This will provide relief for traffic congestion and rising gas prices, and reduce pollution and noise.

According to the project description, if funding is finalized in 2012, the Electrification project could be complete in 2019. If advanced by the MTC board on March 28, the High Speed Rail board will review it for approval on April 5 - along with a new draft business plan. The high speed rail project deserves a lot of scrutiny this Spring in the legislative budget cycle but if it goes forward, this path provides major benefits to the region.

Come to the meeting if you can

It is a long trip from much of the corridor to MTC headquarters in Oakland, but it will be helpful for Caltrain stakeholders to attend this historic meeting. This is an important decision that will affect our region for decades if High Speed Rail goes forward this year. The meeting starts at 9:30 am at MTC Headquarters at 101 8th street in Oakland, across the street from Lake Merritt BART. If you would like to carpool, post a ride at http://zimride.com/ .

Read on for information and analysis about the agreement and what it means for the Caltrain corridor. And for more detail, Frequently Asked Questions page on the Friends of Caltrain website.


What is in the Memorandum of Understanding?

The funding agreement is established by a Memorandum of Understanding that defines the funding plan, describes the project goals, and contains some key protections for the Peninsula.

There is critical protection for the region built into the MOU.

1) The language of the MOU clarifies that the system “will remain substantially within the Caltrain Right of Way” and clarifies that it is “primarily a two-track system.” Incorporating concerns of Peninsula communities, this MOU does not provide funding for the High Speed's vision of continuous, elevated four-track system.

2) The MOU clarifies that the Environmental Impact Report for Electrification needs to be recirculated to be brought up to date and “to incorporate local and regional conditions and concerns.”

3) The MOU clarifies that the project needs to support local land use and Transit Oriented Development policies (ruling out unwanted intrusions such as the large train storage and maintenance yard HSRA had intended for Brisbane).

Caltrain should be called out as the "lead agency"

There is a key area where clarification is needed. There is a lot of confusion on the Peninsula about the relative role of MTC, Caltrain, and the High Speed Rail Authority. It will be very helpful to clarify the respective roles to residents and local decision-makers.

* MTC assembles and disburses federal, state, and regional funding. In the current deal, MTC played a role in bringing in money from BART, bridge tolls, and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and brokering the federal/state/regional funding package.

* Caltrain is the lead agency to manage the electrification project, including environmental review, design and construction. Decisions about grade separations and schedules will be made by Caltrain with the stakeholders in the cities affected by these changes.

Future funding for Grade Separations, Downtown Extension to Transbay Terminal

The Memorandum of Understanding also describes an agreement to seek funding for additional projects, including the Downtown Extension to Transbay Terminal (DTX), grade separations on the Peninsula for cities as they decide they want them, and station expansions at San Jose Diridon and Millbrae. The DTX segment is needed to meet the requirements of Prop 1A for High Speed Rail. DTX will be very valuable for the region's commuters since there are 10x the number of jobs in downtown San Francisco than at 4th and King.

Once Caltrain has finished the 2-year planning process to define the electrification project, working with local communities, they will create a package of additional improvements, including grade separations, bridge upgrades, and other improvements, and work with MTC to assemble the funding for that package.

MOU wisely stays out of local design decisions

The MOU does not record the feedback from many communities about specific local design needs, such as, for example, Burlingame’s plan for Broadway grade separation. This silence is a good thing. We do not want MTC documents planning, or otherwise expressing opinions about these critical local design decisions. That work belongs in the hands of Caltrain as the lead agency on the project, working closely with local communities.

The MOU mentions "potential" passing tracks for future investment. The passing tracks were as an option in Caltrain’s capacity analysis. Without passing tracks, the corridor can carry 6 Caltrains and 2 High Speed Rail trains per direction per hour at peak. With passing track, the corridor can carry up to 4 High Speed Trains. By comparison, on the busiest passenger rail corridor in the country, Amtrak runs one express Acela and 1-2 local trains per peak hour per direction between New York and DC.

In the next phase of analysis, Caltrain will study 5 potential locations for passing tracks, with more analysis on how they will affect schedule options. However, there is currently no funding for the passing tracks, and the first stage of the plan does not include them.

Protecting Baby Bullet service revenue

One of the ideas brought up at Burlingame City Council was to ensure that Caltrain gets revenue if riders take high speed trains as an express commute service from San Jose to San Francisco. That topic is not discussed in the MOU (and it shouldn’t be) but it is an important topic to consider for customer service and for Caltrain’s financial viability if and when we get to the point of a "one-seat" ride from San Francisco to Southern California.

Why now?

The Early Investment plan has come together rapidly in recent months, and the process to gather stakeholder feedback was rushed. It would have been better to have Caltrain complete the 2 year planning process to define exactly what is wanted in the electrification project, working closely with stakeholders, and then apply for funding with a clear plan. Especially on the Peninsula, where there are 17 cities between San Francisco and San Jose, the process was particularly strained. But High Speed Rail needs to put together a credible business plan now, this spring, in order to have a chance of gaining legislative authorization to move the project forward. It made sense to include the "Early Investment" now because that makes for a better plan which provides value earlier.

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who has participated in encouraging Caltrain modernization, and providing feedback to incorporate key protections for the region in the MOU. If this project goes forward, there is more work to do. We are still at the beginning of the process to define a modernized Caltrain that provides better transit service for our region.


Sincerely,

Adina Levin
Friends of Caltrain



Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ


#12 EvergreenRailfan

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Posted 29 March 2012 - 10:53 PM

San Francisco Chronicle

Regional transportation officials approved an agreement Wednesday to work with the High-Speed Rail Authority to electrify Caltrain, transforming the 149-year-old commuter line into a modern railroad capable of carrying more riders and accommodating high-speed trains.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission approved the regional pact, which outlines a $1.5 billion plan to electrify Caltrain, install an advanced train-control system, and replace its fleet of rail cars using a combination of high-speed rail bond money and local, regional and state transportation funds.

The work could be done before 2019, said Caltrain Chief Executive Officer Michael Scanlon.



#13 KevinKorell

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Posted 30 March 2012 - 02:13 PM

Progressive Railroading, 3/30/12:

Caltrain officials applaud MOU to modernize train system


On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission approved a regional agreement to fully fund the electrification of Caltrain.

Full story


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#14 KevinKorell

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Posted 08 May 2012 - 10:28 AM

Progressive Railroading, 5/7/12:

Last week, the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the California High-Speed Rail Authority and several Bay Area public agencies to fully fund the electrification of Caltrain.

More here


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#15 KevinKorell

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Posted 13 June 2012 - 12:09 PM

A study says electrifying Caltrain from Santa Clara County up to San Francisco could deliver as much as $2.5 billion in economic benefits, including 9,600 new jobs in the Bay Area. View the full article


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#16 KevinKorell

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Posted 14 June 2012 - 11:18 AM

Progressive Railroading, 6/14/12:

Caltrain electrification plan would boost California's economy, Bay-area council study shows


Modernizing Caltrain commuter-rail service as part of a broader plan to build high-speed rail service in California would create thousands of new jobs, generate nearly $1 billion in economic activity and boost property values around rail stations by another $1 billion, according to a new study released Tuesday by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.

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#17 CNJRoss

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Posted 21 June 2012 - 05:07 PM

ProgressiveRailroading.com, 6/21:

Regional agreement reached to fund Caltrain modernization

Yesterday, city of San Jose, Calif., officials approved what amounts to the last endorsement needed for a regional agreement to fully fund Caltrain’s modernization.

The agreement will leverage local, regional and federal funds to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in state high-speed rail dollars, Caltrain officials said in a prepared statement.

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#18 CNJRoss

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Posted 21 June 2012 - 05:10 PM

Caltrain news release
6/19

Regional Agreement to Fund Caltrain Modernization is Approved

June 19, 2012

The approval today by the City of San Jose is the last endorsement needed for a regional agreement to fully fund the modernization of the Caltrain system.

The agreement leverages local, regional and federal funding to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in state high-speed rail funds for the Peninsula. The next step will be the State Legislature’s approval of funding later this month through the annual budget process. If funding is approved, riders could see an electrified and modernized Caltrain system as soon as 2019.

In addition to funding Caltrain modernization, the agreement also calls for future improvements to accommodate integrated Caltrain and high-speed rail service between San Francisco and San Jose. This “blended system” was first proposed by Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Palo Alto), State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) and Assemblyman Rich Gordon (Menlo Park) to control high-speed rail project costs and minimize impacts on surrounding communities.

To protect surrounding communities, the agreement specifies that the blended system will be limited to design alternatives that are primarily two-tracks and exist substantially within the existing Caltrain right-of-way.

Under the agreement, before the blended system is built, Peninsula communities will benefit from electrified Caltrain service, which will provide faster, cleaner, quieter, more frequent service to more stations and more riders between San Francisco and San Jose.

Caltrain continues to experience record ridership growth, but the system’s current diesel operations are near capacity and are consistently threatened by an ongoing structural deficit. The electrification and modernization of the Caltrain corridor will help accommodate increased ridership and reduce the subsidy required to operate the system, while also helping to prepare the corridor for future high-speed rail service.

In addition to the City of San Jose and the CHSRA, the MOU has been approved by the California High Speed Rail Authority, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, the City and County of San Francisco, the Peninsula Corridor joint Powers Board and the Transbay Joint Powers Authority.

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#19 KevinKorell

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Posted 16 July 2012 - 12:10 PM

As of last Friday, Caltrain modernization is funded as part of the state legislature's passage of high speed rail appropriations. The project will be paid for with $700 million in funds from the high speed rail project and $800 million of local and regional funds.

This means that those of us on the Caltrain corridor will most likely see a better train schedule in the foreseeable future. Caltrain will be able to serve more stations with the same or better trip times, at lower cost, not to mention less pollution.

There will be a lot to do to make sure the plans for Caltrain modernization meet the needs of riders and local areas. Your feedback will be needed as Caltrain does the planning over the next year with community input.

1) What is the best schedule? Do we want more frequent service, more express service, a mix of both?

2) How will more train service affect traffic? What areas will benefit the most from grade separations?

3) How to pay for Caltrain’s operating funding, before and after electrification? What can be done beforehand, when Caltrain is still running the more expensive diesel system? What is the right funding solution after electrification, when Caltrain will have higher revenue and lower costs?

4) How to fund grade separations and the Downtown Extension to Transbay? How will our region get funding for these important investments?

5) How will Caltrain and HSR work together? It will be important will to pay attention to Caltrain’s plans so that Caltrain and HSR work together when (or if) HSR gets here in the longer term.

6) How will Caltrain work with local communities to coordinate development accessible to transit, and with businesses to promote transit and relieve parking

Among friends of Caltrain, there have been differing opinions about High Speed Rail - in favor, skeptical, and opposed. Wherever you have been in this debate, the opportunity before us now is to be involved in Caltrain’s modernization plan to make sure that it meets our needs, and to make sure that Caltrain operations are funded so we have continued service without cuts.

Come hear the latest update on Caltrain modernization from Marian Lee of Caltrain, at the San Mateo County Rail Corridor Partnership meeting on Wednesday afternoon at 3pm at the San Mateo Library, 55 W. 3rd Avenue, San Mateo in the Oak Room. This meeting takes formal public comment.

And stay tuned for more opportunities to stay involved.

Thanks to everyone involved in Friends of Caltrain for past and future work to make transit better on the Caltrain corridor.

Adina Levin
Friends of Caltrain



Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ


#20 KevinKorell

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Posted 29 September 2012 - 12:11 AM

Progressive Railroading, 9/28/12:

The California Transportation Commission (CTC) yesterday approved the release of $39.8 million in allocations for "critical work" on the Caltrain modernization project — a major funding milestone in preparing Caltrain's electrification for California's high-speed rail program, Caltrain officials said in a prepared statement.


Read onward


Kevin Korell


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