Caltrain Funding for Electrification

You can catch yourself up on the saga of Caltrain electrification regarding our trees here, the ballooning costs here and the B'way grade separation here.  In an effort to keep electrification moving, Kevin Mullin has a bill in front of the Gov.  According to the Daily Journal

Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco, announced his colleagues passed Assembly Bill 1889, which seeks to clarify a 2012 law allocating funds from the voter-approved Proposition 1A bonds toward “bookend” projects — improvements at either end of the state’s controversial bullet train route from Los Angeles to San Francisco.  Mullin’s bill claims to clarify the Legislature’s intent and allow high-speed rail funds be spent on Caltrain now, instead of it waiting until the bullet train is ready to roll. 

Caltrain and high-speed rail became intertwined when the two opted for a “blended system,” meaning the two agreed to share the tracks running along the Peninsula. Caltrain electrification has been chugging along, having passed an environmental review and now in the process of a final design. 

The "blending" is likely to create an operational nightmare as well as further jeopardize funding plans since it is part of the reason for various lawsuits against the original Proposition due to the reduced speed (thus not meeting the original spec).  The best case scenario is Caltrain gets electrified and the high-cost boondoggle sinks into the bog when we get a new governor.

Comments

[J. Mir]

Burlingame PD as featured on KTVU this morning is cracking down on the drivers stuck on the tracks at the Broadway rail crossing. Astonished/upset drivers sitting on the tracks being accosted, and ticketed, and on live TV too. Dark looks aplenty. Most did not want to discuss their predicament with the reporter "on-the-scene". Maybe the reporter should have talked to some of the locals about their FIERCE (and somewhat quixotic) resistance to the idea of a grade crossing at Broadway. "OH NO THAT MEANS HIGH-COST RAIL OMG the SKY IS FALLING" The grade crossing might have saved some people a few tickets today, never mind saving, or at the very least extending, the life of a despondent teen.

[Joe]

Drivers are not "stuck on the tracks at Broadway". Drivers are overly aggressive getting into the right of way thinking those in front have more room than they do.

And save the teen suicide argument for Palo Alto On-line. It's not even close to a reason for grade separation in B'game. Really.

[hillsider]

KTVU: if it bleeds, it leads. A bunch of hacks with cameras. I commend the people who told them to go away.

[fred]

Are cars, trucks and Winnebagos getting hit by the trains on a pretty routine basis a good reason for grade separation? There's also been suicides and unintentional deaths on the rail line in Burlingame.

[Joe]

Here is a funding scramble described by the DJ:

In a quiet but hurried move, the San Mateo County Transportation Authority essentially saved Caltrain’s electrification project last week by going above and beyond its partner agencies to meet timely federal requirements.

The SMCTA agreed to allocate another $135 million toward the $2 billion project after federal transportation officials insisted those overseeing Caltrain’s modernization prove they could afford to finish even if construction costs increase.

The last-minute agreement highlighted the importance of San Mateo County having a locally-controlled sales tax that generates money set aside for transportation projects — a particularly poignant mechanism since the state’s gas tax revenue took a nosedive and its funding pot proved unreliable.

Electrifying the Peninsula’s rail system is a joint partnership amongst transit agencies in San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Francisco counties, as well as the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, or MTC. The project is currently banking on a $647 million grant from the Federal Transportation Administration that officials hope will be confirmed in the coming months.

As part of the FTA’s conditions, Caltrain must set aside a $200 million contingency and the four partner agencies agreed to split the costs. But on Tuesday, the FTA announced locals couldn’t rely on a state funding source that’s been plagued by deficits due to a drastic drop in gas tax revenue, according to a SMCTA staff report.

- See more at: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2017-01-09/electric-trains-get-cash-infusion-feds-require-contingency-san-mateo-county-takes-on-more-than-partner-agencies/1776425173982.html#sthash.gRMcJaDV.dpuf

[Joe]

Yesterday's Daily Post had a piece noting that Assemblyman Mark Berman was appointed to the Assembly Transportation Committee. He's a former Palo Alto councilman. Hopefully that means he understands the Peninsula opposition to HSR and how bad it is to tie Caltrain electrification to high-cost rail. That is especially true now with the changes in Washington.

[Ivan Korwasky]

With autonomous cars, this train will be useless. Don't spend the money.