Caltrain: DiFi Gets an Education

DiFi was the latest California pol to berate the Feds and Trump for holding up funding for Caltrain electrification.  She tries to perpetuate the myth that it is a separate project from High-cost Rail.  But leaving that aside, this letter to the Wall Street Journal takes her on using her own customary class warfare logic:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) writes that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s decision to defer a $647 million federal grant for Caltrain electrification was “foolhardy” and that the modernization plan “deserves a fair review based solely on the merits of the project” (Letters, March 15).

But Sen. Feinstein fails to question why federal taxpayers should be funding a San Francisco-to-Silicon Valley rail line that serves some of the wealthiest commuters in America.

According to Caltrain’s most recent customer demographic survey, the average Caltrain rider’s household income in 2013 was $117,000, with nearly two-thirds of rider households having incomes above $75,000. Eighty percent of riders had at least a college degree. Caltrain’s rider incomes and levels of educational attainment were more than double those of the average American’s, and this disparity almost certainly increased in the four years since the 2013 survey.

If, as Sen. Feinstein claims, the project is “desperately needed,” why is California so desperate to avoid funding it on its own? To do so, the one-time cost per California resident would be a mere $16. Sen. Feinstein and other California politicians’ refusal to take responsibility for local infrastructure that serves some of America’s wealthiest residents suggests it shouldn’t be a federal priority.

Marc Scribner

Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute

Washington

Now that is really rich!  We have $100 billion for HSR, but cannot come up with even $647 million of our own for such an important project.  And if we do ever get HSR on the Peninsula, it will limit Caltrain expansion!  You have to love the facts and figures approach to public policy making.

Comments

[HMB]

Just another limousine liberal.

[Peter Garrison]

Fix the potholes on El Camino.
20 bags of asphalt from Orchard Supply and a shovel.
Dudes.

[Mike Mitchell]

Well perhaps the folks running transportation also want CalTrains to emulate BART and make it a sanctuary transit hole like Oakland, SF,SJ,LA, Berkeley and other twisted cities here. Please withhold funding, please raise taxes to the point that liberals start squealing. Let the fun & games begin.

[choochoo]

Enjoy the pollution, noise and increased congestion on the roadways without this funding. I get that you oppose high speed rail, but this is literally money that is earmarked for infrastructure projects. Not only creating local jobs but improving our local communities and transportation. Your arguments against this electrification project make very little sense.

[Joe]

If you read more on the Voice than a little flyby and an uninformed comment, you would learn that Tier 4 diesel could accomplish the same service upgrades without letting the HSR camel nose under the tent. And we could pocket that $100 billion and not have to soak the taxpayers for another $52 billion for roads (see the post directly above this one).

That makes HUGE sense to those of us who are actually informed.

[Joe]

Here is a letter to the editor of the Mercury News that must land in the "Thou Doth Protest Too Much" bin

No matter how it’s spun, the false logic that the Caltrain Electrification project is the same as high-speed rail is just that — false. ​If separate projects are funded by the sam​e source of funding, it doesn’t ​magically turn them into the same project​.​

As determined by a judge and codified by th​e​ Legislature, Caltrain electrification ​is separate from high-speed rail​ and is the will of California voters. The 2008 Prop 1A ballot statement directly asked voters if they would like to authorize hundreds of millions of dollars to electrify other existing rail systems, like Caltrain.

While distracted on a funding source debate, the funding needed to electrify Caltrain increases, costing taxpayers millions and delaying efforts ​to nearly double ​its capacity​. That’s 50,000 daily trips taken off the Highway 101/280 corridor.

Chris O’Connor
Senior Director, Transportation
Silicon Valley Leadership Group

Same funding source, same tracks except perhaps causing 9 miles of eminent domain for new passing tracks, same new power source as HSR. More congestion on the tracks from HSR trains that will eventually REDUCE Caltrain expansion room....... Chris, thou doth protest too much.

[Joe]

Here is the lead for today fro the DJ:

The $1 trillion federal spending plan outlines $100 million for the electrification project and while there’s contingencies to those funds actually being allocated, Caltrain supporters say it’s a positive omen nonetheless.

and then we are stuck with our two local ostriches comments:

U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, said the line item in this year’s appropriations is a step in the right direction, but it’s just a step.

“I think that it’s a positive sign because it’s an expression of Congress, but it still has a long ways to go. It’s $100 million, and the grant was for $647 million,” Eshoo said, noting the application has gone through all of the professional vetting and staff approvals.

Instead, Eshoo noted California Republicans used the Peninsula’s project as “political blackmail” in their efforts to stunt high-speed rail.

U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, agreed and added Caltrain’s vital project is being given allocations but are on hold due to the grant status.

“This is an example of government sabotaging its own bipartisan decision to fund a project that would create 9,600 jobs, reduce Caltrain carbon dioxide emission by 97 percent and put more riders on trains and fewer cars on the road during rush hour,” Speier said in an email, adding “these funds sit idle unless Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao signs off on a Capital Investment Program grant. I urge the Trump administration not to play politics and not to derail this shovel-ready infrastructure project.”

- See more at: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2017-05-02/caltrain-gets-100m-from-budget-deal-support-hinges-on-approval-from-trump-administration/1776425179643.html#sthash.GkDCFKqq.dpuf

So let's just take a guess and suggest that $100M is just about right to switch the locomotives to Tier 4 diesel and get all fo the benefits without the extra $547 million, the extra 15-20 years, the extra 6 miles of double track to accomodate the atrocity known as high-speed rail. Anna and Jackie--time to get on board.