SUBJECT: Rail Extension to Monterey County

DATE: March 11, 2013
TO: Transportation Policy Committee
FROM: Jessica Zenk, Sr. Director, Transportation Policy

SUBJECT: Rail Extension to Monterey County

ACTION

Learn about the proposed Rail Extension to Monterey County and determine whether to support it.

BACKGROUND

The Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) proposes to start passenger rail service between Salinas and Santa Clara County. The project would function as an extension of existing rail service, operated by the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority (CCJPA), under contract to TAMC. The service will start with two round trips, expanding to up to six round trips as demand warrants.

While the service would run on existing Union Pacific rail line, the project would require roughly $136 million in capital improvements ($45 million of which has been secured) and an ongoing net operating subsidy of $1 million annually if ridership and farebox revenue assumptions are met. See attached business plan summary and fact sheet for detailed information.

ANALYSIS

The project has many benefits and fits in with the top priority in the TPC Work Plan, promoting transit and rail. Those benefits include:

·  Improved mobility between Monterey County (Salinas, Castroville, and Pajaro/Watsonville) and San Jose and San Francisco, enabling access to jobs, health care, education, shopping, etc.

·  An alternative to traffic congestion, with commensurate reductions in stress, air pollution, accidents/injury, and poor health outcomes

·  Expanded options for those who don’t or can’t drive

·  New economic development opportunities around stations

·  Possibilities to shift service to South County (Morgan Hill, Gilroy) from Caltrain to CCJPA, particularly once Caltrain electrification is in place

Fundamentally, the TPC has recognized that regional rail and transit only work well as a system. Through that lens, enabling this project is part of building a sustainable network that offers non-auto mobility.

The project does have challenges ahead. These include questions about funding for the gap in capital costs as well as ongoing operating needs, as funding is scarce at all levels of government. Another question is whether TAMC and CCJPA will be able to work successfully with Union Pacific, a notoriously difficult agency. Finally, and related to the cost effectiveness questions below, will future land use patterns near Monterey County stations grow ridership and economic development opportunities? Plans for addressing these challenges will be paramount to understanding the feasibility of this project.

Finally, it is important to understand the cost effectiveness of the system and its import to our membership relative to other priorities. Cost effectiveness can be assessed by how the proposed rail extension performs relative to other mechanisms for delivering mobility to Monterey County riders or in terms of its cost effectiveness relative to other potential projects. On both fronts this project compares favorably.

The rail extension appears more cost effective than either highway capacity expansions or an express bus serving the same riders. In 2007, TAMC completed an alternatives analysis comparing the costs and benefits of the rail extension, express bus and increased highway capacity. At that time, ridership on the extension or express bus was estimated at approximately 2,000 trips/day (1,000 riders in each direction). Ridership studies are currently being updated by the state. Because the tracks are largely in place, with major capital investments primarily focused on station improvements, the capitol cost per new rider compares relatively favorably to other regional rail projects including BART, Caltrain electrification and Dumbarton Rail.

Recommendation

Staff recommends general support the project, understanding the challenges that lie ahead to implement it and that it is geographically peripheral to most member companies.