Meeting Report and Commentary

Coast Rail Coordinating Committee

SamTrans office, San Carlos, CA, September 16, 2005

Reported by Bruce Jenkins, RailPAC director

Pete Rogers will formulate a letter thru UP for a conceptual study on the CalTrain corridor (note: UP still has cognizance of intercity trains on this corridor). Strange huh?

Pete to set mtg with UP, Dave Potter and Pete to discuss UP's delay of "Validation of Capacity Study".

Rail to Bus transfers in SLO for Pacific Surfliners Underway. Refund bus fare (coupon) if you ride train (like Cap Corr). Ridership on the Surfliners is up 11.2% for the FY, and on time performance is 72.8%. Ridership at San Luis Obispo is up 86.3%, Lompoc-Surf 45.1%, Guadalupe-Santa Maria 35.4%, and Grover Beach 34.2% as a result of the new train 798/799.

Liz O'donoghue gave the same Amtrak report as she gave at the SVRCC. She is optimistic on the bill ($1.8B) now being considered. Ridership is up on #7 & 8 (Empire Builder) in fact on all trains except 11 & 14, the Coast Staright, (and 1 & 2, the Sunset Limited) which are very much in the doldrums. UP offered no condolences. On time performance for the Starlight this FY is 27%.

Train 799, which has had many on time problems because of 798 arriving in SLO late will have a schedule change with the new timetable. In essence the departure time from SLO is about 30min later I think.

Meeting Report and Commentary

Transportation Agency for Monterey County

Rail Policy meeting, September 19, 2005

Reported by Chris Flescher, RailPAC Associate Director

Federal alternatives analysis is necessary for us (meaning TAMC) to get federal new starts money. The process involves studying several alternatives carefully, and estimating the construction cost, ridership (among other things) for each choice. We are in the alternative selection phase. By next spring, we should have chosen the locally preferred alternative. If that happens, the full environmental analysis could be complete in a year from now.

About possible BRT: MST recently got a grant from the local air (pollution control?) district to study possible BRT corridors (jointly with Santa Cruz Metro). In the near future, MST will be installing some things to improve bus service in certain locations. For example, traffic signal priority. Also at a few stops, message board telling estimated time of arrival for each bus. I believe the second thing involves every bus sending info to central location via satellite, then central location forwards the info to the message boards. Some of the corridors being considered are North Main and East Alisal in Salinas, Fremont in Seaside and Monterey, Lighthouse in Monterey. I believe these are each served by 2 or more different routes. It appears that 8th Street on the former Fort Ord will be a very important location in the future. There is likely to be a stop on the north/south fixed guideway (which could be rail, busway, or both). MST wants to create an east/west corridor which would also have a stop there. This would BRT to and from Salinas. A new road (FORA Transition Road) links (or will link in the future?) 8th Street to Intergarrison Road. MST is guaranteed a 100-foot right of way along the road for a busway.

The part of the meeting focusing exclusively on rail transit was short. The board (of TAMC Rail Policy Group) looked at the 4 Monterey Branch Line alternatives discussed last month (and a few modifications to them). The board voted to include them in the future, detailed final analysis.


RailPAC Contacts Publications Issues Meeting Reports 2005 Reports 2005-11-16 Capitol 2005-11-10 San Joaquin 2005-11 Announcement 2005-10-24 Bay Area 2005-09-21 Capitol 2005-09-14 LOSSAN 2005-09 Coast and TAMC 2005-09-08 San Joaquin 2005-07-14 San Joaquin 2005-07-11 TAMC 2005-06-25 CASHRA 2005-06-16 LOSSAN 2005-06-15 Capitol 2005-05-30 TAMC 2005-05-12 San Joaquin 2005-04-27 Coast Rail 2005-04-19 LOS-SAN 2005-03-11 San Joaquin 2005-02-16 Capitol 2005 Annual 2005-01 San Joaquin 2005-01 Monterey Membership Links	Meeting Report and Commentary Coast Rail Coordinating Committee SamTrans office, San Carlos, CA, September 16, 2005 Reported by Bruce Jenkins, RailPAC director Pete Rogers will formulate a letter thru UP for a conceptual study on the CalTrain corridor (note: UP still has cognizance of intercity trains on this corridor). Strange huh? Pete to set mtg with UP, Dave Potter and Pete to discuss UP's delay of "Validation of Capacity Study". Rail to Bus transfers in SLO for Pacific Surfliners Underway. Refund bus fare (coupon) if you ride train (like Cap Corr). Ridership on the Surfliners is up 11.2% for the FY, and on time performance is 72.8%. Ridership at San Luis Obispo is up 86.3%, Lompoc-Surf 45.1%, Guadalupe-Santa Maria 35.4%, and Grover Beach 34.2% as a result of the new train 798/799. Liz O'donoghue gave the same Amtrak report as she gave at the SVRCC. She is optimistic on the bill ($1.8B) now being considered. Ridership is up on #7 & 8 (Empire Builder) in fact on all trains except 11 & 14, the Coast Staright, (and 1 & 2, the Sunset Limited) which are very much in the doldrums. UP offered no condolences. On time performance for the Starlight this FY is 27%. Train 799, which has had many on time problems because of 798 arriving in SLO late will have a schedule change with the new timetable. In essence the departure time from SLO is about 30min later I think. Meeting Report and Commentary Transportation Agency for Monterey County Rail Policy meeting, September 19, 2005 Reported by Chris Flescher, RailPAC Associate Director Federal alternatives analysis is necessary for us (meaning TAMC) to get federal new starts money. The process involves studying several alternatives carefully, and estimating the construction cost, ridership (among other things) for each choice. We are in the alternative selection phase. By next spring, we should have chosen the locally preferred alternative. If that happens, the full environmental analysis could be complete in a year from now. About possible BRT: MST recently got a grant from the local air (pollution control?) district to study possible BRT corridors (jointly with Santa Cruz Metro). In the near future, MST will be installing some things to improve bus service in certain locations. For example, traffic signal priority. Also at a few stops, message board telling estimated time of arrival for each bus. I believe the second thing involves every bus sending info to central location via satellite, then central location forwards the info to the message boards. Some of the corridors being considered are North Main and East Alisal in Salinas, Fremont in Seaside and Monterey, Lighthouse in Monterey. I believe these are each served by 2 or more different routes. It appears that 8th Street on the former Fort Ord will be a very important location in the future. There is likely to be a stop on the north/south fixed guideway (which could be rail, busway, or both). MST wants to create an east/west corridor which would also have a stop there. This would BRT to and from Salinas. A new road (FORA Transition Road) links (or will link in the future?) 8th Street to Intergarrison Road. MST is guaranteed a 100-foot right of way along the road for a busway. The part of the meeting focusing exclusively on rail transit was short. The board (of TAMC Rail Policy Group) looked at the 4 Monterey Branch Line alternatives discussed last month (and a few modifications to them). The board voted to include them in the future, detailed final analysis.
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