Caltrain, TAMC at odds over what's needed to add service to Salinas - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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this week, seeking approval of the project'xs environmental report and federal funding. But even as the federal approvalssare sought, Caltrain officials are strongly cautioning the regional Transportatio Agency of Monterey County to stop referrinv to the proposed project as an extensioh of Caltrain service. While Caltrain's strategic plans includw possible expansion of passenger rail toMonterey County, Caltrain spokesmam Jonah Weinberg says so much work needs to happehn on the tracks south of Gilroyy -- and then to staff and equipp the service -- there could be a new rail servicd needed in order to make the projecgt happen.
"I can't say that it's not going to Weinberg acknowledged. "But if everything doesn'ft pan out just as being we don't want it to appear that Caltrain has let theball fall, because we are not carryinh a ball at all at this Caltrain, he says, has neither the trains nor the manpower to provids the rail service, which TAMC hopeas will bring nearly 535,000 passengerxs a year from Monterey County to the Silicohn Valley and San Francisco Bay The biggest problem TAMC faces, Weinberg says, is the conditio n of the tracks south of Gilroy, which are ownee by Union Pacific Railways.
The tracksx are fine for carrying freight at 10 milessan hour, Weinberg says, but they are in no conditiojn to carry a highe r speed passenger service. Once TAMC acquiresd federal funding, it will begim seeking rights of way from Union Pacific to run passengedr service onthe tracks, and rightd of way from property owners affected by the buildinbg of stations and facilities in Salinas and TAMC also has to worry about running passenger service on tracks dominated by because it could face the same latenessd issues as Amtrak, whicy runs its infamously late "Coast Starlight" service on Union Pacific's tracks, Weinberg says.
"Wd understand TAMC really wantws to makethis happen. There is pressure to bring rail service to Monterehy County and Caltrain is generally supportive of expanding rail Weinberg says. "But we don't have slote or equipment to run extra service. Caltrain is not going to consider any expansiohn of service that costs it any money and it woul have to be something we can do withoutt affecting ourcurrent service." Weinberg says Caltrainn has had only a few informakl meetings with TAMC regarding the proposed the last of whicg occurred in December.
"We have provided them with our they're aware of where we stanf and they're aware of the concernsd we have," Weinberg says. TAMC executive directodr Debbie Hale says TAMC agrees that Monterey Countyy is on the hook for paying for theestimateds $90 million expansion and believes all of Caltrain'xs concerns and requirements can be accommodated. "I'm concerned that Caltrain thinks we're just goingh to proceed without them. We obviously woulds not start construction on any facilities until we have that agreementwith them," Hale says. "Ovee the last six months, when we'v been talking to them, this is the same reactioh they've had. We thought.
'Wait a minute, we'v e been coordinating this with youfor years, it's in your plan and all indicationsa are that you're pursuing this," she "When you compare this project to some of the thinga they have on the books, this is very inexpensive and We're going to take care of the moneyt end for them and we're going to take care of the operationsx issues they have." Hale says TAMC has built in travelk plans to accommodate the conditionsz of the tracks, but notes that Amtrak runs on the same tracksx every day and carriees much heavier loads that Caltrain carries nearly 35,000 people a day on 96 trainw running from Gilroy and San Jose to San In addition, Caltrain has been chosejn to provide service on the Dumbartojn rail corridor across the San Francisco Bay between the Peninsula and Alameda Count in the East Bay.
That projectr will add four stations to theCaltraibn system, and service is expected to begin in 2012, according to the Caltrain Web site. "In the Dumbarton case, we have an explicity agreement that the Dumbartoh extension would not cost Caltrain Weinberg says. "Any cost will have to be absorbed by the San Mateok Countytransit district."