Western Railroad Discussion > Monterey County buys Brooklyn Bridge

Posted on Thu, Jul. 24, 2003

Agency puts steam in rail project
Right-of-way from Monterey to Castroville purchased
By KEVIN HOWE
khowe@montereyherald.com

The Transportation Agency of Monterey County has bought itself a railroad.

On Wednesday, the agency board voted unanimously to approve purchase of the 13.5-mile Union Pacific Railroad line between Monterey and Castroville for $9.23 million.

"This is the most significant real estate purchase the agency has ever done," said county Supervisor Dave Potter, a Transportation Agency board member who led its negotiating team. "And the most significant transportation purchase I can ever recall in this county."

The right of way, 100 feet wide, contains 164 acres.

The $9.23 million purchase is just the first step on a project that is expected to cost some $38 million by the time trains start running on the line, according to Debbie Hale, deputy executive director of the agency.

The Transportation Agency wants to re-establish rail service between Monterey and San Francisco. The plan is for two round trips daily to San Francisco on weekdays, and three trips on weekends, northbound in the morning and southbound in the evening, beginning in 2009. It would follow a route linking Castroville, Pajaro near Watsonville, San Jose, Millbrae and possibly Palo Alto.

To make that happen, Hale told the board, the tracks, railroad crossings, signals and the Salinas River steel truss bridge will have to be rehabilitated, and stations constructed at Pajaro, Castroville and the border of Seaside and Marina.

The Seaside-Marina station, Hale said, would be a transportation center linking rail, bus, auto and bicycle traffic. Service may eventually be extended into Monterey. The project is separate from efforts to have the Caltrain commuter line extended from Gilroy to Salinas.

Two train sets consisting of a locomotive, four passenger cars and a dinette-lounge car were originally planned for the Monterey-Castroville line, but the agency is also considering purchase of two Colorado Railcar diesel multiple-unit trains instead.

A prototype Railcar visited Salinas last month. Manufacturers say it is cheaper, quieter, more fuel-efficient and cleaner than a conventional locomotive and has superior stopping ability.

The diesel unit's cab carries 92 passengers and can pull two additional passenger coaches. The cab costs $3 million and a coach costs $2 million.

Rail passenger service linking Monterey and San Francisco ended May 1, 1971, with the last run of the Southern Pacific Railroad's old Del Monte Express train.

Freight service on the line ended in 1993 with the closure of Fort Ord, and the tracks, bridges, signals and crossings haven't been maintained since.

Union Pacific, which took over the route from Southern Pacific, has agreed to hold itself liable for $75,000 in hazardous material cleanup costs as part of the agreement with the Transportation Agency.

A survey of hazardous materials along the tracks showed some presence of arsenic and lead, Hale said, but they are within acceptable levels.

Railroad repair costs could run from $20 million to $25 million, said Walt Allen, senior transportation planner for the agency. The agency has $17.89 million in state funding available for the project, including $14 million in Proposition 116 funds.

The Transportation Agency and Union Pacific had been in discussions about buying the branch line since 1997, Allen said. Potter said the agreed sale price includes a number of utility rights of way and property leases by neighboring businesses that are expected to generate $28,000 in annual revenue to the agency.

Potter's motion to approve the sale was seconded by Marina City Councilman Ken Gray, the city's representative on the agency board and a member of the agency's rail policy committee.

Gray supported the motion despite his own city's reservations about bringing rail service back, and he warned that Marina will have to be won over.

His city still has concerns about the impact of trains again running through town but Gray said the quieter, cleaner Railcar might be the answer to the noise and pollution issues.

"We have a long way to go before the city of Marina will buy into the project," he said.


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More power to 'em! With all the abandonments, negativity and poo-pooing going on these days, it's great to hear something encouraging once in awhile.

An artists conception of the new train service is shown below arriving at San Francisco.

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It's not all that far fetched. With a bit of help, I think we can find most of those pieces... Now getting them to let us run them between San Francisco and Monterey, that's another story!

Pullman wrote:

> It's not all that far fetched. With a bit of help, I think we
> can find most of those pieces... Now getting them to let us run
> them between San Francisco and Monterey, that's another story!


San Francisco is easy. Monterey is another story. As has been mentioned many times, the rails no longer reach Monterey.

There will be considerable opposition to building a railroad to Monterey. Not that it cannot be done.

Only 9.3 million? Shoot, I would have given at least 12 million for it, and run steam excusions on it. This now brings in mind will the UP now sell the Santa Cruz branch?

Who woulda thunk it??

Is this proposal starting to sound like it would be best met using Budd RDC's?

As one who rode the old Del Monte, I say great!

I wonder who will handle freight traffic on the line, if any still exists, now the the Borg do not own the line.

"Sacramento" Bruce Conklin

As a train fan, realist, and resident of the great city of Marina, I find this whole thing rather comical. Both sides of the debate are either dreaming or having nightmares.

While I'd love to see trains running over these tracks again, even if is a two car train, it won't ever be what either side says it will.

It will not solve one bit of transportation problems. Filled to the max it hold what, 120 people traveling from the city to a spot along Highway 1 between Marina and Seaside. Ooh, that will draw a lot of tourists. In their grandest dreams, the train will take maybe 60 cars off the road per trip, something I'd defy any motorist to be able to detect.

Of course the $38 million dollar price tag will be much higher. Ever heard of a government project coming in at budjet? Pretty darn rare! Walk the tracks, what little are left. No connection to the main line in Castroville, sections washed away or "realigned" during past floods between Castroville and the Salinas River. The Salinas River bridge held together by rust (or so say's UP). And of course the punch line was dragging the infamous Stillwell Hall from the brink of collapse to the edge of the tracks to become the Station. They better hurry now, the Army says it's coming down one way or another by the end of the year.

On the flip side, we have the NIMBYs, who have screeched that this train will DIVIDE the city, cause untold environmental damage and citizens living nearby will go deaf from the noise. LetS see, the railroad tracks are there now, have been since before the city was and before anyone living in the city has, and what do they do now? They divide the city, just like the 4 lane major road (Del Monte blvd) does that runs along side the tracks. Other than at most, a 30 second delay at 4 grade crossings (as long as the wait at the two traffic signals already at two of the crossings), there will be no additional impact.

Environmental damage? Like the pond that is located along side the tracks, that is posted as a hazard to humans because of the high bacteria count? Give me a break.

And the noise that RDC car makes is just horrendous. I waited it for outside Salinas. Even being pushed by AMTK 500 (or 505), you could hardly hear it comming, out in the middle of ag fields. If it made any less noise in a city environment, it would be a safety hazard.

Speaking of which, and I'm the only one to bring this up (so far). It will be hazard, because of all the people who now think those tracks were put there for them to walk on. The train will end up taking twice as long (or more) than it should, because they have to run a 10 or 15 mph just to avoid trespassers.

I don't personally have any problem with this happening. I just wish TAMC would be forthcoming enough to admit that this will never make money, it will always require government (read taxpayers) money and we should do this because ----(fill in your valid reason here ----. I also wish Amtrak would do the same.

Here's a chance for Rod Diridoni to rise to the chairmanship again.

Hope I live long enough to have a couple of very dry Beefeater's martinis on a Del Monte II.

DelmonteX has only skimmed the surface here. In addition to the cost of totally rebuilding the entire branch from the switch at Castroville to the place where the rails end next to the Costco parking lot in Sand City, there is the small matter of getting those extra trains between Gilroy and Castroville on the sacrosanct tracks of the Great UP, which, according to them, are at capacity. Increased numbers of trains will require upgrades to the ROW, sidings, switches, signals and everything else. At cost to the people who want to run the extra trains, not the YouPee. And oh yes, if these extra trains are primarily tourist trains, how do the tourists get from Sand City to Carmel, Monterey, Cannery Row etc. to do some touring? Maybe we should go into the pedicab business? :-)
C.

Gee, how long do you think a one way trip from Monterey to San Francisco will take, and visa versa. 2 hours? no Maybe 3 hours? Likely, if the Borg and Caltrain don't have problems.

Getting from The Ord Transportation Center?
Bus/Van probably, I don't think folks would pay me $15-$20 cab fare. I can hope.

Photo Bob, Thanks for the pix..brought back memories.

Roger..formerly of MP126 Monterey Branch

Maybe just promote the train as a ride to the famous Costco at "end of track."

Mileage wise, what are we talking from Gilroy to Castroville? And what about from the current end of track at Costco to Montery?

Hell Caltrain could sell the county all their old stick rail and ties, a contractor could rebuild the line using this old stuff at half off ;-)

It would be nice to have a train to ride from Seaside/Monterey up to San Francisco and I look forward to that opportunity one day. As for the
UP track improvements that will be needed, well
Caltrain will in the not too distant future be
extending commutter service from Gilroy down to
Salinas so that will require track improvements
prior to the Seaside train and from San Jose to
San Francisco Caltrain is now working on a two
year project to install a third track so one
could conjecture that by the time the Seaside
train might be available the UP track improvement
would not be an obstacle. As for the train paying for itself well that won't happen any more
then any public transportation actually paying
for itself. One could also speculate that if
ridership were to actually come forth and fill
these trains then more cars could be bought for
future increased ridership. Something like this
is happening in Oregon with the Lewis & Clark
Explorer train running from near Portland along
the Columbia River out to Astoria. The train
fills up on Friday and Saturday with folks staying
over night and then coming back on Sunday or Monday. Oregon Transportation is actually looking to B.C. to buy one more Budd car for use
next year. Not going to be easy to get this
project going and up and working but at least a
major portion of the money is available so will
look forward to the day it all comes to fruition.

fjc wrote:

> Mileage wise, what are we talking from Gilroy to Castroville?
> And what about from the current end of track at Costco to
> Montery?
>
> > [%sig%]

It's 31 miles from Gilroy to Castroville but you have to go through the Logan canyon, the moonscape at Graniterock at Aromas, and across the Elkhorn Slough-------this is not high speed territory.
As to the distance between the current end of track at Costco to Monterey, just forget it totally. This is NIMBY territory, gold plated recreation trail on old ROW and NO room for trains. The Altamont Press timetable refers to the "Seaside Industrial Lead" as being 12.9 miles from Castroville to end of track which is Costco. UP removed the switch at Castroville about 4 years ago. There are no freight customers on the line.
C.