Published Monday, April 10, 2006, by The Examiner

San Jose-to-Gilroy electrification delayed

By Edward Carpenter
The Examiner

SAN CARLOS -- To push its stalled electrification plan forward and
save millions in capital costs, Caltrain will delay electrification
from San Jose to Gilroy indefinitely, officials announced Thursday.

The move, along with other more minor changes to the plan, would
save the commuter train agency about $131 million and put riders
aboard electric trains by 2014, four years later than originally
projected, officials said. Caltrain estimates that electrification
will now cost about $471 million.

Electrification from San Francisco to Gilroy was first identified
as a top priority in April 1999.

"Certainly some of us are frustrated with how long it has taken,"
said Margaret Okuzumi, executive director of the BayRail Alliance
<http://bayrailalliance.org/>.

Supervisor Jerry Hill, who sits on the Caltrain board, said
electrification had become lost among other transportation projects,
such as BART to the airport and Millbrae, and high-speed rail
between San Francisco and Los Angeles. With high-speed rail now
struggling for support from state lawmakers and the hope of getting
funds for electrification from that project dashed for the moment,
Hill said it is time for Caltrain and its local partners to move
forward on their own.

Cutting out electrification to Gilroy could be the key to getting
the electrification started and completed sooner, rather than later,
Hill said.

Electrification would shorten the ride from San Francisco to San
Jose by about 10 minutes, decrease diesel pollution along the tracks
and offer a smoother, quieter ride, Hill said. Electrification could
also encourage HSR to take a Peninsula route, instead of going
through Oakland, and make it possible for Caltrain to connect
underground to the Transbay Terminal in San Francisco, Hill said.

San Francisco officials are currently debating whether to include
Caltrain -- which would have to run underground through The City
beginning at around 16th Street -- in the first phase of the
Transbay Terminal construction.

Santa Clara Valley Supervisor Don Gage, also a Caltrain board
member, supported the plan to cut electrification to Gilroy. His
top priorities are adding a second set of tracks to improve train
frequency and increasing ridership along the Gilroy extension, Gage
said. The Gilroy extension has experienced a 25 percent loss in
ridership from 2001, according to Caltrain Chief Operating Officer
Chuck Harvey.

"I've told my constituents that if they want better service, they
have to ride," Gage said.

A portion of the 22 percent reduction in costs will come from
Metropolitan Transportation Commission paying to replace 23 diesel
engines with electric engines at a cost of between $70 million to
$140 million, Caltrain Chief Development Officer Ian McAvoy said.
The biggest uncertainty is funding, which Caltrain hopes to have
lined up by 2009, officials said. While San Mateo County and San
Francisco have both earmarked sales tax funds for their portion of
the project, Santa Clara Valley officials are only now working to
establish their funding priorities for their sales tax, Valley
Transit Authority spokeswoman Jayme Kunz said.

Each of the agencies plans to shoulder approximately one-third of
the costs, officials said.


[BATN: See also:

BART-VTA sellout Gage proposes to kill Caltrain electrification
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/29795 ]