Published Thursday, April 27, 2006, by the San Mateo County Times

MTC tries to shock Caltrain into action

Funding may be lost if money for electrification project not set by
2007

By Erik N. Nelson
Staff Writer

To spark stalled efforts to electrify Caltrain, the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission on Wednesday threatened to strip $41
million in regional funding if the system's three counties can't
cover a $91 million funding shortfall by 2007.

"If all we're going to do is talk about this project, you can do it
10 years from now," MTC Executive Director Steve Heminger warned
commissioners from San Francisco who succeeded in putting off the
ultimatum's deadline until Dec. 1, 2007. "We have seen through
bitter experience that with big-ticket projects, delay and time is
the enemy."

The $471 million project, estimated for completion by 2014, would
make trains faster and quicker to accelerate, quieter and less
polluting than the diesel locomotives that now pull the train.

In addition, it would permit the extension of the line to San
Francisco's Transbay Terminal, where passengers could switch to
BART and Muni rail service as well as buses and ferries connecting
with the rest of the Bay Area.

"Most of the transit systems in the rest of the country are
electrified," said Commissioner Sue Lempert, who represents San
Mateo County cities. Lempert challenged commissioners from San
Francisco, mayoral appointee and chairman Jon Rubin and city and
county representative Tom Ammiano, to "put their money where their
mouth is" when it came to funding the electrification project.

The commissioners all agreed, however, to loosen the MTC's
financing requirements so that none of the three counties running
Caltrain -- Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco -- would be
bound by a "third-third-third" funding requirement and put off
the MTC staff's recommended July 1, 2007, deadline for closing
the $91 million budget hole.

Certainly setting a deadline and giving more flexibility seems
like it could help," said Michael Graff, president of the BayRail
Alliance <http://bayrailalliance.org>, a rail transit advocacy
group. "It's always been a little bit tricky, because you've got
three independent counties working to run the rail line and fund
the rail line."

In Lempert's words, "It takes two to tango. Getting three to tango
is almost impossible." Lempert added that "Santa Clara and San Mateo
are on board" with sales tax money committed to electrify the line.

The problem for San Francisco is that it is on the hook for nearly
all of the $91 million, and the new flexibility might allow the
other counties to pick up some of the slack.


Contact Erik Nelson at enelson@...