(The Californian posted the following story by Larry Parsons on its website on April 17.)
SALINAS, Calif. — Passenger trains figure in Monterey County’s future, but money questions make it impossible to post arrival and departure times — yet.
“It’s just a matter of pulling money together, which is very difficult in this economic climate,” said Walt Allen, senior planner with the Transportation Agency for Monterey County.
TAMC officials have been working for several years on two local passenger-train projects — Caltrain commuter trains between Salinas and Gilroy, and tourist-oriented trains between San Francisco and the Monterey Peninsula.
Allen is confident that both services will come to pass. “Every day there is more train ridership,” he said.
But he says it will be at least five years before passenger trains make local runs. “The question is when. You have a lot of different pieces to put together,” Allen said.
Like a train engine slowly chugging from the station, the proposed passenger-train services keep moving ahead.
TAMC has finished preliminary design and environmental work on Caltrain stations planned for Salinas, Pajaro and Watsonville. And the agency continues to negotiate for track rights with Union Pacific Railroad.
But $20 million in state transportation money earmarked for capital costs of the Caltrain extension could fall victim to the state’s massive budget deficit. The agency hopes to get some federal dollars.
“We have to keep moving through the process. We have to justify (the spending),” Allen said.
On the county’s other rail front — the Monterey to San Francisco line — TAMC is about to complete a big preliminary step. After extended negotiations, the agency plans to buy the last segment of the line — now unused tracks between Castroville and Seaside — by the end of the year. “The next step would be to do final engineering and start rehabilitating the tracks,” Allen said.
Again, money is a big factor. Getting the Castroville-to-Seaside tracks ready to handle Amtrak trains would cost an estimated $20 million. TAMC has $14 million in state rail bond money for the project and is seeking other funding sources. “We’ll have to take it off in various bites,” Allen said.