(The Monterey Herald posted the following article by Jonathan Segal on its website on April 4.)
MONTEREY, Calif. — Despite a tough budget environment, Monterey County officials still hope the train is coming to Salinas sometime this decade.
Proposals to link Salinas to the Caltrain commuter railway to San Francisco are on track because the state last month decided to release funds for environmental studies of train station sites, said Debbie Hale, the deputy executive director of the Transportation Agency for Monterey County.
State officials had announced that funding for some transportation projects was frozen while lawmakers figured out the state’s budget shortfall, Hale said. However, the state ruled in March that some funds could be released to pay for work that already was under contract.
Hale said the agency will receive funds toward its $1.2 million contract with the Parsons Transportation Group for environmental planning, which includes early sketches of proposed additions to Salinas’ Market Street rail depot. She said the firm probably would make plans public in six months.
Estimates for the total cost of bringing commuter rail to Salinas are about $40 million, including local street improvements and station additions.
While the state budget environment looks difficult, Hale said she was optimistic that next year will bring a new batch of funding.
“It depends on getting more money. I know that the cycles go up and down,” she said. “It’s very possible that when the new federal transportation act passes, we’ll get a whole new influx of money. If that happens, we want to be ready to take advantage of it.”
She said that if funding is available, Caltrain, which currently goes as far south as Gilroy, could come to Salinas by 2007.
“If it comes around, it could be a couple more years,” she said. “To some of us, 2007 seems like a long time to wait.”