(The following story by Shanna McCord appeared on the San Jose Mercury News website on December 1.)
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A walking inspection of the 31-mile-long rail line that runs from Davenport to Pajaro must be done before the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission finalizes the purchase with Union Pacific.
The commission agreed in August to buy the rail line for $14.2 million and build a pedestrian and bike trail next to the track. However, exhaustive investigations that include a study of the line’s infrastructure, an environmental assessment and a business analysis still must be done before moving forward with the deal, the commission’s deputy director Luis Mendez said.
Mendez is seeking approval from commissioners at their Thursday meeting to spend $61,000 on site reconnaissance, track inspections and an analysis of the freight service’s business plan.
The money is part of the more than $500,000 budgeted for “due diligence” investigations required for the commission to take over the line.
Transportation commissioners and Union Pacific officials are still negotiating a number of terms and conditions to make the change in ownership.
“We want to assess the overall condition of the rail line track and provide an estimate of the necessary improvements to bring the track to a Class 1 operation,” Mendez said. “It’s important for the commission to know exactly what condition the track is in.
“It’s like buying a car. You take it to the mechanic to look under the hood before you actually buy the car.”
The investigations are expected to be completed by March, he said.
Union Pacific currently runs freight trains on the track several days a week, mostly ferrying coal, cement, lumber and produce from suppliers to wholesalers.
Commissioners hope to build a hiking and biking trail next to the track while allowing a new freight operator to continue providing service on the line, Mendez said. Construction of the project is several years away.
The commission has been working to acquire the rail line since 2001.
Negotiations between the commission and Union Pacific slowed in 2005 as the commission pulled back its offer of $19 million after a report from San Jose-based consultant Biggs Cardosa Associates Inc. showed repairing and maintaining the rail line’s 29 bridges could cost at least $4 million, and an appraiser hired by the transportation commission claimed the property wasn’t worth $19 million.