While everyone picks through every response on the NCA-NWP-SMART thread, I present this Letter to the Editor of the Marin IJ the blows wholes through the NIMBYS and others who oppose effective transportation in Marin. I couldn't have said it better.

Walter Strakosch: The truth about freight, SMART
Article Launched: 04/28/2008 12:12:15 AM PDT

THE MARIN Citizens for Effective Transportation and Mike Arnold are at it again. His April 7 Marin Voice slams either Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit or the North Coast Rail Authority - or is it both? - for the proposed freight operation by the NCRA and/or passenger service by SMART.

Let's be clear: The rail line has been there 125 years and was operating until 2001. The freight service then was temporarily shut down but never abandoned (important point). Because some investors believe the line again can be viable, and have money to put it into operating condition, it will carry freight again.

The track is owned by SMART (a public agency) north to Healdsburg (which by law must provide trackage rights to the North Coast Rail Authority) and by NCRA beyond. Arnold's column states "This illustrates one of the many ways SMART is connected at the 'hip' to NCRA." He infers a vote for SMART will make freight operations more intrusive on residents, citing noise, engine pollution, delays at grade crossings - you name it.

If the planned November sales tax vote fails, SMART probably would step out of the picture and the NCRA can operate when it pleases - and after the hard time Novato and Arnold have given it, it could just do that. That means freight over the old track without "quiet zones" and at anytime. Freight trains operate over thousands of miles of track at all hours, and if Novato were allowed to control train times, why wouldn't other towns? It's not realistic.

However,
Advertisement
if SMART passes it will replace its old track with new ties, ballast and wielded rail, significantly diminishing sound from the rail vehicles. SMART also will help local governments convert existing sensitive crossings into quiet zones (no train horns). NCRA has no requirement to do this. SMART also will control the entire dispatch (freight and passenger) and, I expect, be considerate of Novato and other cities on these issues

Another black hole issue that Arnold brings up is pollution.

That becomes a non issue thanks to the self-propelled rail cars that SMART will use. Starting in 2011, new rules require the use of ultra-low emission diesel engines. It has been shown that the "exhaust" particle levels of these engines is even lower than the particle levels in the air entering these engines. Combined with ultra-low sulfur diesel, that will make the SMART train an extremely clean vehicle. Wouldn't 200 people in rail cars, rather than in autos, be a significant environmental plus?

With the commitment by NCRA to use a similar type of technology, air quality doesn't seem to be the issue that Arnold makes of it. Perhaps the Marin Citizens for Effective Transportation should redirect its efforts at getting more smog-belching tractor-trailer trucks off Highway 101 - such as those freight service may replace - but it appears that is not what his group is about.

We hear constantly from SMART naysayers about grade-crossing delays when trains pass. With SMART that could be 30 to 45 seconds. At a traffic light you stop from one to three minutes, but that seems OK. A two-car SMART train carrying 200 people, which may take that many cars off the roads, however, is not OK to naysayers. Go figure.

Another issue is the possibility of impeding emergency vehicles. We have thousands of rail crossings in this country and I have yet to hear this brought up as a "life-and-death issue." The rail car pass-by is brief, and freight in the foreseeable future of six daily trains, is also a relatively small impact.

Yes, a vote for SMART, with the North Coast Rail Authority as a participating partner, will be a vote for a more fluid and vibrant North Bay. Bet on it.

Walter Strakosch of Mill Valley is a member of Friends of SMART. He had a 40-year career in transportation.