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Re: Light Rail on the Monterey Branch
Author: Jon
Date: 09-18-2009 - 09:38
I live in Carmel–by-the-Sea, so have been watching this situation for years. Light rail from Seaside to Castroville is useless. Passenger rail from the Monterey peninsula has to go "somewhere". The branch used to connect to the Coast Line at the interface of farmland and an industrial area in Castroville. Not enough population there.
Whether trains continue to Salinas, Santa Cruz, or even Gilroy to connect with CalTrain, they will be on UP rails, and thus will have to be FRA-compliant. TAMC only owns the former Monterey branch, so that's what they concentrate on, not the bigger picture. Even using the ROW for BRT makes no sense. There isn't enough traffic on Hwy. 1 between Seaside and Castroville to warrant a separate ROW for buses.
The main "problem" with the agency's grandiose plans is a lack of population. There are only about a quarter million people in the entire county, with a little under half of that on the coast side and the majority in the Salinas Valley. In order for passenger rail to the Monterey peninsula to make sense, it has to be able to do a couple of things:
1. Provide a realistic commute from the less expensive residential areas in Salinas and south to the job centers in Monterey, Seaside, and Carmel. The route from Salinas to the peninsula goes northerly out of Salinas to Castroville and then south to Seaside. Not an efficient way to move people.
2. Resurrect the old "Del Monte Specials", bringing tourists from the Bay Area. Great in concept, but trains would have to be able to go fast enough to beat the time it takes to drive, which will vastly increase costs to bring the branch up to high-speed standards. Also, TAMC would have to upgrade the Coast Line to have trains go well beyond its current speed limits. I can't see it making any economic sense.
Lastly, it's not that I don't want to see local rail. Far from it. But I'm a realist, too.
Whether trains continue to Salinas, Santa Cruz, or even Gilroy to connect with CalTrain, they will be on UP rails, and thus will have to be FRA-compliant. TAMC only owns the former Monterey branch, so that's what they concentrate on, not the bigger picture. Even using the ROW for BRT makes no sense. There isn't enough traffic on Hwy. 1 between Seaside and Castroville to warrant a separate ROW for buses.
The main "problem" with the agency's grandiose plans is a lack of population. There are only about a quarter million people in the entire county, with a little under half of that on the coast side and the majority in the Salinas Valley. In order for passenger rail to the Monterey peninsula to make sense, it has to be able to do a couple of things:
1. Provide a realistic commute from the less expensive residential areas in Salinas and south to the job centers in Monterey, Seaside, and Carmel. The route from Salinas to the peninsula goes northerly out of Salinas to Castroville and then south to Seaside. Not an efficient way to move people.
2. Resurrect the old "Del Monte Specials", bringing tourists from the Bay Area. Great in concept, but trains would have to be able to go fast enough to beat the time it takes to drive, which will vastly increase costs to bring the branch up to high-speed standards. Also, TAMC would have to upgrade the Coast Line to have trains go well beyond its current speed limits. I can't see it making any economic sense.
Lastly, it's not that I don't want to see local rail. Far from it. But I'm a realist, too.
