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Why railroad dreamers will kill the Eureka-Arcata trail
Author: Bit
Date: 07-05-2007 - 17:24
North Coast Journal
Some interesting quotes:
"Humboldt County Supervisor John Woolley, who sits on the NCRA’s board of directors, argued that it didn’t make much sense to look at the cheap option. Who would give money to build a trail when the trail would have to be rolled up as soon as rail service to Humboldt County is restored? The railroad authority’s forecast was that trains would be rolling down local tracks in just four years’ time -- by 2011.
The mention of this date so soon in the future seemed to agitate Wilson. “No one in this room believes that,” he said. At which point a stony silence filled the air.
The North Coast Railroad Authority, a public agency, an arm of the state of California, has been dinking around with the old Humboldt-to-Bay Area railroad line for 15 years now, consuming tens of millions of dollars in public funds and accomplishing very little. It’s been six years since the NCRA has run any trains at all, nearly a decade since the last train made it to Humboldt County.
But hope springs eternal in the railroad world, and the NCRA and its supporters, armed with a sheaf of fanciful dates and numbers -- trains to Humboldt by 2011! -- have secured themselves a solid place in the hearts and minds of local policymakers, from members of local city councils all the way up to our elected representatives in Sacramento and Washington. And the authority has received many boosts of late. For the first time in years its coffers have been filled, thanks to infusions of public money. It’s been a long time since its prospects have looked so bright.
If that’s the case, though, it’s only because the authority has so far been able to ignore all the many problems raised by its drive to restore the rails. That blessed state will not last forever. But it will certainly last long enough for the authority to accomplish one thing -- dragging the Bay Trail into a bureaucratic quagmire almost as impossible as its own."
and:
"The railroad’s last comprehensive financial forecast, written by a consulting firm called PB Ports and Marine in 2002, showed that the railroad most likely stood to lose around $4 million per year, even after the line was brought back into service. But the NCRA brought new numbers to the CTC. The new strategic plan now said that the railroad could ship 6 million tons of crushed rock per year -- a little over 11 tons per minute, 24 hours a day, 365 days per year -- from a moribund quarry partially owned by the authority in the heart of the Eel River Canyon, at Island Mountain. The plan noted that this would result in 40,000 rail cars of material per year, or 110 cars per day, every day of the week. The quarrying would result in a $20 million annual revenue stream for the authority.
But there was more. In addition, the authority said that it stood to gain $130 million per year from a revamped shipping operation at the Port of Humboldt Bay (see this week’s “Town Dandy”). According to “one estimate,” the railroad could ship 1,000 freight containers per day, five days a week, from a bustling new container port on the Samoa peninsula. Shippers would pay $1,000 per container to have their goods transported from dockside to the national rail network. While the CTC had questions, the presentation did the trick. It began releasing money to the NCRA in dribs and drabs, allowing it to begin work restoring the south end of the line and planning for operations on the north end.
But that’s where the second of the railroad’s troubles came into play. Suddenly the authority had to convince the public that it didn’t really mean any of it. That’s the second and more difficult half of its bind."
and:
"Novato City Councilmember Jim Leland is one of the two Marin representatives recently appointed to the board of the NCRA. He said last week that his goal in joining the NCRA board was to bring some clarity to the project. “When the number dances back and forth between six trains a week and 30, those are big swings,” he said. “That doesn’t fly down here in Marin County. All these shenanigans run the risk of turning some environmental organizations against the whole thing.” (And those 30 trains per week don’t even begin to take into account any of the massive rock and container freight that will supposedly be coming down through Novato from north of Willits -- by 2011, theoretically.)
Leland noted that the Novato City Council is slated to address the matter again on July 19, and that there is a public forum on the matter scheduled for July 31. He said that his constituents are starting to demand answers. And some are starting to think beyond freight service, he added. If there were no freight operations at all, the thinking goes, SMART might be able to use the corridor to develop an electric-powered light rail system rather than the diesel engines it now proposes to use. "
Some interesting quotes:
"Humboldt County Supervisor John Woolley, who sits on the NCRA’s board of directors, argued that it didn’t make much sense to look at the cheap option. Who would give money to build a trail when the trail would have to be rolled up as soon as rail service to Humboldt County is restored? The railroad authority’s forecast was that trains would be rolling down local tracks in just four years’ time -- by 2011.
The mention of this date so soon in the future seemed to agitate Wilson. “No one in this room believes that,” he said. At which point a stony silence filled the air.
The North Coast Railroad Authority, a public agency, an arm of the state of California, has been dinking around with the old Humboldt-to-Bay Area railroad line for 15 years now, consuming tens of millions of dollars in public funds and accomplishing very little. It’s been six years since the NCRA has run any trains at all, nearly a decade since the last train made it to Humboldt County.
But hope springs eternal in the railroad world, and the NCRA and its supporters, armed with a sheaf of fanciful dates and numbers -- trains to Humboldt by 2011! -- have secured themselves a solid place in the hearts and minds of local policymakers, from members of local city councils all the way up to our elected representatives in Sacramento and Washington. And the authority has received many boosts of late. For the first time in years its coffers have been filled, thanks to infusions of public money. It’s been a long time since its prospects have looked so bright.
If that’s the case, though, it’s only because the authority has so far been able to ignore all the many problems raised by its drive to restore the rails. That blessed state will not last forever. But it will certainly last long enough for the authority to accomplish one thing -- dragging the Bay Trail into a bureaucratic quagmire almost as impossible as its own."
and:
"The railroad’s last comprehensive financial forecast, written by a consulting firm called PB Ports and Marine in 2002, showed that the railroad most likely stood to lose around $4 million per year, even after the line was brought back into service. But the NCRA brought new numbers to the CTC. The new strategic plan now said that the railroad could ship 6 million tons of crushed rock per year -- a little over 11 tons per minute, 24 hours a day, 365 days per year -- from a moribund quarry partially owned by the authority in the heart of the Eel River Canyon, at Island Mountain. The plan noted that this would result in 40,000 rail cars of material per year, or 110 cars per day, every day of the week. The quarrying would result in a $20 million annual revenue stream for the authority.
But there was more. In addition, the authority said that it stood to gain $130 million per year from a revamped shipping operation at the Port of Humboldt Bay (see this week’s “Town Dandy”). According to “one estimate,” the railroad could ship 1,000 freight containers per day, five days a week, from a bustling new container port on the Samoa peninsula. Shippers would pay $1,000 per container to have their goods transported from dockside to the national rail network. While the CTC had questions, the presentation did the trick. It began releasing money to the NCRA in dribs and drabs, allowing it to begin work restoring the south end of the line and planning for operations on the north end.
But that’s where the second of the railroad’s troubles came into play. Suddenly the authority had to convince the public that it didn’t really mean any of it. That’s the second and more difficult half of its bind."
and:
"Novato City Councilmember Jim Leland is one of the two Marin representatives recently appointed to the board of the NCRA. He said last week that his goal in joining the NCRA board was to bring some clarity to the project. “When the number dances back and forth between six trains a week and 30, those are big swings,” he said. “That doesn’t fly down here in Marin County. All these shenanigans run the risk of turning some environmental organizations against the whole thing.” (And those 30 trains per week don’t even begin to take into account any of the massive rock and container freight that will supposedly be coming down through Novato from north of Willits -- by 2011, theoretically.)
Leland noted that the Novato City Council is slated to address the matter again on July 19, and that there is a public forum on the matter scheduled for July 31. He said that his constituents are starting to demand answers. And some are starting to think beyond freight service, he added. If there were no freight operations at all, the thinking goes, SMART might be able to use the corridor to develop an electric-powered light rail system rather than the diesel engines it now proposes to use. "
Why railroad dreamers will kill the Eureka-Arcata trail