A solar system in search of a sun - decentralization has its costs




photo:Destination:Freedom

 Most readers of this blog may know of my involvement with trains. While a student in Japan, I had used local trolleys, commuter and express trains, and even have considerable experience with their "bullet trains". Travelling throughout Europe, I have travelled to and within thirteen countries by train.

Here locally in addition to the Caltrain and Bart systems, I have also used long distance Amtrak trains as well. I have chaired  a Caltrain committee and have participated in the process of developing station (rail) plans. Recently while browsing Caltrans (Caltrans administers Amtrak California) I came across the draft of a new California State Rail Plan. I was surprised to learn that the public open house meetings to comment on the plan was taking place only during the month February of this year.

When I check the locations of the meetings these are the cities that were listed:

• Sacramento
• Oakland
• San Diego
• Los Angeles
• Fresno
• and an online webinar

Except for Sacramento (the state capitol) they were all the home of a Caltrans district offices and the venues were either in Caltrans offices and state office buildings.

This got me to thinking. If San Jose is the third largest city in California, the future home of the "largest train station west of the Mississippi" (during station plan meetings city planning staff often repeated this phrase), and a future high speed rail station,  how did we get passed up by places like Fresno, Sacramento, and Oakland?

One reason comes to mind. When it comes to San Jose, and especially downtown San Jose; the city is a government, corporate, agency, and non-profit leadership backwater. Every city on the list for the rail plan open house is the home to some type of California state district office. San Jose has none. It was only recently that the city even got additional representation on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC is the regional transportation funding authority) board to match the growth in population.

To develop a more vibrant downtown, yes you need to have housing, jobs, retail, and entertainment. But to truly be a central part of a major city you need to be a nexus, a hub, a network; were leaders, administrators, legislators, media outlets, judicial bodies, doers, thinkers, creators, and innovators all come together; face to face; and not just on Skype.

If you look at the downtown area it is absent many of these institutions. Yes the city brought back city hall to downtown San Jose after a long absence, and yes San Jose State University never left, and yes thanks to the Silicon Valley Leadership Group's muscle the U.S. Patent office has relocated for the first time an office outside of Washington D.C.; although in a much vacant city hall.

Absent are governmental organizations that in most cities are located in a downtown core. Santa Clara County headquarters left downtown long ago, as did the city's largest newspaper, and the NBC affiliate vacated several years ago. The state office building is a depressing two-story concrete bunker that houses only a few offices. Likewise the federal building is only five stories hosting mainly a immigration office. Above the city level, no elected official has an office in downtown San Jose (see map below).

Likewise agencies, such as the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority are located in the sprawling suburbs to the south. The San Jose Water District and VTA (both the regional transportation authority and transit provider) moved out to the northern suburbs. Many nonprofit institutions like the United Way and YMCA, and even the Silicon Valley Leadership Group also mange their affairs from outside the downtown area.

If San Jose truly wants to be "the Capitol of the Silicon Valley", to make their city a more vibrant, lively, and more enriching city it should start to woo these institutions, these leaders to this corner of the world. The city would benefit greatly to have a central place for leaders and ideas.

In my train example, if more locals could have provided input to a rail plan as residents of a city with the largest train station west of the Mississippi, we could be on our path to a true transportation hub as well as a modern technological center.

Partial listing of goverment and agency offices in the Bay Area


View San Jose Administration in a larger map

Local officials celebrate phase I completion of Capitol Expressway improvements

L to R SC County Supervisor Dave Cortese,
CA Assemblymember Nora Campos,
San Jose City Council Xavier Campos and
Rose Herrera and VTA GM
Michael Burns

Ribbon cutting on the Expressway

City, County, State, and VTA officials celebrated the first phase completion of the Capital Expressway Corridor Project on Friday at the intersection of Tully Rd. and Capitol Expressway.The project includes new sidewalks, street lighting and a landscaping buffer between the sidewalk and the roadway from Capitol Avenue to Quimby Road. Originally during this phase, the reconstruction of the Eastridge Transit Center was to take place. These improvements will also support subsequent rapid transit (RT) shelters and amenities at Story and Ocala as part of the future Santa Clara-Alum Rock RT service along Capitol Expressway.

Pedestrian Pathway along
Capitol

Phase II will extend light rail from the existing Alum Rock Light Rail Station to the Eastridge Transit Center. Light rail will operate primarily in the center of Capitol Expressway with elevated track structures crossing Capitol Avenue, Story Road, and Tully Road. The Eastridge extension will include three stations: Story Road, Ocala Avenue and Eastridge.

The reconstruction of the Eastridge Transit Center should take place this winter, however the funding for the light rail extension is still unclear. When fully completed light rail and bus rapid transit will all converge on this main transit center, essentially extending the Alum Rock Station down to Eastridge.

Project Costs
The cost estimate for Phase I Pedestrian and Bus Improvements including Eastridge Transit Center is $60 million, which includes State funding and is included in the approved VTA FY 2012-13 budget. The total cost estimate of Phase II, the extension of light rail from the Alum Rock Transit Center to Eastridge Transit Center is $310 million. This project is included in the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvements Program.

“In addition to the access and safety benefits, these pedestrian and bus improvements are designed to integrate with future bus rapid transit system along Alum Rock Avenue and Santa Clara Street, and eventually light rail,” said Xavier Campos, San Jose City Council member and VTA Board member. “In just a few short years, Capitol Expressway will be a shining example of a modern travel corridor that embraces the use of all forms of transportation which is crucial as we move towards higher gas prices and increased roadway congestion.”

“Since being elected four years ago, I’ve advocated for changes to Capitol Expressway to make it safe for all of us – bicyclists, pedestrians, transit users, and drivers,” says Rose Herrera, City of San Jose Councilmember and VTA Board member, “Everyone benefits from these critical safety improvements that are paving the way for future light rail service.”

Expect to see construction start soon on a new, improvement Eastridge Transit Center.

Elected Official Jurisdictional Representation
City of San Jose (District Map)
District 5 - Xavier Campos
District 8 - Rose Herrera

County of Santa Clara
Supervisor George Shirokawa (District Map)
Supervisor Dave Cortese  (District Map)

State of California
23rd Assembly District - Nora Campos (District Map)

Federal - US Congress
US Congress - CA 16 - Zoe Lofgren

STIP (State Transportation Improvement Program) funding memo from the CTC (California Transportation Commision) Carl Guardino - CTC member and President and CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

Amtrak celebrates America's return to rail

Amtrak sets new ridership record while improving on-time performance

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, also known as Amtrak announced record ridership and revenue figures this morning for the fiscal year ending September 2012. With today's good news and the third division series baseball game starting this afternoon, the District of Columbia must be in a rare ebullient mood this morning. Amtrak ridership was at 31.2 million passengers for the year, the highest level ever since its 1971 start. The year end results also mark the ninth (out of the last ten) year a ridership record has been achieved.

L to R, Joe Boardman - President, Amtrak,
Janet Napolitano US Sec. of
Homeland Security,
Ray Lahood US Sec. of Transportation

"People are riding Amtrak trains in record numbers across the country because there is an undeniable demand to travel by rail," said President and CEO Joe Boardman.

During FY 2012, ridership on the Northeast Corridor is up 4.8 percent to a record 11.4 million. State-supported and other short distance routes is up 2.1 percent to a record 15.1 million and long-distance services is up 4.7 percent to their best showing in 19 years at 4.7 million. State-supported routes are mainly commuter or shorter routes such as California's Capitol Corridor or the Pacific Surfliner.

Also, FY 2012 produced other ridership achievements including new records for 25 of 44 Amtrak services, and 12 consecutive monthly records with July being the single best month in the history of Amtrak. Since FY 2000, Amtrak ridership is up 49 percent.

 

Year to year comparison on
long distance routes

With Amtrak now fully operational for e-ticketing, NJ commuter rail to give it a try

Last month, Amtrak went fully operational with e-ticketing systemwide. Soon after New Jersey Transit has announced that it will become the nation's first commuter railroad to offer online ticketing. 

According to the Ashbury Park Press, online ticket purchasing could be expanded on the entire NJ Transit system. That depends on how the system performs in discussion at the end of football season when train crews, riders and customer service officials are interviewed and a report and recommendations are presented to NJ Transit management, agency officials said. A new station was opened in 2009 to bring sports and entertainment fans directly to the large Meadowlands sports complex.

 Amtrak started with a few pilot projects on the Capitol Corridor and the Downeaster line, the homegrown train service connection Portland, ME to Boston.

Trails & Rails, Amtrak Partners with National Park Service



National Park Service
Trails & Rails



If you've ever experienced an Amtrak ride it is definitely different than flying; no TSA body scans, no bumped flights, and seats that seem like lounge chairs made for giants, rather than for school children.

Although you wont get there as quick, the experience is thoroughly enjoyable, mixing America's scenic beauty with it's cultural past and historical stories. As you sit in the parlor car while the California Zephyr crosses the Rocky Mountains you can almost see the two coasts linking up in Utah to watch the last spike driven to link the revolutionary east with the expansive west. Riding the Coast Starlight through California you can imagine the hardships that Juan Bautista deAnza and his party encountered while pioneering an overland route to Alta California beyond the Spanish frontier to San Francisco Bay.

Through a partnership with Amtrak and the National Parks Service, the Rails & Trails program went national in 2000. The Rails & Trails mission is to;

Amtrak Rails & Trails
docents get ready to board
 the southbound Coast Starlight
 at Diridon Station

Enable Amtrak to enhance the overall experience of customers by offering interpretive programs that educate them about national and historic content of the scenery while also creating awareness in respect for America's "special" places within the National Park System.

While passing through San Jose's Diridon Station the other day I ran into two docents who were getting ready to board the southbound Coast Starlight train to Los Angeles to present their program. Since the route of the Coast Starlight roughly parallels Deanza's route to the Bay Area, the docents make this point in California history come alive.

Next summer I plan to do a bike tour from Buffalo, New York to Albany, New York along the historic Erie Canal and catch the Hudson River Valley Greenway in Albany to New York city. While on Amtrak's Maple Leaf route I hope to hear Rails & Trails volunteers present a history of on the Erie Canal and it's impact on the greater New York region 200 years ago.

Trails & Rails Partnership with Texas A&M university

NPS brochures

The National Park Service and the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences (RPTS) at Texas A&M University in College Station entered into a partnership in September 2008 to relocate and house the management and coordination of the National Trails & Rails Program to the University.

RPTS has provided logistical and technical support to the Trails & Rails Program in interpretation, education, marketing, tourism and recreational opportunities. Undergraduate students in RPTS are currently developing podcasts so passengers can listen to a thematic Trail & Rails program on their iPods or Mp3 players. Currently available are routes from Los Angeles, San Antonio, New Orleans and Chicago, but other routes are being developed.

Here are some Trails & Rails facts

• Amtrak passengers participating - 3,488,150
• Trails & Rails programs presented on Amtrak 73,615
• Volunteer guides participating in Trails & Rails - 754
• Volunteer hours donated to Trails & Rails - 267,082
• Value of volunteer hours based as the "independent sector" - $5,081,685

SV TUG and One Square Mile to Cohost San Jose's first National Train Day Celebration

Silicon Valley Train Riders and 1 Square Mile to Celebrate National Train Day

Join Silicon Valley Train User Group, One Square Mile, the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association, and members of the Caltrain Bicycle Advisory Committee to celebrate our first National Trail Day Celebration.

With the extension of BART, Caltrain electrification, and California High Speed Rail, San Jose's historic Diridon Station will be the busiest station west of the Missisippi. We will host an information table in the historic station along with history displays highlighting train travel in the Silicon Valley. With the recent groundbreaking on the extension of BART into San Jose, the city is exicited about this national celebration.

Information on the City's expanded plans for Diridon Station will be on display along with a presentation and walking tours of the station. In addition we will conduct and old style welcome of the 10:07 am arrival of the Amtrak Coast Starlight on its way from Seattle to Los Angeles. Come join us.

This evening's Caltrain BAC meeting - update on Warm Planet Bikes

This evening's Caltrain Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting should be a good one. An update will be given on the near term status for Warm Planet Bicycles located at the 4th and King Street station. Warm Planet Bicycles provides an invaluable service to San Francisco residents as well as cyclists arriving to the city for work or play.

Also, a presentation will be given by the Transbay Joint Powers Authority on bicycle facilities in the Transbay Transit Center. Meeting starts at 6:45 pm at the Caltrain Office at 1250 San Carlos Ave., Second Floor, San Carlos, CA.

For this evenings agenda, click here. 

Jobs or Job-Years - Mercury News asks the question.

Insfrastructure, Jobs, and Recessions

Given these tough times news of new, fully funded infrastructure projects are highly welcomed by cities, labor, and ancillary services, such as restaurants and construction suppliers. But in a recent Mercury News article and editorial the paper highlights the propensity of construction proponents to well, stretch the truth a little. The paper goes on to describe the difference between jobs and job years:

Job-years is an excellent tool to calculate the amount of work needed to complete a project. A job-year is one year of work for one person; a new construction job that lasts five years is five job-years. It is a more precise measure because an individual job may last for six months or a year or forever.

Recently this topic came up in recent job creation claims by the California High Speed Rail Association and the BART in promoting its East Bay extension into the Silicon Valley. Also Santa Clara County Supervisor and VTA chair Ken Yeager commented on local BART construction jobs in his New Year remarks. The paper goes on to tie the confusion to agency credibility:

In a weak economy like today's, construction jobs are a factor to consider for projects like stadiums and transit systems. But the main consideration has to be the long-term value to the community, once construction is finished. What's especially unfortunate about high-speed rail is that the real number of likely jobs, some 60,000, is substantial. Only because 1 million were touted is the rail authority's credibility further damaged.

It's a cautionary tale for others. VTA, take note.

State high-speed rail vows to show real job figures (Mercury News 12-22-2011)

Mercury News editorial: Jobs or job-years? Be sure to ask the question (1-7-2012)

Incoming VTA chair's remarks - Ken Yeager January 5, 2012

Santa Clara to Diridon Station capital improvements almost complete



New underground passageway
 is now complete.



South Terminal Station Improvement Project

Phase I - Construction is almost complete at the Santa Clara and Diridon San Jose Caltrain Stations on track, signaling, and platform improvements. These improvements fit into a larger plan to upgrade the Caltrain system in preparation for electrification in 2015. With a new signal and track improvements between the two stations track capacity will increase. Due to the current reduced capacity a slight delay in the Caltrain system can have effects on other train lines. The total cost of Phase I of this project is $52 million which is funded through Federal, State, Regional, and Local sources.



View from Santa Clara Station

 SE to downtown San Jose. New platform

improvements are visible in the background

 (just before the train).



Most riders coming into Diridon station have noticed that the train slows to a crawl on the last two miles before reaching the station. Now with the new system trains will not only come into Diridon faster, but the system will allow for additional trains. The new improvements also added an additional track to the Santa Clara Station which will require not only an additional platform but a safe passageway to the platform as well.





Two new tracks (four platforms at 1,200 feet in length) are being added to Diridon Station. With five different train operations (Caltrain, Amtrak Coast Starlight, Amtrak Capitol Corridor, ACE, and Union Pacific freight trains) using the station it can get a bit hectic at times.

Phase II - This phase will consist of the addition of an additional mainline track which will allow for operational flexibility north of the station benefit the Caltrain, ACE, and Capitol Corridor systems. This will allow these train lines to increase service levels in the future. The total cost of Phase II of the project is $37 million.



New platform

improvements are

almost done.



Caltrain by the Numbers

Passengers: 11.9 million annually

Trains: 98 weekdays, 32 Saturdays, 28 Sundays

Stations: 32

Track Miles: 50 mainline and 27 - commute hour only.

Terminals: San Francisco, San Jose, and Gilroy





Looking North.
Concrete work on right
will include skylighting
within the passageway.



USDOT awards $21 million to Caltrans for SoCal Rail

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will receive $21 million for three projects to improve the Pacific Surfliner Corridor, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced last week.

“The projects will help relieve congestion, create jobs and help ensure the world’s eighth-largest economy continues to grow,” LaHood said in a press release.

The projects and dollar amounts include:

• $10 million for design, environmental and engineering work toward a plan to connect two sections of double track, resulting in a 10.3-mile stretch of double track. The work is part of the long-range plan to double-track the San Diego segment of the corridor to alleviate train delays and remove a capacity constraint to future intercity passenger-rail service on the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo Corridor, USDOT officials said.

• $7 million for preliminary engineering and environmental work for construction of a 1.1-mile section of second main track, replacement of a timber trestle railway bridge and signal improvements. The project is designed to alleviate train delays and improve on-time performance for intercity, commuter and freight trains.

• $4 million for preliminary engineering and environmental work for the construction for second main track and replacement of an aging railway bridge over the San Luis Rey River. The project will help alleviate train delays, USDOT officials said.

BART's Fleet of the Future will employ American know-how

First transit system in the nation to adopt a "Buy America" policy.

BART’s new Buy America Bid Preference policy gives preferences to rail car manufacturers who create jobs in the U.S.A., a first-in-the nation policy unanimously adopted by the Board of Directors Thursday. Board members made the move after saying that as they look to replace BART’s oldest-in-the-nation train cars with the Fleet of the Future, they’ve heard from both their constituents and state and federal officials that putting Americans back to work should be a strong consideration.

“The Buy America policy mirrors the economic goals of federal lawmakers,” BART Board President Bob Franklin said. “Adopting this policy on a regional level demonstrates BART’s leadership in the rail industry. It will also transfer rail car technology to the U.S.”

The Buy America Bid Preference policy scores bids for federally funded procurements by using a formula that considers the domestic content level of a product. It goes into effect on January 1, 2012. To view details on the Buy America program, visit www.bart.gov/board and click on the "Board Agenda and Minutes" link. Choose the agenda for Nov. 17, 2011, and go to the PDF document attached at the bottom of the agenda titled "Buy America Board Presentation."

BART’s Fleet of the Future train car replacement project is a $3-billion capital investment. The preliminary timeline is to award a contract to a manufacturer in the coming months. For more information on the Fleet of the Future, see www.bart.gov/cars.

In another job-related vote, the Board adopted a resolution in support of requiring Project Stabilization Policies aimed to create local jobs and facilitate local economic growth as BART works to build Transit Oriented Developments (TODs) at or near BART stations. This resolution supports a partnership with local unions to achieve a mutually-agreed goal of workers on all TODs construction projects who are residents of counties BART serves.