CTC approves Santa Cruz line acquisition

Written by jrood

The California Transportation Commission has approved the acquisition of the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line signaling that all of the requirements for purchase and use of the voter-approved Proposition 116 funds have been met and that the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission can finalize the agreed upon deal with the current property owner, Union Pacific, to purchase the 32-mile transportation corridor. Local California Transportation Commissioner Carl Guardino led the CTC’s action to move forward with the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line acquisition citing the importance of bringing the 135-year-old transportation corridor from limited private freight, into public use. The corridor spans the length of Santa Cruz County through many prime activity areas, parallels the congested Highway 1 corridor, and if lost, would be impossible to reassemble given high population densities and development between the mountains and the coast. In June 2010, the CTC unanimously approved the deal contingent upon the RTC meeting six conditions: execute an agreement between the RTC and the operator (Sierra Northern Railway); commit to initiating recreational passenger rail service; commit to continue freight rail service for as long as would be required by the federal Surface Transportation Board; commit to be responsible for hazardous waste clean up; commit to reimburse the CTC should the RTC cease to use the Branch Line for the original purpose approved by the CTC; and to explain the methodology for the appraised value of the property. Although the RTC met all six conditions, CTC and Caltrans staff had questions about the last condition regarding the appraisal of the property, resulting in an eleventh hour revised CTC staff recommendation. The RTC and Union Pacific agreed on a purchase price for the Branch Line of $14.2 million with a commitment to make $5 million in improvements. California Transportation Commissioners negotiated a $400,000 price decrease from Union Pacific. Funding for the purchase and improvements to the line comes from Proposition 116, the region’s share of State Transportation Improvement Program and a $1.5 million federal earmark secured by Congressman Sam Farr. Based on recent bond sales, these funds are expected to be available, however the general condition of the state budget may affect the actual availability of the funds. Next steps for the project include finalizing purchase documents, completing the escrow process, purchase of necessary insurance policies and submitting the required railway application to the federal Surface Transportation Board.

Tags: