The Monterey County Rail Extension Project extends passenger rail service from Santa Clara County south to Salinas. TAMC is pursuing a phased implementation of the Project. Phase 1, known as the Kick Start Project, includes Salinas train station circulation improvements, a train layover facility in Salinas, and track improvements at the Gilroy station and between Salinas and Gilroy. The Kick Start Project is fully funded with $81 million in state funding, and is proceeding with construction of Package 1, improvements at the Salinas train station. The layover facility and track improvements are ready for final design, pending comments from Union Pacific Railroad.
Package 1: Salinas Station Improvements
TAMC and Salinas staff continue to meet regularly to coordinate on utility relocation and permits needed to proceed with construction of Package 1, improvements to the Salinas Station area. The City's storm drain and sanitary sewer project has encountered some conflicts with existing utilities and is now delayed by at least two weeks. In addition, utilities installed by the City to move the California Welcome Center into the old freight building are inconsistent with already approved designs to relocate CalWater lines for the rail project. TAMC is working with the City to resolve the utility conflicts and minimize additional delays.
The Salinas planning department provided comments on TAMC's encroachment and grading/drainage permits, and the plans were revised accordingly and resubmitted to the City in February. Due to lengthy responses to potential bidders' Requests for Information and changes to the plans resulting from those requests and the City's planning department comments, as well as delays from the changes to the City's sanitary sewer project, staff extended the deadline for questions and the bid opening by one month. The question deadline is now March 4 and the bid opening is now March 13.
TAMC and City staff are working with PG&E, AT&T and Comcast regarding relocation of their gas line and cables into the new Lincoln Avenue Extension, with the goal of avoiding further delays to the overall roadway project construction.
Package 2: Layover Facility and Track Connections
TAMC has engaged consultants to assist with the acquisition of property for Package 2, the layover facility and track connections to the station. ARWS was hired as the acquisition agent, and Meyers Nave was retained to provide oversight to ensure compliance with applicable state and federal laws and regulations. Geocon was selected to perform a Phase II Environmental Site Assessment and HDR Engineering was chosen to do a boundary survey to confirm the limits of the proposed acquisition of property for Package 2. Most of the land acquisitions for Package 2 are anticipated to be partial acquisitions, which require plat and legal descriptions. The boundary surveys and environmental site assessment are scheduled to occur in February. Once that work is complete, the appraisal process can begin, and once the appraisals and review appraisals are complete, TAMC can make offers to the property owners.
Operations Scenarios and Regional Negotiations
In January and February, staff met with Caltrain regarding their business plan development and to discuss rail operations to Salinas, attended the Northern California Megaregion Group, participated in the Silicon Valley regional rail working group, and met with the California State Transportation Agency to discuss Salinas rail extension operations scenarios.
Next steps in the near-term operations negotiations is to discuss the proposed schedule with Union Pacific Railroad regarding track rights and in order to enable the railroad to review the 75% design plans for Package 2 (Salinas layover facility) and Package 3 (Gilroy station and track improvements).
TAMC staff also attended meetings of the California High-Speed Rail Technical Working Group for Gilroy and Morgan Hill. Governor Newsom announced his intention to complete the portion of the High Speed Rail project in the Central Valley (Bakersfield to Merced) and the sections at the "bookends" known as "blended services" (Caltrain in the San Francisco Bay Area and Metrolink in Southern California). He also committed to improving project controls and oversight and completing the environmental work now underway. Staff will stay tuned as to how any change of direction may affect the TAMC rail projects.
Staff will provide a verbal update on all activities at the meeting.