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Citizens Advisory Committee

PENINSULA CORRIDOR JOINT POWERS BOARD
CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Caltrain Headquarters, Bacciocco 2nd Floor Auditorium
1250 San Carlos Avenue
San Carlos, CA 94070-1306

MINUTES

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 at 6:00 p.m.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Gerald Graham, John Hronowski, Bruce Jenkins, Michael Kiesling (Chair), Brian Wilfley

COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: Paul Bendix, Sepi Richardson

STAFF PRESENT: Michelle Bouchard, Ellen Glover, Rosemary Lake

Chair Kiesling called the meeting to order at 6:07 p.m. and led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Michelle Bouchard, Manager Rail Transportation, introduced Ellen Glover, Construction Outreach Specialist, as the new staff communications representative to the CAC.

Approval of Minutes
The Minutes of May 16, 2007 were approved by the Committee.

Public Comment
Jeff Carter, Burlingame, said there were changes to the BART/SFO connection for Caltrain. Caltrain riders will need to transfer to BART at San Bruno for the SFO connection. He suggested Caltrain offer a free shuttle for riders from Millbrae to SFO. He said service to the All-Star activities went well with additional security and street closures at the 4th and King Caltrain station.

Mr. Carter saw a presentation by Caltrain on the Burlingame station reconfiguration at the Burlingame Recreation Center.

Presentation
California High Speed Rail Ms. Bouchard introduced Dan Leavitt, Deputy Director of the California High Speed Rail Authority (HSR). Mr. Leavitt reported the following details:

In November 2005, the California HSR Authority and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) certified a statewide program document as the preferred alternative for meeting future intercity travel demands to connect California’s major metropolitan areas from Sacramento to San Diego.
The HSR draft program document is available on the California HSR website: www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov.
Option alternatives for linkage between the Central Valley to San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose include the Altamont Pass alignment in the north and Pacheco Pass alignment in the south.
HSR public hearings for network alternatives, alignment alternatives and station options will be held in August and September (dates on HSR website) with the completed program document expected to be available at the end of the year.
HSR would save about 22 million barrels of oil annually by the year 2030 which would lead to significant reductions in CO2 emissions.
The HSR budget of $14.5 million was appropriated in 2006.
Consulting work has begun in the five regions of the program to get environmental clearance in various corridors.
Scoping work is completed and engineering work is being done to complete an environmental document in the Los Angeles to Anaheim and Los Angeles to Palmdale corridors.
$103 million was requested for FY 2007 and the governor came back with a proposal of $1 million. The Legislative Budget Subcommittee recommended $60 million for next year.
HSR is at a critical juncture due to budget issues in Sacramento and a November 2008 $9.95 billion bond measure to implement HSR in California with $9 billion designated between the San Francisco Transbay Transit Center and Los Angeles.
It is hoped current interest in HSR will be able to carry momentum through next year to the November 2008 bond measure.

Presentation Questions/Comments
Mr. Jenkins asked if sections of HSR would not be shared with freight. Mr. Leavitt said we are not sharing track with freight but sharing right of way at a couple of locations at night to include the sections between Los Angeles and Anaheim and Anaheim and Fullerton. He said high speed trains would be on dedicated systems traveling at high speeds with no interaction with existing freight services.

Mr. Graham asked if HSR would not require a subsidy. Mr. Leavitt said there would be no operational subsidy and this is in part the reason the private sector is interested and contributing to some of the financing.

Mr. Graham asked about private industry contribution. Mr. Leavitt said the main profit for the private sector does not occur until a large portion of the system is constructed with upfront funding and it is not cost effective for the private sector to initially put up the money. He said the state is going to have to put up a considerable amount of money with matching money from the Federal government and the private sector may step in at this point with contributions.

Mr. Graham asked if the idea was to have capital costs covered by state and federal funding and operating costs to be procured by private investment. Mr. Leavitt said the private sector could contribute to some capital costs but later in the process.

Mr. Graham asked if the operations of HSR would be done privately. Mr. Leavitt said the operations would be competitively bid and HSR would never become a large bureaucracy.

He said there would be a small oversight agency that would contract out for the construction and operation of the system.

Mr. Leavitt said it is important for the Committee and the public to attend public hearings and to utilize all means to get public comment to the Legislature and California HSR Authority.

Mr. Hronowski said there would be a public hearing in San Francisco on August 23 from 4-6 p.m. at San Francisco City Hall council chambers.

Mr. Wilfley asked if there were project areas of controversy other than the large zone for connection of the right of way. Mr. Leavitt said there were none to the extent of the right of way issue.

Mr. Wilfley said Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles supported HSR provided it would connect to regional airports and asked to explain this comment. Mr. Leavitt said some of our airports have great problems in terms of capacity constraints and plan to focus growth near other airports and we need to work together with regional links to meet the goals of the future.

Mr. Kiesling said it is valuable to be on the CAC and see details of the HSR program. He asked about the HSR caucus in the state legislature and the effort with California congressional members. Mr. Leavitt said Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, Senator Dean Flores and Representative Jim Costa are true champions of HSR and Assemblywoman Ma created the Assembly caucus.

Public Comment

Doug DeLong, Mountain View, commented on a property owner trying to sell property in the Transbay terminal area for ten times its worth but received only twice the value. He asked if there was a statewide effort by fiscal conservatives serving real estate interests to increase the costs to purchase right of way property with the goal to defer funding so people have a chance to raise the prices for their right of way. Mr. Leavitt said this was a unique scenario along the right of way. He said the Legislature is showing a willingness to invest in HSR even in a tight fiscal year and holding firm on the need for the HSR bond measure in November 2008. He said it is crucial for the administration to show full commitment to HSR in order for support from the private sector.

Mr. Jenkins asked for a list of assembly people, representatives and senators that are supporting HSR. Ms. Bouchard said she would distribute Mr. Leavitt’s information to the CAC.

Committee Comments
Mr. Graham suggested a solution to get Caltrain riders to SFO. He said the train that goes to the airport could fish hook down to Millbrae and then run back to the airport and onto its destination.

Report of the Chair
Chair Kiesling said it would be helpful if Caltrain could get funding from the airport to run a shuttle bus from Millbrae to the doors of the airport which would be better connectivity than the previous BART/SFO connection.

Staff Report
Ms. Bouchard gave the following comments:

Caltrain will continue to monitor connectivity to SFO for Caltrain riders and may visit the issue of whether we will lobby for a bus-type connection.
On-time performance was 95 percent for FY 2007. There has been some reduction in on-time performance for several months and this is being reviewed. Causes may include increased dwell times, increased ridership and fatalities.
Average weekday ridership is at a record high of approximately 38,000 which is starting to impact service at the platform and rail vehicle interface.
Total weekday rideship is 10.9 million for FY 2007.
Caltrain’s control center operations for the control portion of the railroad have moved to the new Centralized Equipment Maintenance and Operations Facility (CEMOF) in San Jose.
Amtrak administration and some operating management and staff are now operating out of the recently refurbished Diridon station.
Annual revenues increased roughly $1.5 million over budget, and FY 2007 revenue increased 14.8 percent.
The 2008 Caltrain capital budget was passed with no service reduction.
Caltrain provided rides for 9,000 passengers per day during three days of All-Star activities with excellent service from Amtrak’s operating crews, security and mechanical staff.
Special event service has increased ridership to include a Dodger’s home-stand and soccer games at Stanford. Special service is planned for an upcoming all-day Rock the Bells concert on August 18 at AT&T Park.

Mr. Wilfley asked about plans for acquiring more train cars. Ms. Bouchard said we are investigating an option assignment directly from New Mexico as well as partnering in a Request for Proposal’s (RFP) process with a Minneapolis startup. If negotiations could be wrapped up by September, Caltrain may have the cars by August of 2008. Ms. Bouchard said there is an item on this month’s JPB agenda to authorize appointment of an investment bank as underwriter in connection with the proposed 2007 rail car financing.

Mr. Wilfley asked how we could solve increased station delays without more rail cars. Ms. Bouchard said this is why we are emphasizing that point through Caltrain 2025 and we have to deal with the number and configuration of cars.

Date/Time/Place of Next Meeting
August 15, 2006 at 6 p.m., Caltrain Headquarters, Bacciocco 2nd Floor Auditorium, 1250 San Carlos Avenue, San Carlos, CA

Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 7:18 p.m.