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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 07191994 - TC.1 T.C. 1 _; TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS -- -- Contra FROM: TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE - Costa DATE: JULY 19 19 9 4, - County SUBJECT: REPORT ON DRAFT GEBROC COMMUTE RAIL OPERATING PLAN PREPARED BY THE GREATER EAST BAY RAIL OPPORTUNITIES COALITION SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATIONS) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS Accept report and approve forwarding comments on the Draft Report: GEBROC Commute Rail Operating Plan to the Greater East Bay Rail Opportunities Coalition. FISCAL IMPACT None. BACKGROUND/REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS The Greater East Bay Rail Opportunities Coalition (GEBROC) , is a multi-county joint powers planning body for Alameda, Contra Costa, and Solano counties, created to evaluate opportunities for using segments of railroad rights-of-way in the East Bay for commuter rail service. GEBROC recently released a Draft Report: GEBROC Commute Rail Operating Plan. The sixty (60) day written comment period is due to close on July 21, 1994. This draft report presents a concept plan for operating commuter rail service on railroad tracks which are parallel to Interstate 80 and State Route 4 corridors in Solano, Contra Costa and Alameda counties. The GEBROC Board of Directors is scheduled to meet on August 11, 1994 to review public comments and to consider adoption of a final report. The Transportation Committee has reviewed this draft report and recommends forwarding the following comments to GEBROC: 1. Acknowledge The Region's Severe Financial Constraints The final report should acknowledge that the availability of regional, state, and federal transportation revenues will likely dictate how, when, and where commuter service would be implemented in the East Bay. Unless new revenue sources are found, implementation of any new commuter service will be limited according to available transportation funding. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: X YES SIGNATURE RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR X RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S) : Gayle ishop Tom Torlakson ACTION OF BOARD ON July 19, 1994 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER X The Board APPROVED the above recommendation, and in addition, REQUESTED a report to the Board on the expenditures for--Petroleum- Violation: Escrow Account and staff time. VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A X UNANIMOUS (ABSENT TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN AYES: NOES: ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED ON THE ABSENT: ABSTAIN: MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. Contact: Patrick Roche (646-2835) ATTESTED July 19, 1994 cc: Community Development Department (CDD) PHIL BATCHELOR, CLERK OF GEBROC (via CDD) THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS BART (via CDD) AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RTPCs (TRANSPLAN,TRANSPAC, and WCCTAC) n BY / 1 , DEPUTY Page Two GEBROC Comments July 19, 1994 2 . Develop Two Service Scenarios for the Interstate 80 Corridor According to Financial Constraints The final report should advocate two alternative service scenarios for the Interstate 80 Corridor based on the region's financial constraints: "New Revenue" Scenario - If new transportation revenues become available by 1996, advocate new dedicated commuter rail service for the Interstate 80 Corridor according to the service plan recommended in the draft report. "Financially Constrained" Scenario - If new transportation revenues will not be available in the near term, advocate adaptation of the existing intercity service in the I-80 corridor, known as the CAPITOLS, toward a commuter oriented travel market in the corridor. This hybrid of intercity and commuter rail service would be implemented in 1996 when the CAPITOLS reaches a six round trip service level. This would require that GEBROC, the ACR-132 Policy Advisory Committee, and Caltrans Division of Rail work together to resolve a number of financial, institutional, and service-related factors which make it difficult to adapt intercity rail service in the CAPITOL rail corridor for a commuter market. 3 . Brentwood Commuter Service Not Practical Once BART Is Extended To East County The final report should acknowledge that commuter rail service to Brentwood is not viable once BART is extended into eastern Contra Costa County. The draft report identifies a number of significant problems with extending commuter rail service to Brentwood: 1) It would be very expensive to upgrade the existing railroad tracks to Brentwood (Southern Pacific's Moccoco line) to a passenger rail service standard and such an expense would contradict the substantial public investment in the parallel extension of BART service to East County; 2) The new BART station at Bay Point with connecting BART Express Buses will provide faster and more direct service to Downtown San Francisco and Oakland than the Brentwood commuter line; 3) East of Antioch, the relative small size of the travel market with commute trips destined for San Francisco and Oakland, results in low patronage when compared to the travel market along the I-80 corridor. Based on this information, the report should conclude that the Brentwood commuter rail service is not practical once BART service has been extended over the Willow Pass grade into East County. This will occur with the opening of the new Bay Point BART Station in 1997 . 4. Importance of West Oakland Station The transfer of commuter rail passengers in West Oakland is critical in making the transbay connection to Downtown San Francisco via the BART system. A proposed commuter rail station next to the West Oakland BART Station would provide the most direct transbay connection to Downtown San Francisco via BART. The final report should recommend that the region develop a long-range plan to facilitate the train to train connection between conventional passenger rail service (either intercity or commuter service) and the BART system in the vicinity of West Oakland.