Passenger rail ideas for Santa Cruz County track run from dinne...

I can see it now, the "Art Train". Go Kirby!

being that there are only one set of tracks, and the train/tram can travel only 15 mph...seems it would be a long ride

If the commuter train is intended to take people to their place of work, it should end at the county building, since government jobs seem to be the only workforce our elected officials seek to enlarge.

A dinner train makes a lot more sense. It could be modeled after the wine train in Napa, only the points of interest would be bums and gangbangers.

Each guest could be provided with a photo guide showing them how to tell the difference between North and South County gang members.

A more elaborate guide would differentiate between various types of bums. While sipping their Santa Cruz Appellation chardonnay, guests could learn the difference between meth freaks, bicycle thieves, flashers, rapists and your average run-of-the-mill Santa Cruz welfare bum.

Now there's a rail line we can believe in

If we don't know what to do with the rail line, DO NOT BUY IT.

I don't want my tax dollars wasted. If you must put in a tourist train, at least make the line go all the way down to pebble beach.

but wait... since we (the county tax payers) would be responsible for the rail line maintanence, AND... the line is only capable of handling freight traffic, where are all the funds going to come from to upgrade the track so it's safe for passenger traffic?

WHO PAYS FOR THAT?

Dude! The obvious answer is medical marijuana train!

Not to mention the obvious tie into the UCSC Grateful Dead archive..

What a bunch of lame ideas for tourist crap. Where's the functionality? How about a flatbed service for bikes, scooters, handicapped, assisted mobility, and especially pedestrians. A way to get across town without suffering the bus and the no-more-bike-space and the stink. Hook up one flatbed for each passenger car, charge 5 bucks for a day ticket, and you have my and all my friends' ridership guaranteed.

Awe yeah....choooooo chooooooooo. chugachugachugachugachuga

Letting the Harts anywhere near the line would be a disastrous decision. Keep it local!

Why not launch your dinner train on the Roaring Camp run from Felton to Santa Cruz if you think it has such merit.

This is already in place and would be funded by you, the private entrepreuner seeking a dinner train.

The line can be purchased with prop 116 funds only if a passenger train is intended. This is not a dinner train or freight. This is a lie to continue this farce when 3/4 of the proponents openly want the rail portion to die so the county will own the right of way (still frought with maintence, repairs and liability).

The SCCRTC has deliberatly avoided putting this purchase, all by itself, on the ballot. They have had years to do this, but would not without muddying the issue with road widening, bike paths and bridges and other stuff. They are fraudulent, the SCCRTC.

Liar, liar, bikes on fire. I like that slogan.

To all who So Blindly Oppose:(without really thinking)

To those who don't think a dinner train would work (and who obviously didn't read the article) the dinner train idea only works between Santa Cruz and Davenport. The reason nobody ever thinks about this stretch is because nobody GOES there. It is miles of beautiful rolling farm fields with the pacific ocean in the background!!! No bums. No Meth heads etc... Also worth mentioning is that nowhere does it say that a dinner train would be subsidized or operated by the county. It would be a private company, much like Roaring Camp. SO to say "[Roaring camps railroad] is already in place and would be funded by you, the private entrepreuner seeking a dinner train" is totally redundant.

The term "safe for passenger trains" is misleading. The train does not care whether there are people or freight on it.
Nor does the railroad!! It is a matter of SPEED. Currently the FRA (thats the Federal Railroad Administration) has inspected the railroad and found it to be safe for 10 MPH operation. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT is moving at 10 MPH.
With a small amount of work, we could call the FRA out again, and they would find that it would be safe for 20 MPH. Again, Freight and Passenger trains are basically the same from the bottom of the car to the top of the rail.

To those who live along the tracks and are reminded of how their house shakes when the train goes by, please remember that the commodities traveling past their back doors are the two heaviest. Coal and Cement. Passenger trains are absurdly light in comparison, and will therefore rattle their china proportionately less. Also please remember that each freight car you see going past your backyard in a train is equivalent to 3 semi trucks, which would otherwise be clogging up our roads, killing bicyclists, and smashing our shiny SUV's.

Also, to "OMG" had you read the article you would have noticed that it says quite clearly that the state no longer requires passenger traffic to obtain prop 116 funding.

To the person who says "at least make the line go down to pebble beach" It does. It also goes to San Francisco, Chicago, New york, Washington DC and anywhere else on the country's rail network.

To the person who thinks government jobs are the only ones our elected officials seek to enlarge: Railroad jobs are some of the best and highest paying blue collar jobs. SOMEONE local is going to be operating these trains, and maintaining them, and the track... There's some jobs for you.

Please People Pull Your Heads out of your Rectums.

If you are going to knock something, then learn about it first. Or at very least READ the Ariticle you are Responding to!!!
Thanks,
The Greater Santa Cruz Community.

diogenes wrote:

If the commuter train is intended to take people to their place of work, it should end at the county building, since government jobs seem to be the only workforce our elected officials seek to enlarge.
A dinner train makes a lot more sense. It could be modeled after the wine train in Napa, only the points of interest would be bums and gangbangers.
Each guest could be provided with a photo guide showing them how to tell the difference between North and South County gang members.
A more elaborate guide would differentiate between various types of bums. While sipping their Santa Cruz Appellation chardonnay, guests could learn the difference between meth freaks, bicycle thieves, flashers, rapists and your average run-of-the-mill Santa Cruz welfare bum.
Now there's a rail line we can believe in

Now that's hilarious! I can just imagine the conversation:

"Oh, look dear. I believe that's a 'Pockmarked Tweaker'. See, here's a photo on page 5."

If we can't afford to fully fund our sheriffs, schools, or libraries we certainly can't afford any of this right now.

Whoaaaa wrote:

If the passenger load comprises the gals that work at the Santa Cruz County building, it will be much more weight than coal and cement. For the most part, these posts appear to have read and comprehended the articles. They strongly disagree with your conclusions. Dinner train? Overhead? You are insanely clueless, my dear (you must be a woman).
<quoted text>

Wow. Sexist, and a pig, AND Clueless? Move to texas.