Santa Cruz County passenger rail a long-sought but uphill track

I also have a dream. That dream? For these simpletons who are in love with railroads to move to areas that have one in place.

Maybe if the 139 people who desperately crave this fiscal boondoggle were regular patrons of a light rail system elsewhere in the country, that light rail might start coming closer to paying for itself.

Why in the world are we allowing a handful of these coercive Utopians to shove this white elephant down our collective throats?

How ironic that the Pied Piper himself ( Mr. Sawhill ) would choose to have his photo taken next to a light rail on the VTA line.

Would Mr. Sawhill care to share with the voters the original cost estimates of the VTA? Would he care to share with the voters the ACTUAL costs?

How about the wildly optimistic predictions of ridership? How about the reality?

How about the projected operating expenses for the VTA? How about the real number?

I thought not.

Typical nonsense from squeaky wheels who want to impose their vision of mass transit while forcing others to foot the bill for their fantasy.

Is there no end to this madness?

Do people not care about snake oil salesman who ride into town with smooth talk of a magic pill that will solve all of their problems?

P.T. Barnum was right.

This plan is not just stupid. It is a total waste of tax money. If you like the idea, consider a two hour train ride to commute.
The rail line winds back and forth weaving clear across Highway 1 to Aptos and the back again to the coast at La Selva. It crosses Seacliff, Live Oak, and Santa Cruz where the present track does not have room for a hiking trail, a bike trail, or even a puppy dog trail. There are government regulations about clearances required between trains and parallel trails: there simply is not room for this through the populated areas.
Do you want this transportation authority to condemn the mobile homes that border the rail line? Do you want it to condemn and take over the houses along the route?? Do you realize we taxpayers will foot the bill -- estimated at over $60,000,000 to realign the tracks and upgrade the right of way for regular passenger service?
And cyclists (of whom I am one), don't dream the railroad people are actually planning to make the railroad right of way a bike trail, If you ask Santa Cruz County Planning, you will learn this: they know a bike trail along an operating rail line is illegal on the present right of way. It is simply too narrow. Get your bike shoes off and walk the rail line through Seacliff and through Live Oak: you will see how foolish we are to expect something for cyclists here. The City/County cannot even push a bike path through the Arana Gulch without a dozen years of haggling. Do you actually believe they will use eminent domain to widen the rail line to allow bikes?????(if you do, I believe there is an excellent bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan you might want to buy too. I hear it would be a great bike run if you have taxpayers pay for it.)
As to a commuter run: HA. How many commuters use the Felton to Santa Cruz train? Why isn't there a commuter line along this great rail bed? One reason: TIME! It takes ten or twelve minutes to drive from Felton to Santa Cruz. Do you know how long it takes the train???? And the same will hold true for a train to Watsonville. The line will take so much time that no one will commute on it!!!!
Everyone I know regrets the deficits our national and state governments face: this rail fiasco is a horrible waste of money. I requires a commitment from local taxpayers to bankroll these political hacks forever! Even after they retire on the taxpayer funded pensions, your grandchildren will still be paying for something that won't work.
If there should be a rail line for commuters, let it be made fresh along Highway 1, or Soquel Drive and Freedom where there are people who really need to commute.

There used to be rail service in Santa Cruz and in cities across the country until GM, Standard Oil and Firestone bought them out and destroyed them.

If one is built, it needs to connect to UCSC. At present, the bus system is useless from anywhere east of pacific ave since all the lines funnel to downtown. Making connection costs 90 minutes or more each way, not useful. They should put a bus in that goes across town. Not everyone wants to go to pacific ave.

I think a train would be great, as would the bike trail along side of it. This would be money put forth to positive use vs giving it away to unsuccessful artists or people who come here to take advantage of free medical, english.... Finally something the tax payers want, something positive for Santa Cruz

...and will this trail have lots of butterflies and pretty flowers?

Let's recap this, first we buy the rail line then take years on a feasibility study. In the meantime, the bridges and trestles fall into ever deeper disrepair and the county has even less resources while in the meantime, we've elected two Llama's, a cockatiel, a bisexual pony named timi and Neal C's great grand chimp to the board of supervisors because a handful of PETA officers from Santa Cruz counties Dept of Nonsense felt our animal friends should not be left out their future too.
In the mean time, the chinese owned and operated Disney organization bought UCSC from the state and plans to compete with the Boardwalk for loose change by having the entire student body perform twice a day, "it's a small world after all" for patrons of the renamed Shinning Path Peoples Train formerly known as Big Tree's Railroad between mandatory harvesting of bok choy and attending classes.
Yep it's brave new world awaiting out there if this kind of government nonsense and while we're at it, just re-name the Sentinel, Pravda. Public support indeed

Where is Gary Gagnes wrote:

There used to be rail service in Santa Cruz and in cities across the country until GM, Standard Oil and Firestone bought them out and destroyed them.
If one is built, it needs to connect to UCSC. At present, the bus system is useless from anywhere east of pacific ave since all the lines funnel to downtown. Making connection costs 90 minutes or more each way, not useful. They should put a bus in that goes across town. Not everyone wants to go to pacific ave.

and Santa Cruz's population used be to 10K, ice cream was a nickel and the fact that trains do not go up hills well at all. Even the shay donkey engines had to use switch back's.
Not everyone wants to go to campus either....

What a silly idea. I know allot of commuters who live on the westside and commute to Aptos. I have one question. How do you suppose that these ten commuters get from the train station to work? How about a commuter train to San Jose? Tracks used to go through a tunnel before WWII. No wait that makes sense, so sorry.

Just the pricing of the repairs for trestles and bridges make this money pit a bad idea.

The Senile thinks that only the trestle near the boardwalk needs seismic upgrades? Obviously this 'reporter' has not gotten their feet on the ground and walked any of the line. Nor have they been near a real train while it is moving.

Reporting is not printing press releases. Finding and printing some facts, not just wish lists would be more professional.

Once we own it who will pay for UP derailments? Will we need to hire track and signal gangs? How about equipment, will we need to buy a rail crane that can lift a locomotive? Will we outsource to UP?

How about taking that same money and opening a third lane between Morrissey and Bay? The work done on the fish hook has helped TREMENDOUSLY with the traffic despite what naysayers say. But if you could open a third lane all the way to the three lanes even to Larking Valley, the burden would be tremendous. ALot of santa cruz people against growth blame south county for the traffic (ie, implying Watsonville, but the truth is, most traffic eases by the Del Mar exit. That is mid county. So if you can open up more traffic lanes and add a car pool that would help.

Oil is poised to sky rocket again and people really might start carpooling more. And as we loose more and more jobs, there will be less people affording to run cars and more willing to carpool.

buy the line and tear out the tracks. sell the steel and the ties. a passenger line is a joke, santa cruz can't even pay for its roads.

Dear County,

Purchase a set of wheels that mount onto a commuter van. Most Union Pacific service vehicles have them attached to their bumpers and I'm sure they can tell you where to purchase.

Drive commuter van onto tracks. Exit wherever on your route is desired. Re-enter tracks and repeat.

You already own the commuter vans, so just mount the track ready wheel sets that attach to the bumpers. Low cost commuter rail service, ready to go and your "trains" are road worthy.

Thank-you.

People buy homes at reduced prices along a rail line and then complain when they use the line?
Not only do we need this rail line but we need to extend it to SF and LA. Come on people wake up and get off the freeway. Take a look at the wonderful train transportation in Europe. A Paradigm shift needs to happen not a paradigm paralysis which is status quo.

You better check out the trestle at La selva .. it is in dire need of repair and seismic repairs....and us locals want to keep our backyard and private places to our selves keep the touristsss outtttttttttttttt

What are the alternatives? More roads? More traffic lanes? Public local transportation via rail-way is the best thing we can possibly do for moving about in our county. The rail-way is a straight shot with very few curves and hills--perfect for bicycles, walkers, and passenger trains.

This rail-trail is a forward thinking idea that challenges the dominate paradigm and it scares people. If it needs to be subsidized by taxes it is still worth it due to the non-monetary social and environmental benefits. How much money are we losing by not building and renting condos in the greenbelt? How about a hotel conference center in Lighthouse field? Are grass and trees really the best use for that parcel?? If we purchase the rail-way and just call it a bike path and dog walking park it still would be worth it.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1258142834690...

Theryl, are you series? In this economic times, you actually propose subsidizing a massive program such as this with local taxes? Are you NUTS? Do you not realize that income taxes and sales taxes are plummeting? How about when unemployment continues to rise? What then? What about when UCSC is forced to start massive layoffs next year as Chancellor Blumenthal has hinted at? Where will that tax base from to fund this program? And when the Federal government starts to deal with the massive, MASSIVE, deficit we are running up, how do you think this would go in the future? Don't expect non local money to come from anywhere.

painter live oak, you have the economic thinking skills of a first grader, or a Bruce Sawhill. The costs for such rail systems are monumental and far beyond what people are willing and able to spend for transportation. Bruce Sawhill is reported to claim that 10,000 people per day would use a rail system in connection with Cabrillo College. THis is just ridiculous. Fixed rail lines are not well suited to congregate the massive dispersion of people who make up the Cabrillo campus. When Sawhill's $100,000,000 plus railroad is in place most Cabrillo students and personnel will continue to use cars or buses. And most others will continue to use Route 1 and other roads and the rail line will sit there with a few passengers, commenter one suggested about 139. Wise up and get real

These difficult economic times are temporary and will pass, just as they always have, only to boom and blossom again.

There is another rail corridor that runs through Felton up Zayante canyon that will never become a rail trail due to the broken up parcels. We can not let this happen to the current rail-way. This rail-zone is invaluable and essential to the community and we should not scoff at such a prime opportunity to have it. Think about how much it would cost if we ever needed to take back the rail-way via eminent domain?

If you ever decide to ride your bicycle along a rail-way corridor then you will know that it is an enjoyable, peaceful, easy and safe way to ride a bike.