Caltrain
Highway Widening--Crazy Business
11/18/16 Filed in: Transportation
Planning
TRANSDEF
submitted comments on Caltrans’ proposal to add
lanes to Highway 101 in San Mateo and Santa Clara
Counties. The letter details how futile it would
be to add more lanes to the highway, thereby
further continuing dependence on solo driving, the
cause of congestion in the first place.
Allies Challenge AB 1899's Constitutionality
01/31/17 Filed in: High-Speed
Rail
Five individuals, three non-profit organizations, the
Town of Atherton and Kings County amended their
lawsuit today, seeking a ruling that the California
High-Speed Rail Authority's (CHSRA) efforts to obtain
construction funding from a voter-approved bond
measure violate the state constitution. The case is
the second one filed as Tos v. California High-Speed
Rail Authority, or Tos II. Legal papers are
available
here.
The Third District Court of Appeal had previously ruled that Prop. 1A, the 2008 $9.9 billion high-speed rail bond measure, created a "financial straitjacket" restricting the use of the bond funds. Plaintiffs allege in their suit that the Legislature's passage of AB 1889 created a tool that attempts to evade the bond measure's restrictions.
However, because AB 1889 fundamentally alters that voter-approved measure, plaintiffs allege it is unconstitutional, as are the funding plans that rely on it. Newly added as a plaintiff is retired judge and former CHSRA Chair Quentin Kopp, who helped write Prop. 1A and has joined the case to defend that measure as the voters approved it. Read More...
The Third District Court of Appeal had previously ruled that Prop. 1A, the 2008 $9.9 billion high-speed rail bond measure, created a "financial straitjacket" restricting the use of the bond funds. Plaintiffs allege in their suit that the Legislature's passage of AB 1889 created a tool that attempts to evade the bond measure's restrictions.
However, because AB 1889 fundamentally alters that voter-approved measure, plaintiffs allege it is unconstitutional, as are the funding plans that rely on it. Newly added as a plaintiff is retired judge and former CHSRA Chair Quentin Kopp, who helped write Prop. 1A and has joined the case to defend that measure as the voters approved it. Read More...
Caltrain Electrification Suit Fully Briefed
05/23/16 Filed in: High-Speed
Rail |
Transportation
Planning
The
challenge to
Caltrain’s Electrification EIR
is now fully briefed. (See bottom of page.)
Petitioners assert that the electrification project
is really the first phase of the HSR Blended System
on the Peninsula, making the EIR an impermissibly
chopped study of the project’s overall impacts. A
hearing has been scheduled for 9 AM, September 2,
2016 in Contra Costa Superior Court.
TRANSDEF Files Caltrain Electrification Lawsuit
02/09/15 Filed in: High-Speed
Rail |
Transportation
Planning
TRANSDEF today joined
in two litigation coalitions to file suit. In the
first lawsuit, it joined the Town of Atherton
and the Community Coalition on High-Speed Rail to
challenge the Caltrain electrification
EIR.
TRANSDEF’s concern here is that spending $1.5
billion on electrification will not do much to
help ridership. That same money would have a much
bigger effect on ridership if it were spent to
build the Caltrain Downtown Extension to the
Transbay Transit Center. Worse, by trading its
current surplus capacity to the California
High-Speed Rail Authority for electrification
funding, it places a cap on its future ridership.
In an era of climate change, in which we need
transit operators to greatly expand their
ridership, this is a profound strategic error.
For thirty years, Caltrain has wanted to electrify, but never had the money. TRANSDEF believes that this longstanding desire blinded it to the agency’s best interests. We see this as tragically similar to the Biblical tale of Esau selling his birthright to his brother Jacob because he was hungry one night.
TRANSDEF filed extensive comments on the DEIR and the FEIR. See the Caltrain Electrification page for he background. Read More...
For thirty years, Caltrain has wanted to electrify, but never had the money. TRANSDEF believes that this longstanding desire blinded it to the agency’s best interests. We see this as tragically similar to the Biblical tale of Esau selling his birthright to his brother Jacob because he was hungry one night.
TRANSDEF filed extensive comments on the DEIR and the FEIR. See the Caltrain Electrification page for he background. Read More...
Caltrain Electrification--Has Caltrain Lost its Way?
04/30/14 Filed in: High-Speed
Rail |
Transportation
Planning
Caltrain issued its
very large Draft Environmental Impact
Report for its Peninsula Corridor
Electrification Project, which depends on HSR
funding to electrify the tracks from San Jose to
San Francisco. TRANSDEF filed extensive
Comments and Attachments, making the case for studying a
fully worked-up DEMU (Dual-mode diesel-electric
multiple unit) alternative. This alternative would
accomplish many of the goals of the
electrification project while remaining within the
financial reach of Caltrain, now that HSR seems to
be crashing. Because it would eliminate most if
not all the proposed electrification that is
controversial for a significant portion of the
public, it would improve Caltrain’s public
support. A policy letter to the Joint Powers Board makes
the case that Altamont Corridor access to the Bay
Area should be reconsidered and supported, because
it would preserve Caltrain’s capacity to grow in
the future, and because it would allow Caltrain to
determine its own future, independent of the fate
of HSR. Read
More...