TRAC Archives - TRANSDEF

NewsGroup papers call for an end to California’s HSR project

February 23, 2023 February 28, 2023

The Mercury News and East Bay Times published an editorial today entitled “California should cut its losses on high-speed rail.” The key parts: The reality is that the project has never been realistic. Fifteen years after it was put before voters, there’s still no path to completion. Costs keep rising, and now ridership projections for the system, if it ever opens, are declining sharply. It’s time for state and federal officials to cut their losses, to stop throwing money at a project that probably will never be finished. The following letter was published February 27th in the Times: Thank…

Santa Cruz County produces biased report prior to June ballot measure calling for removing the rail line

March 22, 2022 March 22, 2022

A small group of homeowners, bankrolled by a former Apple executive, has qualified their Greenway Initiative for the June ballot in Santa Cruz County. This group, whose motivation appears to be preventing trains from running near their homes, are seeking the public’s support for a measure that would eliminate the County’s policies calling for building a commuter rail system on the Santa Cruz Branch Line. It would instead tear out the tracks to build an extra-wide multi-use pathway they call the Greenway. TRANSDEF is committed to rail as the low-carbon approach to organizing transportation and land use in the era…

TRAC Ideas Exposed in the Bee

September 29, 2014 September 14, 2018

TRAC Ideas Exposed in the Bee 09/29/14 Filed in: High-Speed Rail | Transportation Planning The Train Riders Association of California, TRAC, got the opportunity to put its ideas out in the State Capital’s leading newspaper, the Sacramento Bee. Hopefully, it will strike a chord with political leaders. Here’s the link to the Viewpoint article. Tags: TRAC

TRAC Opposes Palmdale Focus

September 4, 2014 January 23, 2019

TRAC Opposes Palmdale Focus 09/04/14 Filed in: High-Speed Rail | Transportation Planning The TRAC Board of Directors adopted a Resolution opposing the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s new-found interest in the Palmdale to Burbank route. Instead, the Resolution proposes that the funding available for HSR be used to create benefits for passengers in the near-term. Tags: TRAC

TRAC Issues Plan B

February 24, 2014 January 28, 2019

TRAC Issues Plan B 02/24/14 Filed in: High-Speed Rail The Train Riders Association of California has issued its Plan B, what to do when the HSRA’s project craters. The Plan strategically attempts to use the $2.4 billion in federal ARRA funds before they expire in 2017. This Plan B differs from TRANSDEF’s Plan B, which proposed a wholesale revision of Proposition 1A and a repurposing of the entire $6 billion dollars appropriated for the Central Valley project. That plan has much greater uncertainties, because it would require a return to the voters. The time involved in doing that, given the very short timelines for construction, favors taking a more strategic approach. Hence, TRAC’s…

TRAC Proposes Plan B for HSR

November 27, 2013 January 24, 2019

TRAC Proposes Plan B for HSR 11/27/13 Filed in: High-Speed Rail In the wake of the collapse of the Central Valley project, the Train Riders Association of California has issued its Plan B for High-Speed Rail: 1. The Train Riders Association of California (TRAC) strongly supports a modern High-Speed Rail (HSR) system for California. HSR will be critical in providing interregional mobility to a growing population at a lower environmental impact than widening highways and adding runways. Successful HSR should greatly benefit the economy. 2. Even if the currently proposed $6 billion Merced-Bakersfield project were successfully completed, no funding is available to build the rest of the HSR system. This would leave this very expensive…

TRANSDEF Presents at Annual TRAC Meeting

October 27, 2012 January 24, 2019

TRANSDEF Presents at Annual TRAC Meeting 10/27/12 Filed in: High-Speed Rail The 2012 Annual Conference of the Trainriders Association of California was held in Berkeley today. TRANSDEF was invited to co-present the keynote address, along with the Californians Advocating Responsible Rail Design (CARRD) on the topic of Where is High-Speed Rail Going in the Near Term? Elizabeth Alexis of CARRD began with a presentation which laid out the complete picture of what is funded to proceed in the next few years. David Schonbrunn of TRANSDEF then delivered an explanation of why rail advocates are suing CHSRA, entitled Fighting for What Could Be. Directly relevant to the Opposition brief filed in Atherton III, Caltrain’s Marion Lee presented a…