The Return of the Rail

La Selva Beach Trestle Event Highlights New Possibilities

By Noel Smith

Over a hundred enthusiastic spectators in our community gathered to commemorate completion of the new La Selva Beach railroad trestle in on Thursday, February 26.

Speakers included: Zack Friend – Regional Transportation Commissioner and 2nd District Supervisor • John Leopold – Regional Transportation Commission Chair and 1st District Supervisor • Michael Dorsa – Construction Manager at Stacy & Witbeck that built the new trestle and repaired the other three • Jeff Weeks – General Manager of the Santa Cruz & Monterey Bay Railway (Iowa Pacific parent company) • George Dondero – Executive Director of the Regional Transportation Commission.

Most of those attending showed great interest in the future use of the right-of-way as part of the Monterey Bay Scenic Trail Network. The trail’s Master Plan identifies twenty constructible segments of bicycle and pedestrian path — adjacent to the tracks within the corridor — that will be completed as funding becomes available. Two of these segments, one in Santa Cruz and one in Watsonville, have been funded and are moving toward construction.

The Santa Cruz Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) purchased the 32-mile scenic rail corridor from Watsonville to Davenport in 2012 using $11 million from the voter-approved Proposition 116 bond funding. The purchase stipulates that in addition to freight service, the rail line be used for passenger rail projects within the County. As part of the purchase agreement between the RTC and the previous private property owner, Union Pacific, funding was set aside to upgrade trestles and railway bridges on the line. The La Selva Beach Trestle is the largest and most expensive of the four bridges to have been upgraded.

Completion of the La Selva Beach Trestle re-opens the line, which parallels Highway 1, as an active rail corridor for freight and excursion passenger rail services. The RTC and a consultant team are studying the feasibility of upgrading the corridor to provide commuter or transit passenger rail service. This will be to identify, evaluate and compare passenger rail service options including short-, medium- and long-term passenger rail service scenarios. These service situations will be coordinated with freight and recreational rail services, trail use and connecting transit services.

Other issues are: 1.) How much the various rail services studied would cost; 2.) How each could be funded; 3.) How many people would ride these trains; 4.) How would they improve people’s access to jobs, schools, recreation, goods/services and other activities.

The results are planned to be ready for public review this spring.

For more information about these and other projects, please see the RTC website: www.sccrtc.org. Also, please sign up for eNews about general or specific transportation projects.