Capital rides second class on train plan
Some upset as high-speed rail proposal calls for adding city only after L.A.-S.F. line is built.
By Tony Bizjak - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 12:08 am PDT Friday, September 21, 2007
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A16
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Bob Bentz lives in Stockton, has an office in Sacramento, and spends way too much time on the road between the two.
It stuns him, he says, that plans for California's high-speed rail -- its bullet train -- relegate Sacramento to second-string status: It's to be added only after an initial line between San Francisco and Los Angeles earns enough money to pay for expansion of the system.
"Why isn't Sacramento a designated anchor point right away?" Bentz asked this week at bullet-train debate in Stockton. "It's a natural. ... It happens to be the state capital."
Bentz's comments are among the questions, doubts, and concerns rebounding around California in recent weeks amid a high-stakes battle over how far the initial line should travel up the Central Valley before kicking west into the Bay Area.
Bentz is hardly alone in wondering when the bullet train will make it to Sacramento, or whether California's train-of-the-future will ever actually roll.
There are Californians who say the dream of electrified trains speeding across the state in 2 1/2 hours is just that, a dream -- too expensive and impractical to be built by a state government that can't even fill the potholes.
Twice already, in 2004 and 2006, the Legislature has postponed a $10 billion ballot measure that would allow voters to kick-start construction.
That measure is scheduled again for next year's ballot, but remains again at the whim of a governor and a Legislature dealing with a budget shortfall.
Yet, the push for high-speed rail remains strong, especially among local leaders around the state with visions of trains bringing economic salvation to their communities -- and a quick ride to Disneyland.
The state, through its High Speed Rail Authority, has spent 10 years and $40 million planning the bullet train, and is about to make a critical routing decision with ramifications for many Northern California cities.
Within weeks, the authority board is expected to decide where trains will exit the Central Valley to head into the Bay Area.
The decision, some in Sacramento contend, could affect when -- even whether -- high-speed trains come to Sacramento. Rail advocates here lament that few Sacramento leaders seem to care.
To the south, however, the routing debate is hot.
San Francisco and San Jose officials want the train to angle out of the Valley near Merced, burrowing through Pacheco Pass so it can roll into San Jose, where it would connect with the Caltrain commuter line to San Francisco.
That alignment is challenged by some San Joaquin County and East Bay groups who say trains should come farther north to Tracy, then head west through more populated areas along Altamont Pass into the East Bay.
A possible compromise, albeit more expensive, is a main line through Pacheco Pass and a secondary route over Altamont.
At the request of a few Sacramento-area rail advocates, state officials have scheduled a last-minute hearing on the matter in Sacramento on Sept. 26 to gather more public opinion before the routing decision.
One advocate, Rich Tolmach of the Train Riders Association of California, contends the moment is crucial for Sacramento.If the trains take the more southerly Pacheco Pass, he says, the distance from there to Sacramento could be too costly for an extension.
"Nobody is advocating for Sacramento," he lamented. "We get permanently shafted. High-speed rail won't happen here."
But High Speed Rail Authority Executive Director Mehdi Morshed says Sacramento is in no such predicament.
Morshed said the Sacramento extension will get built, although not until several years after the Los Angeles to San Francisco line is up and running.
Morshed said economic analysis indicates the L.A. to S.F. line will turn a profit. Those revenues will be used to extend the system to Sacramento and San Diego.
State Sen. Darrell Steinberg, Sacramento's most prominent high-speed rail supporter, said he hopes Morshed is right.
"I do worry," the Democrat said. "I wish Sacramento were part of the first phase. ... As the decades progress, I believe this will be more of a necessity than it is perceived now. When we look at the growth in population and congestion, and the demand for travel, this is an absolutely amazing vision."
His real concern, he said, is not about routing through Altamont or Pacheco, it's whether the governor and Legislature will allow the bond measure to go on the 2008 ballot.
Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, takes a dim view of the idea.
"I personally think high-speed rail is unaffordable and isn't worth the investment," he said. "I'm very doubtful that it will cover itself operationally."
Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, called high-speed rail "a wonderful dream," and said he prefers the Altamont route. But, he said, the more immediate transit need is more funding for Capital Corridor trains that run from Auburn through Sacramento to the East Bay, as well as Regional Transit's bus and light-rail system.
"We have limited resources," Jones said. "My focus is on what we can do to augment RT and the Capital Corridor, which have a proven track record."
Congresswoman Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, did not respond to a Bee request to discuss the train. High-speed rail officials say congressional financial support is needed to build the line.
However, Capital Corridor train system manager Gene Skoropowski said he is rooting "unabashedly" for high-speed rail, and says it should complement his service.
Skoropowski favors building the system across the Pacheco and Altamont passes.
A high-speed rail train connecting Sacramento to the Bay Area through the Altamont Pass likely would be faster than his trains, which travel the Interstate 80 corridor.
Skoropowski acknowledged that would mean the loss of some riders but said it would be more than compensated by additional riders using his line to connect with the bullet train in Sacramento or the Bay Area.
Moreover, he said, the state's $10 billion bullet-train bond measure includes money for Capital Corridor and other regional rail systems.
In Stockton, commuter Bentz has his fingers crossed. He sees high-speed rail as freedom from congested freeways.
"I imagine my wife and I packing a bag and visiting friends in L.A. for the day, maybe staying over, or not," he said, "or running to the jazz festival in Sacramento. Whatever pleases us."
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