Commuter Rail Extension Alternatives Analysis - Transportation ...

CALTRAIN EXTENSION TO MONTEREY COUNTY PASSENGER RAIL STATIONSALTERNATIVES ANALYSISCALTRAIN EXTENSION ALTERNATIVE OPERATING AND MAINTENANCECOST ESTIMATESOperating Plan for Caltrain Extension AlternativeThe Caltrain Extension Alternative would extend existing and programmed Caltrain commuter railservice between Gilroy and Salinas with intermediate stops at Pajaro/Watsonville and Castroville. ThePeninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (JPB) currently operates 96 daily trains between San Joseand San Francisco. Six of these trains operate between Gilroy and San Francisco. Prior to 2006,eight trains operated between Gilroy and San Francisco on weekdays.The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is the lead agency for Caltrain programdevelopment between San Jose and Gilroy. As part of its long-term Transit Capital InvestmentProgram, VTA has negotiated an agreement with UPRR which grants VTA/JPB rights to operate upto 20 trains (10 round trips) between Gilroy and San Jose upon completion of $35 million of capacityimprovements. These improvements include construction of 8.5 miles of double track (addition of asecond track) between San Jose and Gilroy on UPRR property. VTA also plans to construct a Gilroyyard facility to accommodate storage of 10 commuter rail train sets.Extension of the Caltrain service to Salinas would reduce or completely remove the need forexpansion of the Caltrain layover yard in Gilroy.Table 6-7 displays an illustrative timetable for 10 round trip trains operating between San Jose andGilroy 6 . For planning purposes, the schedules have been extended north to Mountain View and southto Salinas to indicate potential departure/arrival times. Trains indicated as “proposed service” wouldbest meet the needs of Monterey County commuters.To illustrate a more complete operating schedule, Table 6-8 reproduces a portion of the Caltrainpublic timetable, effective January 1, 2006. This table highlights the extension of three existing“Gilroy” round trip trains to/from Salinas. A fourth round trip train is also extended from San Jose toGilroy and Salinas for planning purposes.These schedules are preliminary and are based on train simulation/capacity modeling undertaken forUPRR. Factors which might affect scheduling include electrification of the Caltrain line north of SanJose; upgrades to the UPRR coast line track between Salinas and Gilroy; Caltrain/Amtrak schedulecoordination south of Gilroy; and schedule recovery “padding” to ensure reliability of Caltrain servicenorth of Gilroy. These schedule refinements would be expected to have minor impact on the CaltrainExtension Alternative operating and maintenance (O&M) cost estimate.6The San Jose–Gilroy portion of the schedule was developed in October 2004 and served as the basis of the agreement between UPRRand VTA.parsons CHAPTER 6: ESTIMATION OF CAPITAL, OPERATING AND MAINTENANCE COSTS, AND REVENUE 153