CA: Passenger rail public meeting summary, call for working group top Santa Cruz County RTC’s agenda

 A 22-mile electric passenger rail project will once again be a key point of focus at this month’s Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission meeting.

At the Thursday gathering, staff with the public transportation agency will share summaries of its work for milestone 3 of the Zero Emission Passenger Rail and Trail Project’s concept report, along with meaningful feedback considerations, status of infrastructure development, potential funding opportunities and updates on current work that is still in progress.

The report, ordered in late 2022, contains four milestones in all and is expected to be finalized and shared with the commission this fall.

In all, milestone 3 included at least five in-person and online information sessions where the public received project updates and was able to voice its feedback and concerns. About 135 people attended the in-person workshops, 2,200 users visited the virtual open house and more than 360 comments were submitted, according to the staff summary.

Takeaways of the information shared at these meetings, along with the public response, will be detailed for the 12 commissioners for topics that include rail and trail conceptual alignments, station locations and amenities as well as concerns regarding project cost, feasibility, funding and ridership forecasting.

The commission recently held an online information session detailing the bridge replacements and repairs that are necessary for a viable passenger rail service along the commission-owned Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line. In all, 28 of the 33 bridge structures along the route would have to be replaced as part of a roughly $980 million effort. Engineering officials said that figure is an estimate and will be revised over time.

Commission Chair and Watsonville City Councilmember Eduardo Montesino has also sponsored an item on Thursday’s agenda that calls for interested commissioners to serve on Watsonville and Santa Cruz-focused working groups for the zero emission rail line project. No further details were available as of Monday, as the staff summary had not yet been uploaded to the commission’s website.

The complete agenda is online at sccrtc.org. The meeting is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Thursday in the Watsonville City Council chambers at 275 Main St., floor four in Watsonville. Community members can also participate on Zoom at us02web.zoom.us/j/89597173447.

If you go:

• What: Santa Cruz County RTC meeting.
• When: 9 a.m. Thursday
• Where: Watsonville City Council Chambers at 275 Main St., floor four in Watsonville. Zoom participation is available at us02web.zoom.us/j/89597173447.

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