CA: Pajaro to Santa Cruz in less than an hour: Santa Cruz County RTC details passenger rail operations

Planners at Santa Cruz County’s most powerful transportation agency have unveiled a vision for a passenger rail service capable of shuttling commuters from Watsonville to Santa Cruz in less than an hour while also providing connections to regional and statewide routes.

Staff with the county Regional Transportation Commission, accompanied by experts from transit consultant HDR, held an online public forum on Zoom Tuesday that detailed a train system along the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line that could move passengers between Pajaro and Santa Cruz in 40 to 45 minutes with about eight stations along the route.

The almost 90-minute informational session included a deep dive into station locations, track and Coastal Rail Trail alignments, vehicle type, funding outlook and connectivity to larger rail travel networks through Pajaro Station, which is near the border of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.

A list of possible station locations, along with potential ridership rankings, for the Santa Cruz County RTC’s Zero Emission Passenger Rail and Trail Project. (PK Hattis – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

“The travel time along a corridor like this is ultimately one of the biggest considerations that people make (as well as) the reliability of that travel time in terms of how they’re going to choose to travel from one area to another,” said Mark McLaren, a project manager with HDR. Feasible stations were identified based on land use, site accessibility, safety, engineering feasibility, adjacent uses and a propensity for attracting riders, McLaren added.

“It’s all these pieces of the puzzle that determine the usefulness of a station to people in the area,” he said.

Among the sites currently under a microscope are stops in Pajaro, downtown Watsonville, Aptos, Cabrillo College, Capitola, and 17th Avenue, Seabright and Beach Street in Santa Cruz. Two options are being considered for the northern end of the line: Depot Park/downtown Santa Cruz and Natural Bridges.

Presenters emphasized that this is by no means a final list, as ridership modeling is ongoing and some stations may be added, subtracted or shifted. There is also the possibility of establishing seasonal or nontraditional travel time stops to facilitate access to a wider array of areas, but each additional station is expected to add about two minutes of travel time to the route.

The Pajaro station is of heightened significance because it has potential to funnel riders into a web of rail connections that move up and down the state’s coastline. The line in Pajaro, planners said, connects with the main line on the Central Coast corridor operated by Union Pacific Railroad. This includes potential future access to a hub in Gilroy — possibly through Amtrak or an Amtrak bus — that feeds into the greater Bay Area and West Coast.

“In Gilroy you’re going to have the ability to, in the future, connect with services that go into the Bay Area, into San Francisco, into other Caltrain services as well as the Amtrak service along the coast … including potential connectivity to high speed rail,” said McLaren. “So that is really, I’d say, the focal point as I look at it, of the benefit you’d have at that intercity connection that you’d make coming out of Santa Cruz County.”

Riley Gerbrandt, an associate engineer at the commission, said Caltrans is leading the effort to iron out the service planning that could make this interconnectivity possible.

The online session, which included an extended written question-and-answer period at its tail end, was given almost two weeks after the commission agreed to align the Zero Emission Passenger Rail and Trail Project with the California State Rail Plan that was adopted earlier this year. The strategic move was agreed to so that the project becomes more competitive for state and federal grant funding and technical support.

This regional alignment also extends to vehicle types. Currently, the top option is a multiple unit system that houses passengers in cabs on either end with the propulsion mechanism — likely a hydrogen electric system, in the Santa Cruz line’s case — stored in the middle. This vehicle type provides for high passenger capacities, according to planners, and allows the train to move in either direction. It is also a system already in use in corridors across the state similar to the Branch Rail Line.

“Depending on the demand of a system or the length of the system, the train can be designed and modified in length to meet different characteristics,” said McLaren.

Areas in Watsonville, Capitola and Aptos will likely require that the Santa Cruz County RTC’s multiuse trail gets diverted from the rail line corridor into neighboring streets. (PK Hattis – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

But the 22-mile project has its challenges with puzzle pieces that are yet to fit. Areas along the line that are vulnerable to sea level rise include the Pajaro River Rail Bridge, Harkins Slough near Watsonville and the La Selva/Manresa and Capitola bluffs. These sections may require raising or relocating parts of the tracks, but will be further analyzed as part of a climate resiliency study being planned by the commission.

Some sections within the 12 miles of multiuse trail included in the project will also likely require diversion out of the rail corridor and into neighboring streets. Commission staff, in collaboration with transportation planners in partner cities, are considering their options at problem points near Watsonville, Capitola and Aptos.

The bustling Beach Street along the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is also a focus point for planners and the subject of questions from the public. The consultants said the design for this area — both stations and track alternatives — are still in flux as the engineering details get worked through. This includes four different design alternatives based on two different rail alignments, according to HDR staff.

“There are a lot of details to still be refined in that area,” said McLaren. “Part of that is determining where the stop can be best accommodated while having the least interference with what happens with other travel along that roadway. Not only auto travel, but bike and pedestrian travel.”

Gerbrandt said public meetings and informational community sessions will continue through April and May, including a meeting specifically about the Santa Cruz Beach Street alignment.

All of the information shared Tuesday is part of a concept report that will provide a comprehensive analysis of the passenger rail project. The final report is expected by fall.

A full recording of Tuesday’s informational meeting will be posted on the project website at sccrtc.org/zeprt.

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