Those pushing Caltrain electrification toward fruition are looking to sweep up small swaths of privately-owned land along constrained areas of the corridor that officials contend is needed to modernize the regional rail system.
The San Mateo County Transit District Board of Directors this week agreed to initiate eminent domain proceedings against nearly a dozen property owners in Redwood City and Belmont should negotiations over the land acquisitions stymie.
Officials have long realized that electrifying 51 miles of track could require new right-of-way in constrained areas of the corridor, many of which include “safety zones” surrounding equipment needed for Caltrain to ditch diesel.
SamTrans moved to secure strips of land ranging from 29 square feet to nearly 2,000 square feet at properties including a single-family home as well as industrial and commercial lots. In some cases, the transit agency would own the land while others parcels are needed for “safety zone” easements to provide a buffer between electrical systems and trees or other structures.
It’s the second time this year SamTrans, which has the power of eminent domain, has acted on behalf of Caltrain to declare certain properties necessary for the public’s interest. While staff noted they would still like to negotiate with the private owners, the board’s action Wednesday sets it up to initiate eminent domain court proceedings if necessary.
In total, Caltrain needs to acquire rights to nearly 55 properties between San Jose and San Francisco. The vast majority would only be slivers of the properties abutting the tracks; although two San Jose properties totaling about 100,000 square feet will need to be acquired in full. In total, 200,000 square feet of property is sought for acquisition throughout the corridor as well as another 90,000 square feet needed for electrical safety zone easements, according to Caltrain.
The property is needed to accommodate poles that will help hold between 130 and 140 miles of overhead contact system wires that will distribute electricity to power future trains.
‘Top priority’
San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine, who also sits on the Caltrain and SamTrans boards, noted the small acquisitions considered this week are necessary to safely accommodate the electrical poles.
“Electrification of the rail line has been a top priority for the Peninsula for many decades. We finally have the funds secured to proceed and it’s exciting to be at the stage we are now,” Pine said after the meeting. “The benefits of an electrified Caltrain are substantial in reducing traffic and moving more people to work.”
Caltrain’s nearly $2 billion modernization program includes electrifying 51 miles of track, purchasing electric trains and implementing a new control system. Touted benefits include more frequent trains that can run up to 79 mph, nearly doubling ridership capacity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, according to Caltrain.
The push to electrify the corridor boiled over when plans came to a temporary halt earlier this year following the presidential election. Caltrain was forced to spend millions of dollars to extend engineering contracts after the Trump administration delayed approval of a $647 million grant for the project. With the political hurdle cleared and the money confirmed in May, officials with the agency noted it was pertinent to forge ahead.
“Now that we have the money for the project after all these months of waiting and hoping, we need to be in a position to give our design-build contractor access and possession of the property to move forward,” said SamTrans attorney Joan Cassman, according to a live video of the meeting. “The timing is pretty critical.”
Concerns over impact
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It wasn’t exactly clear how much property owners were offered in exchange for the acquisitions, but at least one owner spoke during Wednesday’s meeting citing concerns that extended beyond money.
Julio Cruz, who owns and works at a business at 1080 Old County Road in Belmont, said he had outstanding questions about whether Caltrain’s use of a 29-square-foot safety zone on his property might result in harmful exposure to electromagnetic fields.
“I work near that wall 10 hours a day, every day, and the documents that I received do not specify if there’s any health issues that I should be concerned about,” Cruz said at the meeting, noting officials “wanted to pay $2,000 [for the easement], my health is worth more than that.”
Cassman referenced an extensive environmental review that considered such things and agreed staff would provide Cruz with further information. In the meantime, she said the board needed to make the procedural step of declaring the 10 property acquisitions necessary to keep construction on track.
Even so, several SamTrans board members who’d given a thumbs-up on the other nine resolutions, voted against the action after hearing Cruz’s concerns. Still, all of the resolutions garnered enough support from the board to proceed.
Similar steps
It was at least the second time this year SamTrans took a plunge toward eminent domain on behalf of Caltrain. In March, the SamTrans board approved similar steps to secure disputed property necessary for grade separations in San Mateo and relocation of the Hillsdale Caltrain station.
The owners of the Hillsdale Shopping Center had disputed the undisclosed price SamTrans offered for a 16,330-square-foot strip of parking lot that is slated to become a new road just east of El Camino Real. That entire $130 million project includes raising the tracks at 25th Avenue and creating new crossings at 28th and 31st avenues, as well as building a new Hillsdale Caltrain station.
Following SamTrans’ action, Caltrain met Thursday and awarded an $82.9 million contract to Oakland-based Shimmick/Disney Joint Venture for the grade separation project. Construction is scheduled to begin this fall and span about two and a half years, according to Caltrain.
Only slightly off track on electrification after the federal delay, Caltrain hopes riders will begin hailing electric trains by 2021.
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(6) comments
Eminent domain for SamTrans now. And then eminent domain for high speed rail. This will dramatically change the peninsula. Say good-bye to thousands of old trees along the rail corridor. Say good-bye to several 100 year old quaint train stations (San Mateo, San Carlos. Here's a common sense question: Why not use clean diesel technology instead? No need for expensive electrical overhead lines, no need for eminent domain, no need for tree removal. Something tells me this may be a union/"jobs" push?
Diesel ("clean" or not) does not offer any of the other numerous and significant advantages of electrification, some of which include: fast accelerating & braking trains whose performance does not degrade with increasing train length, 100% renewable & sustainable power source, regenerative braking puts power back into the wire. The power to weight ratio of Caltrain's state-of-the-art Swiss EMUs is over double that of today's lumbering diesel hauled trains, which is critically important to blended operations with future HSR trains as well as for improved end-to-end travel times for current and future ridership in the corridor. The "clean diesel" push by a few anti-HSR NIMBYs is pathetically and laughably transparent and self-serving. Sorry, diesel — "clean" or not —is a dog that doesn't hunt.
Just for clarification, how many trains per day are going to be running when HSR and the electrification project are completed?
I was also wondering what the actual height of the grade separations, including power lines, from the surrounding ground level is?
As always, the number of times Caltrain runs its trains up and down the Peninsula per day depends on operating funding and ridership ... which are both impossible to confidently predict for 2021. Grade separation designs (and therefore heights above ground) vary from project to project and vary along the length of any particular project.
The poles and wires for electrification range from 20 to 30 feet above the rails (Caltrain is nearly 17 feet tall, and wires must at minimum be a few feet above that to allow safe and adequate clearance for pantographs and tall freight cars).
Thanks for the response.
So I understand it's hard to predict the future, but I believe somewhere Caltrain or someone projected the number of trains that would be running when they implemented electrification and HSR was built. It was something like double or more, something along that line, the number of existing trains.
In terms of the total height above ground for the grade separations, so it's the height of the newly built berm for the new rails on the over pass (assume 25 to 30 feet) plus the poles and wires for electrification at 20 to 30 feet...so a total of anywhere between 45 to 60 feet in height over the surrounding area?
Per day? I don't know. But a 2015 study estimated six Caltrain runs and four HSR trains per hour at peak times (obviously less mid-day and nights). I don't know if that's each way or in total. Data from: http://www.spur.org/news/2017-05-25/how-caltrain-s-business-plan-can-reinvent-railroad
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