New legislation has extended the state’s cap-and-trade program to 2045, however, it also includes allocation changes for programs through which Caltrain receives funding.
Instead of a percentage allocation, the Transit and Intercity and Rail Capital Program — from which Caltrain received $387 million for its electrification project — and the Low Carbon Transit Operations Program, will receive fixed amounts, $400 million and $200 million, respectively, each year. Currently, Caltrain receives a little over $2 million per year from the Low Carbon Transit Operations program.
The bills, Senate Bill 840 and Assembly Bill 1207, also shifted the revenue allocation structure and prioritization levels.
“That means the program has to reach $4.2 billion for everything to get funded,” Government Affairs Officer Devon Ryan said. “Nothing adjusts with inflation, so right now, the way it works is that you get $400 million whether it’s today or 2045, so as you could see, the purchasing power of those dollars is going to go down over time. But if you get $4.2 billion every year, that’s a lot of money.”
But if the annual cap-and-invest revenue falls, the TIRCP and LCTOP programs are some of the first to see funding cuts.
Green manufacturing and high-speed rail receive higher-priority funding, with the latter receiving $1 billion each year. High-speed rail has already received roughly 20% of the entire program’s revenue. Last month, the California High-Speed Rail Authority released financial projections on the San Francisco to Los Angeles County rail connection that could leverage more of Caltrain’s infrastructure, accelerating the need to secure funding for several grade separation projects along the Peninsula.
While a high-speed rail connection in the Central Valley is already in the works, the report highlighted the strong financial viability of connecting San Jose to Gilroy using Caltrain infrastructure. Because of the existing rail connection between San Francisco and San Jose, connecting the latter with Gilroy could then allow for a subsequent connection to Bakersfield and ultimately Palmdale in Los Angeles County. The report put estimates for such a connection around $87 billion and would be operational in 2038.
As a result of the report, some Caltrain leaders underscored the need to advance critical grade separation projects, such as Burlingame’s Broadway crossing.
The cap-and-invest funding allocation changes will begin next fiscal year.
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