PETALUMA, Calif. — Service today on Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit has been cancelled as a result of power shutdowns in the commuter railroad’s service area by Pacific Gas & Electric.
The shutdown disables traffic signals on city streets which cross SMART tracks. Once power is restored, those signals must be synchronized with grade systems. The service cancellation will also give SMART workers the opportunity to clear downed trees from the right-of-way.
PG&E has turned off power in a large portion of Northern California because of high winds and fire danger, affecting almost 3 million residents. While the utility was beginning to restore power on Monday, Bloomberg reports, it is warning that another shutdown could occur Tuesday because of forecasts for more high winds.
SMART wouldn’t be missed if it went away altogether.
The rail count is dependent on how you count the dual gauge.
On Thursday the power was back on(at least in parts of Windsor). I have some happy relations up there.
Clarification:
Four rail main, not four track main. Standard gauge (2), electric rail (1), narrow gauge (1), total, 4 rails.
AH
Mister Blaubach:
I do believe so. On the other hand, there were no power turnoffs last year (of which I am aware) and SMART had signalling and crossing guard capability – which they are lacking at the moment and which is why they are not running.
SMART runs on the old Northwestern Pacific ROW from Windsor (within the current exclusion zone) to San Rafael. There is an extension in the works to Larkspur, to the ferry terminal. It would be nice but probably impractical to extend it to Sausalito. But, I have seen stranger things happen.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. NWP has a storied history but this particular section of track was part of a commuter line to the ferry terminal in Sausalito back in the day. That service was effectively put out of business by the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge (bridge opened in 1937, service was cut 1941). The Sausalito ferry terminal has been rebuilt and is back in operation. Parking is a nightmare.
If you are from the area, the main drag in San Anselmo (not Sir Francis Drake, but San Anselmo Avenue) is the old ROW. There was a line from San Rafael down what is now 4th Street (Red Hill Avenue) and a junction in San Anselmo, with further service (down what is now Center Avenue, I remember it as Railroad Avenue) to Fairfax and points beyond. All this was four-track main, standard gauge and electrified for the commuter rail and narrow gauge for the service to the North Coast.
A note of interest. The Chief Engineer of the NWP rebuilt a wrecked locomotive as an oil-fired cab forward the crews called “The Freak”. When SP had problems with smoke in their snow sheds going over Donner Pass they turned to cab forwards, the prototype being The Freak.
I would love to see more commuter rail in Marin. You never know.
Now back to the fire. It is still out of control, it has gone east into Lake County and is threatening Middletown. It is still quite dangerous in all directions, so if you have managed to get out of the exclusion zone, stay out of the exclusion zone.
I got a phone call in the middle of the night last night from a friend who lives in Larkfield. He sneaked back in to check on his house (at the time still standing) and to retrieve his computer, and got busted for looting. In his own residence. The Sonoma County Sheriff Department, about whom I shall hold my tongue, is exhibiting a more than usual take-no-prisoners attitude. Unfortunately the rules have changed concerning cash bail in California and there was nothing I could do for him. STAY OUT OF THE EXCLUSION ZONE.
The above comments are genetic in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Mom, I’m on Earth. I need bail money.
Anna,
Keeping this focused on SMART and the reasons for the fires, utility mismanagement, etc., wasn’t SMART used to evacuate victims from a fire last year?
IAN and GERALD – Public utilities, whether investor-owner or government-owned, are heavily regulated. Neither PGE nor any other investor-owned utility can escape the heavy hand of state or federal regulation. Neither PGE nor any other utility has a free hand.
Nor should utilities have a free hand. As monopolies (usually) or as quasi-monopolies with limited competition (rare) they SHOULD be regulated by government authorities.
That is, unless the government is the State of California, the most repulsive government ever freely elected.
California has turned into the Third World because the voters elect Democrats. That’s the long and the short of it. Come 2020 when Americans will elect a Democrat president, all of us will be living in California and all of us will have blackouts.
Sorry folks if you don’t like my political opinion. This blog is about the California blackout which means its about politics. Don’t like my opinion, you’re free to post your own. Peace, love, respect.
Third world.
Gerald McFarlane, PG&E is a stock company. When private investors invest they have expectations. Unless the state of California wants to spend the money to buy PG&E stock holders are a necessary evil. Right now PG&E would be a good buy for California. Anybody got 15 billion for a power company?
TRAINS MAGAZINE as I said if I’m out of bounds my apologies.
Otherwise my usual disclaimers apply.
It was kind of eerie to look at the traffic cans along US 101 and see this busy road empty of traffic. My wife’s Aunt & Uncle had to evacuate and they went to other relatives. I’m worried about another friend in Vallejo, where a fire burned by the California Maritime Academy.
Personal opinion, much of PG&E’s problems starts with a very flawed deregulation of the power industry in California. Done under Governor Pete Wilson.
TRAINS MAGAZINE . If I’ve crossed a political line here my apologies.
Paul,
PGE still does some of their own power generation, it’s just another subsidiary…so corporate PGE is still fat and happy.
Anna,
I blame PGE 100%, if they had bothered to maintain the minimum required safety zones around their power lines none of these fires would’ve been started by PGE equipment, but they haven’t bothered to do that in years, so it only serves them right to have to file bankruptcy…it’s just to bad they won’t let a competent utility buy them out or take them over(like Southern Company for instance).
As for SMART shutting down because the power is out…yes, it’s safer to do so, but only because over 50% of the drivers in this state forget that when the lights our out it’s considered a 4 way stop sign, and they also wouldn’t be smart enough to stop at a grade crossing and look before proceeding..
Another root cause is the decoupling of power distribution (low margin, regulated utility rate structure) from the still-lucrative power generation business.
This puts the onus on the distributor utility to manage all of the small scale intermittent power flows coming from millions of rooftop solar installations as well the large scale wind and solar farms. It’s very expensive, and the former represents lost revenue for PGE and similar utilities.
I recommend Gretchen Bakke’s “The Grid” for a less summarized, more detailed presentation of this argument. Though she is more sanguine about costly and unreliable wind and solar than I am (though I do like microgrid technology to partially solve some of the issues with excess local power from rooftop solar).
Not to say that PGE (or any formerly fat and happy distribution utility) is particularly competent or free from back room corruption. Or that any of the other root causes Anna detailed aren’t valid (they also contribute significantly).