SANTA CRUZ, Calif — Two counties on California’s central coast have received almost $6 million to advance a pair of rail projects thanks to state funding announced earlier this week.
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission was awarded $3.45 million to fund a Project Concept Report for the proposed passenger rail service on the 22-mile, commission-owned Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line, while the Transportation Agency for Monterey County will receive $2.27 million for initial work for a new multimodal station in Pajaro, an unincorporated area 1.4 miles from downtown Watsonville.
The funds come from the California State Transportation Agency’s Transit & Intercity Rail Capital Program. The agency awarded a total of $690 million to 28 projects this week.
The funding in Santa Cruz will fully cover the cost of the concept report, which will refine the initial planning for the locally preferred alternative to develop a rail line and trail along the former Southern Pacific branch line. That fully developed plan would then be used for full environmental review, after which the project could seek full funding for construction and operation. Work on the report will begin this year and should be completed in 2025, the transportation commission said in a press release.
The Pajaro-Watsonville station is part of a project that seeks to extend Caltrain commuter service from its current terminus in Gilroy, some 23 miles from Pajaro, to Salinas. The proposed Pajaro station would also be served by Amtrak’s Coast Starlight and bus systems from Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, the Monterey Herald reports.
Pre-construction costs for the station are estimated at $19.5 million. The project is 60% designed, and now must secure funding for final design and the estimated $86 million construction cost.
It must be nice and very profitable to work for one of those consulting firms doing these studies. The consultants make more money than the actual folks that finally get to construct these lines. More money wasted on studies, and paperwork than actual construction. When I think of what the surveyors and planners who had to go into hostile territory and risk their lives mapping out the route that the orginal transcontinetial route of 1869 with very little resources and primitive equipment to complete the surveys and studies and what today’s millionaire consuting firms make and land these cushy contracts, it just boggles the mind. For example in New York City close to a century’s worth of money spent on surveys and studies for the Second Avenue Subway and all we have is a stubway and even now momey being wasted on more studies as to where the extension to 125th Street should go with no clear plan. It costs more to make studies and surveys that the actual construction of the project.
Joseph C. Markfelder
“$3.45 million to fund a Project Concept Report for the proposed passenger rail service ….” – nice work for some consulting firm, I suppose …..
Wow, 3.45 million to produce a paper report and only 2.27 million to actually build something. What a racket.
Well the report will take two years to complete !!
From what I read, it’s $3.45 million for a report and $2.27 million for engineering work, not actual construction. That’s another $86 million.