Off Track: Measure B Passenger Rail Plan Destined to Fail

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) today released a detailed report that exposed the catastrophic financial and operational pitfalls of the passenger rail system proposed in Measure B, the transportation advisory measure on Sonoma County’s November ballot. The report demonstrates that the proposed train would be ineffective at attracting riders and reducing congestion and sprawl in the county as a result of its financial and operational problems. At a press briefing held this morning at the site of a proposed rail station in North Santa Rosa, the Sonoma County Taxpayers’ Association and Citizens Against Wasting Millions joined EDF to call for the defeat of Measures B and C.

“The hard truth is the train won’t work. It won’t carry many riders, reduce congestion, or change land-use patterns. It’s a white elephant,” said Daniel Kirshner, senior economic analyst at EDF. “The train won’t run frequently enough or fast enough to attract riders and there isn’t enough funding to pay for fully functioning service. Compared to other working passenger trains in the Bay Area, not enough people live or work close enough to the proposed line to warrant using scarce transit funds on this risky project.”

The EDF report identifies three major problems of the rail system proposed in Measure B. First, the train relies on a single track. To coordinate trains running in opposite directions and to avoid accidents, the trains will have to run infrequently and slowly. Second, the train’s capital and operating cost estimates are unrealistically low, but even so, there is not enough funding available to make the system work. The train is competing against the widening of Highway 101 for funding, and if Highway 101 is given funding priority, there will not be enough funds left for the train. Finally, population densities along the proposed line are less than one fourth that of Caltrain on the Peninsula to San Francisco, but proponents of the project claim the proposed line will carry nearly as many passengers as Caltrain.

“The rail system proposed in Measure B is an expensive yet empty gesture toward transit and the environment,” said Jean-Marie Foster, executive director of the Sonoma County Taxpayers’ Association. “What’s obvious from EDF’s report is that the train will run huge annual deficits that Sonoma County taxpayers will have to make up. It’s a dangerous use of taxpayers’ dollars and one more reason to vote no on Measures B and C next Tuesday.”

“The proposed rail service will compete against the widening of Highway 101 for funds, which is a losing battle,” said Gayle Goldstone, business instructor and spokesperson for the Citizens Against Wasting Millions. “Even if the train gets a share of funds, it still comes up more than $31 million short. What will happen when the train needs more money? Two years ago the Santa Rosa Community Hospital was sold by the County because it experienced an annual deficit of $4 million. What other County services will be cut to keep these empty trains running?”

“We all want to improve the quality of life in Sonoma County, yet wasting our scarce sales tax dollars on failed transportation solutions won’t get us there,” said Sebastopol City Council Member Anne Magnie.