Honorable Mayor Fergusson, Councilman Robinson and Councilmembers of
the City of Menlo Park:

Regarding Staff report #07-098, Agenda item #F5, Status of the
Dumbarton Rail Project:

In the second paragraph on page one, under "Background," there is
sentence describing the Dumbarton route after it reaches the Caltrain
line. It is stated that the train would continue ". . .to the end of
the Caltrain line in either San Francisco or Gilroy." I assume
"either/or to mean one direction, but not the other. In fact, it is
the intention of the Dumbarton promoters to go in both directions to
both ends of the Caltrain line. Why must the Dumbarton trains go
beyond the Redwood City station of the Caltrain corridor at all? Why
is this not redundant rail service? I can think of several
explanations. Caltrain stands to benefit from the lease payments by
the Dumbarton Line. (Just as they would from the California High
Speed train.) Also, it is an expression of the "go-it-alone"
mentality of the various transit organizations around the Bay.

In the analysis section of this report it is pointed out that cost
estimates have "significantly exceeded the funding available for the
project." Notably, this heavy-rail project is nonetheless still being
aggressively promoted. Why is that a problem? Because the issue,
from the consumer/commuter point of view, the solution is not rail,
it is transit. The long alphabet soup list of organizations making
up the consortium ". . .are actively proceeding with planning efforts
to reactivate the Dumbarton Rail line between Union City and Redwood
City." In short, nothing will stop these guys from promoting heavy
rail, never mind what it costs or if the funding will ever be
available. My point here is that they -- of all people who should
know better -- ignore the painfully obvious fact that they are in the
transit business and should be participating in the development of a
Bay Area transit system, rather than obsessively laying more track.
At this time and from their point of view, alternative modes of
transit such as light rail or BRT (bus rapid transit) are an easily
dismissed afterthought.

The staff report directs us to a letter by Kent Steffens sent to the
Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board in November, 2006. In it, Mr.
Steffens lists many of the problems that would emerge if the system
utilized a heavy freight-rail compatible system, such as Caltrain's.
Noise, vibration, Diesel (which Caltrain would like to terminate, but
Dumbarton would use) emissions, traffic congestion, including grade
separation solutions, freight train use, construction impact, and
rail station construction. As a side note, I suggest that grade
separations, which are now budgeted at over $100 million each, will
only compound the funding crisis for this project. The cumulative
impact of these deleterious issues should certainly discourage the
pursuit of heavy-rail solutions, especially in the light of the
costs, and demand much greater attention to alternative solutions.

Among the underestimated costs is that the bridge itself must meet
contemporary earthquake absorption and resistance criteria. It is
likely that the existing bridge cannot be retrofitted. Like most
recent large infrastructure projects, the "entry" budget usually is
grossly underestimated and the real "as-built" budget becomes double
and triple the original estimate.

A final word about financing. It is now well known that Governor
Schwarzenegger has required the CHSRA to identify and secure the
funding for $30 billion of the $40 billion projected costs of
construction of the high speed train before permitting the addition
of a $10 billion state bond issue on the '08 ballot. The same
criteria should be applied to the Dumbarton project as well. We can
and should insist that they secure all the funding before a lot more
time is wasted discussing a project that is so notably
counter-indicated.

The consortium of transportation agencies identified in the staff
report ought to get its act together. They should get their
respective agency heads out of the late 19th century . . . those
wonderful years when men were real men and the robber barons ran the
railroads.

Respectfully,

Martin Engel

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Martin Engel
1621 Stone Pine Lane
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650:323-1670
martinengel@earthlink.net
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