Most City Council members favor a high-speed rail system coming
through town someday, but they have serious questions about what it
might cost the city and how and where it might run.
Most City Council members favor a high-speed rail system coming through town someday, but they have serious questions about what it might cost the city and how and where it might run.
Council members gave their input to California High-Speed Rail Authority officials during a study session Nov. 2, but most said they were left with more questions than answers.
“It’s hard to know what to recommend without knowing the options,” Councilman Perry Woodward said.
The 800-mile California High Speed Rail system will have routes from San Diego to Sacramento and to the Bay Area, transporting passengers at speeds of up to 220 mph. A 123-mile stretch from Merced to San Jose would run through the Pacheco Pass with a proposed station in Gilroy. Riders could travel the distance of the route in 45 minutes.
High-speed rail officials last week asked council members for input on various routes, including one that would run next to the Union Pacific tracks through downtown Gilroy and an option that would run east of the freeway near the city’s outlet mall. Yet another, more expensive option would have two tracks running through downtown and two running next to U.S. 101.
Rail officials displayed a slide that showed a couple of options for downtown train stations. One proposed downtown station and parking area would take up space from Alexander Street to the Union Pacific railroad tracks between Ninth and Old Gilroy streets. However, Union Pacific has expressed concern about using any of their right of way. If UP denies permission to the high-speed rail authority to use its right of way, it could complicate matters for a downtown locale.
Another possible train station site would be on Leavesley Road about 0.25 miles east of Gilroy’s city limits. Representatives also discussed placing a station near U.S. 101.
Officials stressed that the train would either run along underpasses or overpasses and would be fenced off to the public, so it should not cause a safety hazard for local residents or be an impediment to other trains.
“It’s the safest form of transportation in the world,” said Dave Mansen, project manager of the San Jose-to-Merced portion of the project. “There’s never been a fatality.”
Still, some council members expressed concern about potential noise and costs to the city.
“If it’s an elevated structure, it just simply can’t go through downtown,” Woodward said. “If it’s trenched, and if it’s connected with the tracks that are there now and done properly, it might be best thing to ever happen to downtown.”
Most council members agreed that they would prefer a downtown railroad station over one that is east of Gilroy as long as the train was trenched underground and noise levels were kept to a minimum.
Rail representatives said they did not know what decibel level the train might create if the tracks were elevated and trains were traveling at top speed. However, they said the train would not have to use any horns because of the required grade separations that would keep it away from traffic.
Councilwoman Cat Tucker wanted to know more about the rail system’s impacts on downtown, and she wanted to get input from the Gilroy Downtown Business Association. Still, she favored the project.
“I’ve actually been to Japan and every time I’ve taken the trains, they’re wonderful,” Tucker said.
Councilman Peter Arellano preferred a downtown location, stating that the proposed eastern location for the train station would stand on a 100-year flood plain. He also thought putting a station east of Gilroy would “put a nail in downtown,” as it would provide passengers with direct access to the outlet mall and make that Gilroy’s main shopping area. If the project were trenched, he would like to see it covered with parks or landscaping.
Woodward stressed that the city did not want to pay any costs associated with trenching. Mansen said many cities have requested trenching – which would be more costly than elevating the tracks – and did not know who would foot that bill. More information may be available in December, he said.
Costs also were a concern for community activist Ron Kirkish, who said that he favored the project.
“My feeling is (trenching) has got to be incorporated into your plan without coming at a cost to us citizens,” Kirkish said.
Reservations notwithstanding, most council members considered a high-speed rail station in Gilroy a huge possible benefit.
“So far, Gilroy has said we’d like the station here so don’t you dare give it to Morgan Hill,” Mayor Al Pinheiro joked.
Councilman Bob Dillon was the lone council member to speak against the project and he did not hide his disdain.
“I think the whole project was conceived on LSD,” he said. “It strikes me as a solution for which there is not a problem.”
Dillon and Councilman Craig Gartman both recommended that a station stand east of Gilroy.
“If we have to have this, it obviously should go east of the outlets,” Dillon said. “We’ll have people from this town in here with pitchforks and torches if we tell them there is a train going through downtown at 220 mph in a trench. That will be unacceptable to the people, and it should be.”
Gartman thought an eastern station would be a good idea because it was close to the outlets and other shopping areas. He also dismissed notions that an eastern station would hurt downtown Gilroy, noting that many people previously thought that moving U.S. 101 east would kill downtown.
Rail officials said a final document on preferred routes would be completed by 2011, with a formal adoption of the San Jose-to-Merced project taking place in 2012. A draft analysis of alternative routes will be completed in December.
The Authority and the Federal Railroad Administration will make final decisions on the future rail system. Mansen could not promise that all of the council’s requests would be granted, but he said they would not be discounted.
“Having worked with the (High-Speed Rail Authority) for several years, I can say that I’ve never seen them ignore anyone,” Mansen said.
