Caltrain Modernization Program: Difference between revisions

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In early 2016, the CHSRA had selected a route that required extensive and costly tunneling in [[Southern California]] and revised its initial operating plans for high-speed rail to include the Bay Area.<ref name=SFC-160218>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/High-speed-rail-on-fast-track-to-Bay-Area-6830444.php |title=High-speed rail on fast track to Bay Area |author1=Matier, Phil |author2=Ross, Andrew |date=February 18, 2016 |newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |access-date=March 25, 2017}}</ref> By February 2017, the electrification project had secured $1.3&nbsp;billion in state, local, and regional funding, with the remaining funding gap to be closed by a $647&nbsp;million grant from the FTA's Core Capacity program.<ref name=PCEP-CCE>{{cite web |url=https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/docs/CA%20San%20Carlos%20Caltrain%20Peninsula%20Corridor%20Electrification%20Project%20Profile.pdf |title=Peninsula Corridor Electrification Project Core Capacity Engineering |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=August 2016 |publisher=[[Federal Transit Administration]] |access-date=April 4, 2017}}</ref> The grant had undergone a two-year review process starting in November 2015 under the [[Obama Administration]] and received a "medium-high" rating from the FTA in August 2016,<ref name=PCEP-CCE /> and was waiting for a signature from the newly appointed [[First presidency of Donald Trump|Trump Administration]] Secretary of Transportation [[Elaine Chao]] after a 30-day review period to secure a grant approval.<ref name="contractextension">{{cite news|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/02/28/caltrain-agreement-with-contractors-to-extend-deadline-keeps-electrification-project-alive/|title=Caltrain: Agreement with contractors to extend deadline keeps electrification project alive|newspaper=[[San Jose Mercury News]]|author=Green, Jason|date=February 28, 2017|access-date=March 29, 2017}}</ref><ref name=SFC-170317>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Trump-transportation-plan-could-derail-Bay-Area-11009336.php |title=Trump transportation plan could derail Bay Area transit projects |author=Brekke, Dan |date=March 17, 2017 |newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |access-date=March 25, 2017}}</ref> However, during the review period, the fourteen [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican party]] [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House]] representatives from California sent a letter to Secretary Chao, urging her to deny funding due to the project's ties with high-speed rail, which they opposed.<ref name=SFC-170206>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/With-Trump-in-charge-Republicans-target-Caltrain-10907794.php |title=With Trump in charge, Republicans target Caltrain |author=Matier, Phil |author2=Ross, Andrew |date=February 6, 2017 |newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |access-date=April 4, 2017}}{{subscription required}}</ref> The letter went on to call the project "an irresponsible use of taxpayer dollars".<ref name=RepublicanLetter>{{cite letter |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2017_01_24-ca-delegation-letter-to-secretary-chao-on-high-speed-rail-1.pdf |author1=Denham, Jeff |author2=McCarthy, Kevin |author3=Walters, Mimi |author4=Lamalfa, Doug |author5=Royce, Ed |author6=McClintock, Tom |author7=Hunter, Duncan |author8=Rohrabacher, Dana |author9=Issa, Darrell |author10=Cook, Paul |author11=Valadao, David G. |author12=Calvert, Ken |author13=Knight, Steve |author14=Nunes, Devin |date=January 24, 2017 |recipient=The Honorable [[Elaine Chao]], Secretary of Transportation |subject=CA Republican Delegation HSR Letter to Secretary Chao |access-date=March 28, 2017}}</ref>

The ''[[Sacramento Bee]]'' pointed out that despite regularly soliciting campaign funds from Silicon Valley business leaders, Representative and House Majority Leader [[Kevin McCarthy]], the author of the Republican letter to Secretary Chao, was targeting a project that benefited the region directly.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/dan-morain/article134903629.html |title=Kevin McCarthy displays his clout, for good and ill |author=Morain, Dan |date=February 24, 2017 |newspaper=[[Sacramento Bee]] |access-date=March 28, 2017}}</ref> Another Republican signatory, Representative [[Devin Nunes]], was unmoved by arguments on infrastructure benefits, saying in late February that he would not "feel too bad about one of the richest places on the planet not having a train."<ref>{{cite web |url=httphttps://www.politico.com/tipsheets/california-playbook/2017/02/trump-electrifies-ca-republicans-issas-evolution-nunes-doubles-down-on-caltrain-218921 |title=TRUMP electrifies CA REPUBLICANS — ISSA's EVOLUTION — NUNES doubles down on CALTRAIN |author1=Siders, David |author2=Marinucci, Carla |author3=Ocasio, Bianca Padro |date=February 27, 2017 |website=California Playbook |publisher=[[Politico]] |access-date=March 28, 2017 |quote=I don't see them crying about the 30 percent unemployment in Mendota ... I don't see them trying to help the farmworkers ... So you're not going to get me to feel too bad about one of the richest places on the planet not having a train.}}</ref> Fellow Republican Representative [[Jeff Denham]] defended the letter, saying Caltrain's electrification project and CHSRA were closely intertwined because the former derived some funding under the "blended plan" agreement. Representative [[Tom McClintock]] reiterated his opposition to high-speed rail without addressing Caltrain: "I have never supported a dollar of state funding going for [high-speed rail], and would never support a dollar of federal funding".<ref name=SJMN-170207>{{cite news |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/02/07/california-republicans-want-trump-to-block-caltrain-electrification/ |title=Political battle threatens to halt Caltrain electrification project |author=Murphy, Katy |date=February 7, 2017 |newspaper=[[San Jose Mercury News]] |access-date=April 4, 2017}}</ref> Representative [[Mimi Walters]] also made a statement that she was not opposed to electrification, but instead held "serious concerns about the use of taxpayer funds for a project that is tied to high speed rail".<ref name=Slate-Grabar />

The 39-member House and Senate [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] congressional delegation from California wrote a rebuttal letter to Secretary Chao on February 3, noting "a material misstatement of fact" in the Republican delegation's letter, which stated that the grant was being sought by the CHSRA, while in reality it is being sought by Caltrain. The rebuttal letter further delineated the separation between the electrification project and CHSRA and urged Secretary Chao to approve the grant by citing past precedent that only one low-rated project failed to receive a signature from the Secretary of Transportation over the prior twenty-year history of the Core Capacity program.<ref name=DemocraticLetter>{{cite letter |url=http://cal.streetsblog.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/02/CA-Delegation-letter-to-Secretary-Chao-re-Caltrain-2.3.17.pdf |author1=Eshoo, Anna |author2=Lofgren, Zoe |author3=Feinstein, Dianne |author4=Harris, Kamala |author5=Bass, Karen |author6=Bera, Ami |author7=Correa, Luis |author8=Brownley, Julia |author9=Chu, Judy |author10=Aguilar, Pete |author11=Lee, Barbara |author12=Davis, Susan |author13=Peters, Scott |author14=Torres, Norma |author15=Thompson, Mike |author16=DeSaulnier, Mark |author17=Lieu, Ted |author18=Takano, Mark |author19=Swalwell, Eric |author20=Costa, Jim |author21=Speier, Jackie |author22=Panetta, Jimmy |author23=Khanna, Ro |author24=Roybal-Allard, Lucille |author25=Carbajal, Salud O. |author26=Barragán, Nanette Diaz |author27=Huffman, Jared |author28=Lowenthal, Alan |author29=Cárdenas, Tony |author30=Matsui, Doris O. |author31=Sánchez, Linda T. |author32=Waters, Maxine |author33=McNerney, Jerry |author34=Napolitano, Grace F. |author35=Garamendi, John |author36=Sherman, Brad |author37=Ruiz, Raul |author38=Vargas, Juan |author39=Schiff, Adam B. |date=February 3, 2017 |recipient=The Honorable [[Elaine Chao]], Secretary of Transportation |subject=CA Democratic Delegation Letter to Secretary Chao |access-date=March 28, 2017}}</ref> The Democratic letter went on to note the infrastructure benefits of the project and the creation of 9,600 jobs, including 550 jobs at a new Stadler USA plant in Salt Lake City.<ref name=SMDJ-170208>{{cite news |url=http://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/dems-fight-for-electrification-congressional-debate-centers-on-funding-for/article_85cd9996-3d01-593f-bab0-3daadc2d2cd8.html |title=Dems fight for electrification: congressional debate centers on funding for Caltrain modernization |author=Weigel, Samantha |date=February 8, 2017 |newspaper=San Mateo Daily Journal |access-date=April 1, 2017}}</ref>