SMART – the future for Northern California rail

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) is a commuter rail and parallel bicycle-pedestrian pathway project located in San Francisco’s North Bay area. SMART will provide a rail service along 70 miles of the historic Northwestern Pacific Railroad alignment. Utilising the publicly owned railroad right of way, the project will serve 14 stations, from Cloverdale in the northern Sonoma County wine country to the San Francisco-bound ferry terminal in Larkspur, Marin County. Passenger train service is scheduled to begin in late 2014.

SMART provides an alternative to Highway 101 traffic by upgrading the existing rail line and building a new bicycle/pedestrian pathway linking the 14 rail stations. SMART’s environmental studies estimate that 5,300 passenger trips per day will be made on the train and 7,000 to 10,000 daily trips will be made on the bicycle/pedestrian pathway.

Local leaders began looking at reviving rail on the historic NWP corridor more than 20 years ago, but it was not until 2008 that the project gained a dedicated source of funding. In November 2008, nearly 70% of the voters in Marin and Sonoma Counties approved Measure Q, a one-quarter-cent sales tax that will provide the major funding for construction and operation of the project.

SMART will operate diesel multiple unit rail vehicles in two- to three-car sets

The rail line runs through the two coastal counties directly to the north of San Francisco. Once ’bedroom‘ communities with a significant number of residents commuting across the Golden Gate Bridge to jobs in San Francisco, Marin and Sonoma have developed their own economies. Marin, with a population of approximately 260,000, has significant employment in high tech, insurance, finance and government. Sonoma, with a population of approximately 490,000, has a similar employment base and a robust agricultural sector based on high-end wine grapes, dairy and small-scale farming. Both counties attract significant tourism dollars.

The largest city is Santa Rosa, at approximately 160,000 residents. San Rafael, Novato, Petaluma and Rohnert Park all are in the 50,000 range of population. The SMART rail line will serve each of these cities and five more, providing transit access for rural and urban residents of the region. The north-south transit backbone created by SMART will intersect with existing regional and local bus transit, as well as many existing bicycle-pedestrian pathway networks throughout the region.

More than 80% of all North Bay commercial, residential and educational facilities are located along the SMART corridor. The SMART project is being designed to reduce the North Bay’s reliance on the single-occupant auto and to provide multi-modal, fuel-efficient alternatives to existing traffic and congestion on Highway 101. In addition, the rail project will enhance and improve the region’s land use policies and preservation of agricultural lands by restricting all rail stations to incorporated areas.

SMART is a special district, or separate government agency created by state legislation – Assembly Bill 2224 passed in 2002. A 12-member Board of Directors governs the district, including two members of the Board of Supervisors and three city council members from each county and two members of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. The SMART Board and its Executive, Operations and Real Estate committees each hold public meetings once a month to conduct the business of the District.

Capital construction costs for the rail project are estimated to be approximately $500 million (2008). The full 70-mile bicycle-pedestrian pathway is estimated at $100 million. SMART intends to issue bonds to raise revenue for construction, which is scheduled to begin in late 2011 or early 2012. Measure Q funds, combined with funds from a variety of local, regional, state and federal sources, will pay for design, construction, maintenance and operation of the project.

The SMART corridor parallels Highway 101, the only north-south transportation facility in the North Bay, and it has not been used for passenger train service since 1958. Traffic congestion along this corridor has increased dramatically in the last decade and Highway 101 is now ranked by Caltrans as one of the most congested freeways in the Bay Area.

According to SMART’s environmental documentation, the rail project will take more than 1.4 million car trips off Highway 101 annually and reduce greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming, by at least 124,000 pounds per day.

Since Measure Q passed in 2008, SMART has advanced the design of the project to about a 20% level and is moving forward toward final design activities in 2011. The major design contractors are HDR Inc. and PGH Wong Inc., civil track and pathway; LTK Engineering, vehicles and systems; URS Corp., major bridges; ZGF Architects, stations; and Winzler & Kelly, operations and maintenance facility.

The NWP corridor is largely intact, and the portion from Novato to Cloverdale is also being revived as a freight-rail facility. The North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA) is working to restore freight rail service as early as fall 2010. SMART and the NCRA will work together to coordinate traffic along the corridor.

SMART plans a Class 4 track for passenger train speeds up to 79mp/h. Most of the existing track, ties and ballast will be replaced. This is primarily a single-track corridor with passing sidings and double tracking through some stations. There are two tunnels, the Puerto Suelo Tunnel (1,359 feet) in north San Rafael and the CalPark Hill Tunnel (1,100 feet) between San Rafael and Larkspur. Puerto Suelo was first built in the late 1800s and was partially rebuilt after a fire in 1966. CalPark was opened in 1884 and used for 100 years before freight service was discontinued in the 1980s. It was damaged by fire and collapse, but has been rebuilt in the last two years in a joint project by SMART and the County of Marin. Both rail and pathway will use this tunnel, with the pathway contained in a ’tunnel within the tunnel‘ design. The pathway portion of this facility is scheduled to open in late 2010.

There are 62 existing bridges within the SMART corridor, with three of these considered ‘major’ bridges due to their length or operational characteristics. These are located at Gallinas Creek, Petaluma River and Russian River.

Most of SMART’s parallel pathway – more than 50 miles – will be within the railroad right of way, away from automobiles and separated from trains by a safety structure. The rest of the pathway will be adjacent to or close to the right of way, primarily on public streets. The pathway will run the length of the 70-mile project and connect all 14 stations.

The 14 stations along the corridor are being designed to accommodate available feeder bus services, shuttle services and, in selected suburban locations, park and ride facilities. Stations in the core areas of the three largest cities in the North Bay – Santa Rosa, Petaluma and San Rafael – are being designed with no park and ride facilities, helping create more walkable downtowns and allowing bus and feeder services to further enhance congestion mitigation efforts.

While SMART will locate stations adjacent to several existing historic depot buildings along the route, the buildings themselves will not be used for SMART rail operations. Passenger stations will be raised platforms that provide level boarding of rail vehicles. Shelters, lighting, benches and ticket vending machines will be located on the platforms. Bicycle storage, park and ride facilities and other station elements will be near the platforms. Bicycles also will be allowed on board the trains.

A commuter-oriented passenger train service will be provided by an estimated 14 round-trip trains per day, operating at 30- minute intervals in the morning and evening peak commuting hours during the week. One mid-day round trip through the corridor is planned, and weekend service is planned at four trains a day.

SMART will operate diesel multiple unit rail vehicles in two- to three-car sets. DMUs are quieter and cleaner than conventional locomotive-hauled equipment. These selfcontained rail cars include on-board engines and are capable of using alternative fuels such as waste-derived bio-diesel or emerging hybrid-diesel technology. Two- to three-car train sets carry approximately 200 passengers, provide on-board bicycle storage and fit within a downtown city block to avoid blocking intersections. A request for proposals for rail vehicle manufacture was issued in late-spring 2010 and responses are due in August 2010. The first railcar is expected to be delivered to SMART in late-summer 2013, with the complete fleet of 18 vehicles by mid-2014. SMART has an option for nine more vehicles in the RFP.

In addition to working in cooperation with the freight rail provider, SMART is closely coordinating its efforts with each jurisdiction along the route. The project includes 10 cities, running through the busy heart of most of these communities. It will operate in two counties, affecting agencies as varied as public works, regional parks, utilities departments and transit agencies. Regional regulators, the State of California and a significant number of federal regulatory agencies also have interests in the project, creating the need for extensive coordination activities.

SMART completed a California Environmental Impact Report on the project in 2006, and a Supplemental EIR in 2008. The primary environmental impact of the project is identified as noise, particularly train horn noise at approximately 100 at-grade crossings along the corridor. As mitigation for this impact, SMART has committed $4.5 million toward the establishment of ’quiet zones‘ at crossings. Quiet zones are crossings that have additional safety infrastructure such as additional gates or elevated medians to prevent cars from driving around lowered safety gates. With such infrastructure, a local jurisdiction may declare a crossing – or a group of crossings – a quiet zone in which train operators do not have to sound their horns.

SMART also has committed to implementing ’Operation Lifesaver‘ in the district prior to the commencement of passenger train service. Operation Lifesaver is a nationwide non-profit programme that educates residents – particularly children – about safety issues related to the establishment of train service in their communities.

Construction of the project is scheduled to begin in late 2011 or 2012, although there may be opportunities to advance the construction of smaller elements of the project. SMART is working with a team of advisers to formulate a construction packaging strategy best suited to this particular effort. No construction package decisions have been made at the time this article was prepared.

SMART’s funding plan was first developed in 2006, prior to the first vote on a sales tax measure for the project. Needing a two-thirds supermajority, that measure won more than 65% of the vote but failed to get the required 66.7%. The funding plan was updated in 2008 prior to the successful Measure Q.

Almost concurrently with the vote on Measure Q, the global financial crisis and economic recession set in. By spring of 2009, SMART identified a $155 million funding gap in the project, caused primarily by reduced sales tax revenues and diminished bonding capacity.

The Board of Directors decided to continue with design work on the entire project, deferring any decisions about changing project scope. Over the past year, SMART has worked to better define project costs and identify new sources of revenue. This fall, the Board will receive updated cost and revenue information in order to adopt a project implementation schedule.

About the Author

Lillian Hames

Before joining SMART, Lillian Hames was previously a principal with Pittman & Hames Associates, a San Francisco based transportation planning and project management firm. Before moving to the Bay Area, she was the Director of Transit Development for Tri-Met in Portland, Oregon. While at Tri-Met, Lillian Hames worked on rail corridor financing, rail station and facility planning and corridor project development. Prior to working with Tri-Met, she was a Transportation Planner with the Portland Planning Commission. Lillian Hames was the recipient of the WTS San Francisco Woman of the Year Award in 2009 and the WTS Portland Woman of the Year in 1990.