Regional Newsletters

August 2020

California High-Speed Rail Achieves Second Major Milestone in the Bay Area

The California High-Speed Rail Authority released its second project-level EIR/EIS Draft Environmental Document for a project section in Northern California on July 10, 2020. The document covers the 51-mile segment extending from the Caltrain Station at 4th and King Streets in San Francisco to Diridon Station in San Jose.

The San Francisco to San Jose Project Section will provide the public with electric-powered high-speed rail service that provides predictable and consistent travel times between major urban centers and connectivity to airports, mass transit systems, and the highway network stretching from San Francisco to San Jose. It will also help connect the northern and southern portions of the statewide HSR system.

To view press release, visit https://hsr-test.hsr.ca.gov/communication/news_room/news_releases/?id=50.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Authority has launched an online web portal to help the public better understand the EIR/EIS document.

The Authority also announced the public review period for the San Francisco to San Jose Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) has been extended to September 9, 2020.

Addressing Climate Change in Transportation

For 25 years, Rick Brown PhD, worked as a business and organizational strategy consultant, working mostly in the public sector. He made what was perhaps one of the most pivotal decisions of his career in 2005, when he was engaged by a national environmental organization to help them gain a better understanding of climate change and the impact it could ultimately have on their work.

“In delving into the research and science around climate change, I had an epiphany; that this is the most important issue out there that I could work on,” Brown recalled. “Something needs to change.”

A year later, when the federal government passed the solar investment tax credit and California passed its solar initiative, he helped convince the board of a low-income housing tax credit company client that it should explore investing in the solar tax credit financing business. That eventually led to the formation of MMA Renewable Ventures, one of the first financing companies for the solar industry.

Read more about Terra Verde in the Small Business Newsletter.

The Son of a Self-Professed Engine-Nerd

James Tung’s journey into a career in engineering can be measured as a testament to a parents’ influence in shaping the direction of their young teen.

When he was young and vacationing with his family, Tung distinctly remembers that while he and other family members were taking photos of buildings and other interest sites, his father, Edward, would aim his camera in an entirely different – and unusual – direction.

“I’d say my dad was the biggest inspiration,” said Tung, who endearingly referred to Edward Tung as an “engine-nerd.’ “He was a civil /electrical engineer. I saw him working on a lot of projects growing up.

“But anytime we went on vacation, we’d be taking pictures of buildings and my dad would be off to the side, taking pictures of OCS (overhead contact system) wires – wires that power the train.”

Read more about James Tung in the Small Business Newsletter.

VTA and BART Celebrate Rapid Rail Service to Milpitas and San José

June 12 marked a celebration of epic proportions although you might not have been able to tell from the size of the crowd. But it was quality not quantity that counted in this case.

A few dozen attendees joined officials from the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART), and the cities of San José and Milpitas for the inaugural ride on the newest 10-mile BART extension into Santa Clara County.

Members of the public were invited to live-stream the event to maintain a small crowd and adhere to social distancing requirements. The first train for passengers departed on Saturday, June 13 at 7:56 a.m. bound for Richmond (BART Orange Line) from the Berryessa/North San José station and arrived at the Milpitas Station just three minutes later.

Read more about the BART extension into Santa Clara County on the Valley Transportation Authority’s website.

August 2020

Southern California Updates

While high-speed rail construction progress continues in the Central Valley, in Southern California progress on completing the project’s environmental documents is also moving forward.

Since late 2019, the Authority has made steady progress in advancing environmental work, with the goal of having the entire system between Los Angeles/Anaheim to San Francisco fully cleared by the end of 2022.

As part of that clearance process, the Southern California segment has been divided into four smaller sections: Bakersfield to Palmdale, Palmdale to Burbank, Burbank to Los Angeles, and Los Angeles to Anaheim.

For the Bakersfield to Palmdale project section, the public review period for the Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) closed on April 28. The high-speed rail Authority is now reviewing comments received from the public and will respond to those comments in a final EIR/EIS issued in 2021.

Given the restrictions placed on public gatherings and meetings with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Authority has refocused outreach efforts to digital, virtual, telephone and traditional mail outreach efforts.

For the Burbank to Los Angeles project section, numerous online public meetings have been held for the Draft EIR/EIS, which was released on May 29 and followed by two public comment extension periods (extending the total public comment for the section to 94 days). This period ends on August 31.

During this extension, Authority staff has continued to conduct outreach, offering online Authority-staffed office hours, telephone town halls and virtual meetings. While an August 19 Telephone Townhall reached more than 3,100 residents to answer questions and inform them on the environmental process, an August 25 online grade separation meeting provided further information about the program, with a focus on a proposed Main Street Grade Separation. Held at the request of local legislative representatives, extensive outreach was performed to ensure residents were aware of the opportunity to participate. Details are available at www.meethsrsocal.org.

For the Los Angeles to Anaheim project section, a revised Scoping Period began August 25. This will allow the Authority to make changes in the original environmental documents to include work that needs to take place to accommodate future growth in the project corridor.

The Los Angeles-Anaheim high-speed train corridor will travel along the BNSF-owned rail corridor between Los Angeles and Fullerton, which serves BNSF’s Hobart and Commerce Intermodal Facilities. In order to accommodate high speed rail service in the future, as well as provide for growth of existing passenger rail services, it is necessary to relocate a portion of freight rail service away from the Los Angeles to Fullerton corridor. This will be accomplished with the construction of new freight facilities in San Bernardino County, to support freight operations in Southern California.

The facilities are proposed to be located in Colton and in the Barstow area. The Colton Intermodal Facility will process some of the freight trains that were destined for the Los Angeles to Fullerton corridor to allow for continued efficient movement of freight in the region. The Lenwood Staging tracks will serve as a holding area for some of the freight trains destined for the Los Angeles to Fullerton corridor, until there is room in the corridor to accommodate them.

Virtual scoping meetings are being scheduled for September, so the public will have a chance to learn more about these changes. Details will be posted at www.meethsrsocal.org.

Los Angeles Union Station Rail Partners Take Innovative Steps to Cope with COVID-19

Union Station, the transportation hub for Southern California nestled in downtown LA, was bustling with rail riders in January of this year and rail service is still moving through the station but with limited schedules and a greatly reduced ridership for Metro (Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority), and Metrolink (Southern California Regional Rail Authority).

Innovative measures have been incorporated by Metro and Metrolink to enhance and support the basic safety requirements for passengers to wear a mask and socially distance and ensure clean interior surfaces on a train.

Metro has deployed Customer Ambassadors to help passengers comply with the requirement to wear a mask and encourage safe riding. Licensed mask vendors who sell masks and hand sanitizer are in place at some Metro stations. Los Angeles Union Station’s popular Summer Events dance and music series now plays to a virtual audience.

Metrolink has introduced electrostatic sprayers that apply nontoxic disinfectant on all areas of passenger cars every day and doubled the number of hand sanitizer stations available to two in every car on every train. An enhanced cleaning crew conducts a daily and nightly deep train cleaning routine which includes disinfecting high touchpoint surfaces such as doors, restrooms, headrests, armrests, handrails, tables and trash areas. Train Tracker is Metrolink’s new online way to track the status of your train and tells the passenger how full the train is to help them determine if it’s feasible to socially distance.

It’s all aboard during COVID-19 at Metro and Metrolink for a safe and socially distanced ride.

Dean’s Certified Welding Torches Quality Welds Along High-Speed Rail Alignment

Even in the era of COVID-19, Dean’s Certified Welding Inc. shows no signs of easing up. That’s thanks in large part to a solid foundation laid nearly a half century ago by the firm’s original President and CEO Mike Dean.

“If you do what you say you’re going to do, and you do a good job, you can’t hardly fail,” said Dean, who launched the firm in 1973. “It’s really been kind of a fairy-tale story.”

The firm has evolved though the years. Initially, it started supplying field pipe welding to local Carlsbad tomato farmers. It built up one welder at a time over the decades and the Temecula-based firm currently employs about 60 California-based workers.

“We’ve had guys retire out of the company after 30 years,” said Dean, lamenting the ongoing struggle of finding and keeping skilled welders. “When people stick around for years and years like that, it means you’ve treated them right, taken care of them.”

Read more about Dean’s Certified Welding in the Small Business Newsletter at https://www.buildhsr.com/flipbook/vol_08_issue_03/default.html#page=6

UCLA, Authority Partner to Conduct Essential Earthquake Research

The question often arises, is it possible to build high-speed rail up through the San Gabriel mountains into the Los Angeles Basin and down through the Pacheco Pass to the Northern end of the State through active earthquake faults? The UCLA Natural Hazards Risk and Resiliency Research Center (NHR3) informs designers globally with research to increase efficiency, lower risk and increase safety when building on earthquake faults. The NHR3 has contracted with the Authority to provide critical earthquake resiliency research for the construction of high-speed rail through diverse California terrains. Yousef Bozorgnia, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UCLA, looks with excitement and optimism to the partnership between the California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) and UCLA that will not only support the construction of high-speed rail in California, but also inform a global audience of infrastructure designers.

Read more about the UCLA and Authority partnership in an interview with Professor Bozorgnia in the Small Business Newsletter at https://www.buildhsr.com/flipbook/vol_08_issue_03/default.html#page=12.