CARRD

Substantive changes in Business Plan warrant recirculation for comment

Nadia — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:24:49 +0000

There have been at least two recent media reports describing substantive changes to the upcoming 2012 Business Plan.

We look forward to seeing how public input was incorporated to the plan.

Given the media reports on apparent substantive changes, CARRD is recommending that the Authority consider issuing a second draft plan to give both the public and the Peer Review Group a chance to review the changes and offer their insights.

We think it is prudent to take an extra month or two on a 100 year project to get this right.

See our letter to the board here.

State Auditor issues report and NY Times: Room for Debate Op/Eds

Nadia — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:34:24 +0000

By now, you have likely heard that the State Auditor has issued its latest report on the California High Speed Rail Authority.

The full report is available at: http://www.bsa.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2011-504.pdf

We recommend reading the long version (always!) as it provides much greater insight into the problems resulting from too many consultants and not enough staff that CARRD has been highlighting for years.

Also, don’t miss the NY Times piece called Room for Debate.

The NY Times poses the question: Does California need a high speed rail line, ultimately connecting San Francisco to Los Angeles? Can the state afford it?

There are 6 different perspectives, including CARRD’s. Be sure to read them all!

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/01/26/does-california-need-high-speed-rail

CARRD to Board: Postpone your vote on Grapevine

Nadia — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:04:35 +0000

CARRD send the California High Speed Rail Authority an email today asking them to defer their board vote on the “Grapevine” alignment.

Our message said:

“We are writing to urge the Board to defer a decision until additional analyses on these issues are provided:

1) Express route west of Bakersfield - Project EIR work has shown that the impacts to residents and businesses in Bakersfield are much higher than originally assumed to be. In accordance with this, the city of Bakersfield passed a “No-confidence” resolution. One likely result will be the consideration of at least express trains bypassing the city center. By observation, a west bypass would be a much shorter route via a “Grapevine” alignment.

2) Bear Trap Canyon alignment - The Bear Trap Canyon was selected by the original QUANTM study in 2002 and is shorter, straighter and presumably cheaper an faster to build. The study indicates that the reason for its elimination is the proposed Tejon Ranch project. We would note that the market capitalization of the Tejon Ranch company (which includes many other assets) is $500 million, significantly less than the cost savings from using such a route. Even if a decision is made not to pursue this alignment, the costs and engineering analysis should be presented and discussed publicly.

3) Sprawl - The potential sprawl impact of the two routes should be revisited. The conclusion in the analysis that faster service to Bakersfield would be more sprawl inducing than direct service to Palmdale is premised on the previous study’s conclusion that the Grapevine would offer significant time savings. If this is no longer true, this conclusion should also no longer hold. We would also note that the issues previously identified with the ridership model (de minimus amount of induced travel) will underestimate sprawl potential from a station like Palmdale.

4) Cost - Significant “risk adjustments” have been added to the costs for the Grapevine alignment but none at all for the Palmdale route. While the Palmdale route has gone through some additional scrutiny, it is also at an early stage and it is not credible that this analysis should be so lopsided. Indeed, once engineering got past the “program level”, the cost adjustments to Palmdale have generally been downward as cost savings were found as the route was further optimized. Why is this not a possibility as well for the Grapevine alignment? At a minimum, the Grapevine analysis should include both positive and negative “risk” factors.”

CARRD to testify at Congressional hearing

Nadia — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:36:35 +0000

We’re pleased to announce that Elizabeth Alexis of CARRD has been asked to testify at the hearing in D.C. next week.

The committee staff has produced a Briefing Memo that gives an excellent history of the project and has some relevant updated numbers. For those new to the project, this is a MUST READ!

The Briefing Memo is available here: http://transportation.house.gov/hearings/hearingdetail.aspx?NewsID=1475

For those interested in watching the hearing next week, here are the details:

Thursday, December 15, 2011

10:00 a.m. EST (7 a.m. PST)

2167 Rayburn House Office Building

Hearing of the Full Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, U.S. Rep. John L. Mica (R-FL), Chairman

California’s High-Speed Rail Plan: Skyrocketing Costs & Project Concerns

Live webcasts of this week’s hearings will be available at: http://transportation.house.gov

This past week, there was a Senate Committee Joint Hearing regarding the HSR business plan.

At the hearing, the Treasurer’s office report was presented. You can view the report here.

You can watch the December 5th hearing at www.calchannel.com. For those who don’t have time to watch the entire hearing, here are some YouTube clips:

Senator Simitian opening remarks 4:37 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zTp4yTvmao

Dan Richard (Authority board member) 9:51 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-EoKzRy2Ks

Senator Lowenthal questions and long discussion 40:39 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA8BIi69xds

Senator LaMalfa 5:09 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Yxh8YbcOc

LAO report and discussion 35:26 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZw2tojhEyQ

Elizabeth Alexis (CARRD) 7:46 – http://www.youtube.com/user/derailhsr#p/u/8/mrWnwQuoryI

Senator LaMalfa 2 2:04 - http://www.youtube.com/user/derailhsr#p/u/6/mqdjmADJsgU

How conservative are the ridership forecasts?

Nadia — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:13:23 +0000

The ridership model is arguably one of the most important components of the recent business plan presented by the California High Speed Rail Authority.

So, how conservative are the ridership forecasts?

Here is a short report looking simply at the price of gas assumed in the model.

What did we find? Well, do you think $40 per gallon of gas is conservative?

Read our report and decide for yourself.

Legal concerns for the Initial Construction Segment and the Funding Plan

Nadia — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:32:50 +0000

CARRD sent a letter to the California High Speed Rail Authority Board and Chairman today outlining our legal concerns on two important issues: the Initial Construction Segment and the Funding Plan.

We are wary of intent to build an Initial Construction Segment (ICS) that does not specifically have an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) associated with it and that the Authority may have illegally certified the Funding Plan required by AB 3034 at their November 2011 Board Meeting.

The full letter can be downloaded here.

CARRD is requesting that the Authority take action to investigate these concerns.

2011 Business Plan preview and other documents

elizabeth — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:07:16 +0000

The California High Speed Rail Authority submitted a number of reports to the California legislature on October 14, 2011. These documents provide some hints as to what will be in their 2011 Business Plan.

CARRD’s comments on these documents are here.

CHSRA: Revenue guarantees and alternative funding plans

CHSRA: Feasibility of “shared track” solution in the Bay Area

CHSRA: Bakersfield to LA Communications Plan

CHSRA Program Manager Progress Reports Through July 2011 Now Available

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:11:05 +0000

Read all the progress reports here.

Every month, Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) must submit a lengthy progress report to the California High Speed Rail Authority detailing everything that is going on with the project. The reports cover budgeting issues, discuss what work was done and what issues have arisen.

PB is the program manager for the California High Speed Rail Authority. They were awarded a $199 million contract in 2006 to oversee virtually all aspects of the planning process. Read the PB contract. Read the original press release announcing their selection.

CARRD has requested that the Authority post these reports on their website. Until then, we will continue to seek their release under the California Public Records Act.

Former Board Member Kopp raises issues with Ogilvy – PR firm

Nadia — Wed, 25 May 2011 04:20:05 +0000

CARRD received a copy of a memo written by former High Speed Rail Authority board member Judge Quentin Kopp to CEO Roelof van Ark detailing his reasons for recommending that the Authority fire Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide.

The full memo can be viewed here: Kopp April 1, 2011 – Letter Ogilvy

The five year contract with Ogilvy is worth $9 million dollars. Judge Kopp argues that since Ogilvy began work in February 2010, their “inadequate performance can be measured, by among other things, the worsening legislative, media, academic, and popular comments in the public domain about our project.”

Senator Joe Simitian: Train robber?

elizabeth — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 01:12:46 +0000

We are confused by this press release, issued by California State Assemblymember Cathleen Galgiani’s office this afternoon.

Senator Simitian showed leadership in his recent announcement by seeking to balance the transportation goals of Prop 1A with community concerns and the fiscal reality of what we estimate is a project that will cost at least $65 billion in its current form. Along with Congressman Anna Eshoo and Assemblymember Rich Gordon, Simitian is trying to explore the possibility of a lower cost way of connecting San Francisco to the rest of the high speed rail system that might also have a chance at local acceptance. All efforts to bring the cost down to reality should be encouraged.

Resources

Audio recording (approx 1 hour) of the Senate hearing on Thursday April 28, 2011. Senator Simitian is chair of the budget sub-committee that controls the purse strings for transportation projects, in the High Speed Rail project.

Video of Cathleen Galgiani at Assembly hearing regarding an independent ridership study on Monday April 25, 2011, encouraging elected officials and residents on the Peninsula to work together and develop a “wishlist” for the project.

More information on the proposals for phased implementation on the Peninsula. The California High Speed Rail Authority has made a similar proposal.