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There have been many questionable aspects of the pro-train argument in Santa Cruz County, but perhaps the least rational is the insistence that the existing tracks and ties must be preserved. Anyone who has walked the corridor has seen their poor condition. While they could theoretically be repaired, even then they would fall far short of the standards required for the modern intercity passenger service proposed in the ZEPRT passenger train study.

By contrast, there is little controversy around the rail trail itself. People want it. The interim trail has been approved and will be built in the location currently occupied by the tracks, with the explicit understanding that the trail could be relocated if a passenger rail project is ever approved. The environmental documents for the next segments of the interim trail call for removal of the tracks and ties, which is standard practice in rails-to-trails projects.

Despite this, a small but vocal group of train proponents is pushing to keep the tracks and ties in place and bury them beneath the interim trail. This position appears to be driven more by emotion than by practical considerations. Removing the tracks is typically cost-neutral due to the recycling value of the steel, and it simplifies construction of the interim trail. It is also already an approved approach.

At this point, insisting on keeping the tracks serves only one purpose: delaying or complicating the trail. Burying deteriorated infrastructure adds cost, risk and avoidable safety and engineering challenges, making the project harder to build and easier to oppose later.

That is not neutrality; it is obstruction.

Train proponents are now running advertisements in local media showing a menacing machine tearing up tracks. This is fear-based messaging. Removing the tracks has no bearing on whether passenger rail is ever built on this corridor. That outcome depends entirely on securing funding and approvals for a train, not on the continued presence of deteriorated, obsolete track infrastructure.

Will Mayall

Live Oak