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Home My WebLink AboutPW Update on SMART Extension to Larkspur____________________________________________________________________________________ FOR CITY CLERK ONLY Council Meeting: 09/16/2019 Disposition: Accepted Report Agenda Item No: 5.b Meeting Date: September 16, 2019 SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT Prepared by: Bill Guerin, Public Works Director City Manager Approval:__________ TOPIC: UPDATE ON SMART EXTENSION TO LARKSPUR SUBJECT: INFORMATIONAL UPDATE REGARDING THE SMART CONSTRUCTION PROJECT TO EXTEND SERVICE THROUGH DOWNTOWN SAN RAFAEL TO LARKSPUR RECOMMENDATION: Accept informational report. BACKGROUND: Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) is constructing its Larkspur Extension project, which will extend rail service from downtown San Rafael to Larkspur Landing in the City of Larkspur. SMART competitively awarded a design/build contract to the joint venture Stacy and Witbeck/Herzog (SWH). In February 2018, SWH began work associated with reconstructing the Andersen Drive railroad crossing. Following the Andersen Drive work, SWH shifted construction activities to the Francisco Boulevard West “flip” in July 2018. The construction phase of the Larkspur Extension, including the first phase of the Multi-Use Path, is substantially complete and the installation, including all rail warning systems, is being tested. SMART began active testing of the new rail on the evening of August 23, 2019. For several reasons, including a shortage of trains, safety concerns, traffic conditions, and the need to reprogram their operating software to accommodate the testing, SMART is running their active testing overnight and they anticipate additional testing during the weekends of September 20 and 21 and September 27 and/or 28 from 11 pm to 8 am each night. Following this testing phase, SMART intends to run simulated revenue service, where trains continue through San Rafael and on to Larkspur without passengers, before commercial operations to Larkspur commences. SMART anticipates the commencement of commercial operations before the end of the year. Unrelated to SMART’s testing, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) intend to perform their own evaluation of the signals and other crossing improvements on September 19, 2019 to ensure that preparations for commercial operations and the Quiet Zone are complete. During the testing phase, and during simulated revenue service, SMART is required to sound the train horn before and through each crossing. According to the FRA “Train Horn Rule”, the train horn must be louder than 96 decibels and no more than 110 decibels. Under the Train Horn Rule (49 CFR Part 222), SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 2 “locomotive engineers must begin to sound train horns at least 15 seconds, and no more than 20 seconds, in advance of all public grade crossings. If a train is traveling faster than 60 mph, engineers will not sound the horn until it is within ¼ mile of the crossing, even if the advance warning is less than 15 seconds. There is a "good faith" exception for locations where engineers can’t precisely estimate their arrival at a crossing and begin to sound the horn no more than 25 seconds before arriving at the crossing. Train horns must be sounded in a standardized pattern of 2 long, 1 short and 1 long blasts. The pattern must be repeated or prolonged until the lead locomotive or lead cab car occupies the grade crossing. The rule does not stipulate the durations of long and short blasts.” As it did for the initial Operating Segment that brought rail service to San Rafael, the City has notified the FRA and the CPUC of its intent to establish a “Quiet Zone” in the rail crossings from Third Street to Andersen Drive. That application could not begin until the crossing improvements were in place and the application criteria was met. Therefore, the application was made in June 2019. The 60-day comment period that followed the application submission has now closed and no significant comments impacting the City’s ability to establish a Quiet Zone were received. However, SMART indicated that they are supportive of the City’s desire to establish the Quiet Zone under the condition that “the City of San Rafael will postpone the establishment of the Quiet Zone until the Larkspur Extension has opened for revenue service.” There is a rail crossing above Jacoby Street (Jacoby crossing) serving a SMART storage facility that is not included in the current Quiet Zone application because it is currently considered a private crossing. According to the Federal Quiet Zone regulations, a Quiet Zone cannot begin or end at a private crossing unless the private crossing is within a quarter mile of another public crossing. Jacoby Street is nearly a half mile from Andersen Drive and this private crossing cannot end the Quiet Zone. To remedy the issue and have a Quiet Zone at Jacoby as well, the City has applied to the CPUC to convert the Jacoby crossing to a public crossing. That application could not begin until the ownership transferred from the prior property owner to SMART and the improvements were in place. That application is now under review and staff will report on its progress at the City Council meeting. A license agreement with SMART to allow the City to maintain this crossing, and to thereby qualify it as a public crossing, is also on the City Council’s agenda for this meeting. Due to the CPUC review and approval process, the Jacoby crossing may lag behind the rest of the Quiet Zone implementation. The initial schedule assumed in the application shows a proposed decision to convert Jacoby to a public crossing in January and a final decision in March of 2020. Once approval is received, the City must again notify the FRA and the CPUC of its intent to establish a Quiet Zone, allow 60 days for comments, and then give 30 days’ notice to SMART prior to the commencement of the “one-crossing” Quiet Zone. It is important to note that the conversion of the Jacoby crossing will not impact the implementation of the remainder of the Quiet Zone. It is also important to note that SMART’s current schedule of commercial operations will have the train crossing Jacoby from approximately 6 a.m. to approximately 9:30 p.m. during weekday service and less frequently on weekends, therefore there will be no need for overnight train horns as we have experienced during the testing phase. The first phase of the Multi-Use Path (MUP) from Andersen to Rice Drive has been completed and has been in use since July 2019. The second phase from Rice to Second Street is nearly complete in design and will be ready to bid in January 2020 so that the project can begin in the spring of 2020. The current cost estimate for this second phase is $2.9 million. $1.2 million has been granted to the City for this work. The City is seeking to secure and additional almost $1 SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 3 million through TAM to support the phase 2 path. TAM will notify the City of its decision later this year. The City and our regional partners are seeking sources for the remaining balance of approximately $500,000-700,000. FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact associated with this action. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Accept informational report.