Train Horns Could Go Quiet With New Rail Alignment

If the California High-Speed Rail Authority chooses to build its tracks at ground level in Gilroy, residents can say goodbye to the familiar “choo-choo” that echoes through the city every day.

That’s because, as workers lay tracks on the raised mound that will allow streets to dip uninterrupted under the racing trains, they’ll be taking the old Union Pacific line up with them.

“All of the train horns would go away,” said Dave Wemmer, an engineer from the rail authority.

Representatives of the San Jose–Merced Section Team presented the new “at grade” alternative for Gilroy’s downtown station at their third South County workshop last night, the only approach that would actually raise the current Union Pacific tracks and eliminate the need for railroad crossings.

Presenters also shared basic sketches of future stations and described their approach to studying traffic, part of a public outreach program to explain alternatives before releasing an initial proposal of the system in early 2012.

“It’s all draft up to this point,” said Eileen Goodwin, moderator at the event. 

Gilroy faces two possibilities: a downtown option near the historic train station and a more rural station east of the Gilroy Premium Outlets. The rural station could be either at grade or elevated above ground, while the downtown station could be either above ground, in a deep trench, in a “semi-covered” trench or at ground level.

Though the rail authority will have the final say, Gilroy and VTA are investing $200,000 into a visioning study that will present, with City Council approval, to the authority in late October.

One member of the Gilroy High-Speed Train Visioning Project, Richard Davies, drove from Walnut Creek to attend the meeting. 

“It’s difficult to know what’s happening, because it’s always changing,” Davies said, “We need to see where they’re going–these are the people with all the knowledge.”

Presenters said that the authority was purposefully staying at arm’s length from the visioning process, hoping to preserve the integrity of the study on the local level while providing information whenever necessary. 

“Right now, it’s a parallel process,” said Gary Kennerly, another rail authority engineer, “If the city completes their visioning process by the time we’re done with the draft, it’s certainly something we’ll pay attention to.”

“If we’re designing the front door to your town, it’s up to you to figure out what happens when you get to your town,” said architect and station design specialist, Eli Naor.

In presenting alternatives to how a future station might look in Gilroy, one clear distinction emerged: a downtown station, no matter the alignment, would force riders to cross over the existing Union Pacific tracks to reach the high-speed line. The two systems would share a single platform, a format that is rare nationally but familiar to commuters who have seen the Millbrae BART station, said Naor.

“Downtown gives us a very powerful potential to connect to Caltrain,” he said.

A station east of Gilroy would have more space to itself, allowing for a more straightforward design, he said.

When considering the traffic impact, engineer Bob Scales said that planners were using the highest projected ridership for Gilroy–6,700 boardings a day in 2035.  It would mean 4,000 vehicles driving in every morning, and 4,000 leaving in the evening.

Those 8,000 trips would match a large neighborhood shopping center that included businesses like a Super Wal-Mart, a large grocery store and a pharmacy. It would be much smaller than the daily trips at the outlets, but it is certainly enough to have an impact on surrounding streets, he said.

“Some places are going to get better, and some places are going to get worse,” he said of road improvements and the effect on traffic.

Having attended several of the meetings of both the visioning team and the rail authority, City Administrator Tom Haglund was looking over large maps of the proposed track alignments through South County.

“History repeats itself,” he said, “When trains first came to Gilroy, everything changed. Now, it’s happening again.”

The California High-Speed Rail Authority will continue to hold public workshops to present alternatives before releasing their draft proposal and impact report in early 2012. Many questions, including the noise associated with the train, will remain unknown until the release of the draft.

Gilroy’s visioning study will hold its next meeting with the City Council on July 19 and its next public workshop in August. A final recommendation to the rail authority will receive council approval in October.

The first trains are expected to be operating in Gilroy in 2025.