SMART officials said this week the rail agency is making progress in securing North Bay freight operations and said it will hire a consultant to determine potential business opportunities in the region.
Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit district General Manager Farhad Mansourian told the board of directors on Wednesday that a request for proposals has been issued for the consultant. A report on potential opportunities is expected before the end of the year.
“Your board is committed to the expansion of the freight,” Mansourian said. “Before we expand and come up with capital projects and go for grants, we need to understand what the needs are and what are the opportunities.”
The SMART board voted in May to secure freight operations up to the Mendocino County line from the private freight hauler Northwest Pacific Railroad Co., or NWP Co. The company hauls freight between Napa and Windsor and serves about five customers.
To purchase the freight operation, SMART is planning to use $4 million in state-appropriated funds to buy four locomotives, other equipment and rail operation rights from NWP Co. The state has also appropriated $2 million to cover a portion of the $10 million in rail repairs that staff say are needed.
“SMART has not spent a dime of its money to purchase NWP Co.,” Mansourian told the board.
Mansourian reported that both state allocations are in an escrow account awaiting the approval of two agreements between SMART, the California Secretary of State’s office and NWP Co. Both agreements will be executed as soon as a state task force has completed a report mandated under Senate Bill 1029, Mansourian said.
The acquisition will need approval by the California State Transportation Agency and the federal Surface Transportation Board, which has jurisdiction over freight operations.
Critics of the decision said SMART should have hired such a consultant before deciding to take on an entirely new service and assuming all the new responsibilities, opportunities and liabilities it comes with.
“The point is that you committed financially to this particular action without having that information in front of you,” said Novato resident and economist Mike Arnold. “And you now have an RFP several months later going out asking for the information that you should have had.”
Doug Kerr, a California representative of the Rail Passengers Association, raised concern about SMART potentially having to use Measure Q sales tax revenue to subsidize freight operations. This would be outside the purpose of the tax that voters had agreed to, he said.
“We need to stay focused on what SMART’s mission was initially before we go off on several different directions on new things,” Kerr said.
While Steve Birdlebough of Friends of SMART said it would have been better to do the business review several months ago, he supported SMART’s freight acquisition, especially in relation to greenhouse gas emission reductions from reducing the number of shipping trucks on the road.
“Let’s make sure we can do it without impinging anything on the passenger service,” Birdlebough said.
Responding to some of the comments, Mansourian said the district did not perform the business potential study because it would have been premature.
“It is like us spending millions of dollars on the design of a project that your board has not approved yet,” Mansourian said.
SMART board member and Windsor Councilwoman Deborah Fudge said it would be “insane” for SMART not to take ownership of the freight operations.
“When the state offers to hand you a rail line that completes your ownership of where you’re already operating, why would you not take it?” she said.
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SMART moves forward on freight acquisition - Marin Independent Journal
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