[gavel] good morning and welcome to San Francisco county Transportation AuthorityBoard Meeting for today, september 24th, 2019. Our clerk is mr. Alberto quintanilla. Could you please call the roll. Clerk item 1 roll call. Brown i. Commissioner fewer . Present. Commissioner haney . Haney present. Commissioner mandelman . Mandelman absent. Commissioner mar . Mar present. Commissioner . Present. Commissioner safai . Safai absent. Commissioner stefani . Present. Clerk commissioner walton . Walton present. Commissioner yee. Yee absent. We have quorum. Chair thank you. Colleagues, if you will indulge me, because of caltrains general managers schedule, i would like to take a few things out of order this morning and start with well, the chairs report, which would be inappropriate. Next item. So with that, i will give the chairs report. This month we focus our attention on regional transportation and the future of caltrain, with a presentation on the longawaited caltrain Business Plan and service. I want to thank mr. Hartnet for being here with members of his staff to present this update. Youve seen him before here at previous meetings. And i want to thank jim and his staff for working with our staff and the city on this important effort for transportation up and down the peninsula. And with the Electrification Program that we all fought so hard for to get the 647 million under way and ridership levels at an an alltime high, this is the opportune time to plan for growth and development of the plan. We look forward to hearing staffs recommendations, which i understand to be appropriately ambitious, as rail is one of the keys to sustainability of the west bay corridor. Delivering the baseline improvements alone, including the extension of caltrain to the transit terminal, which we previously discussed here, will be a big lift. When i say lift, i dont mean like lyft and our, but a monumental under taking. This means we need to understand and face the challenge of this endeavor. As the Organizational Assessment note reports, its the most productive railroads in the country addresses the upcoming transformation and the status quo is no longer viable. So i hope that the conversation about supporting the bigs plan will include a conversation about how to set caltrain up for success over decades to come, not only in terms of funding, but also organizationally. I know Caltrain Joint Powers Authority is deliberating many complex issues, from how to grow and retain staff, to securing permanent longterm funding, to support caltrains development. And i really want to thank our commissioner and colleague supervisor walton for working collaboratively with our regional counterparts on these questions. And for raising the need for sound analysis and independent advice on organizational structures and government options. As the board resolution that we passed earlier this year suggests, we do believe in independent dedicated and wellresourced agency is needed to realize caltrains potential going forward. San francisco is committed to working in partnership with our joint powers board colleagues. And the region to discuss this and support a stronger caltrain over the coming weeks and months and years. That concludes the chairs report. Is there any Public Comment on the chairs report . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Colleagues, if youll indulge me, i would like to take item 6 out of order. Mr. Clerk, could you please read item number 6. Clerk this is an information item. Chair mr. Hartnet, mr. Fungy, good morning. Good morning. Chair hold on, jim. Well turn that microphone on. Alberto. Good morning, mr. Chair. Thank you so much for having us here today. Im pleased to have the opportunity. I have with me the key responsible parties and experts on each of the subject areas that we would like to address this morning. John fungy, who is head of our Electrification Program. Michelle bouchard is the chair of the chief officer for rail, which includes the p. T. C. Program and sebastian petty, who is in charge of the Business Plan efforts. And each of them will be making brief presentations. Well be happy to answer any questions. My role is to support them and to help them this their presentations, but theyre the experts in the field. I apologize for this schedule. They certainly can stay as long as you desire. And i will as well. The Santa Clara County board of supervisors set the same item today as well for 12 00 noon and said by 12 15, our presentation is done. So i have to at least be there to help present there. But thank you for this opportunity. And we appreciate all of your support. And this is a great transformative time for caltrain. So were really pleased to be here and present to you. So first well start with john. Chair thank you, jim. Hopefully caltrain will take you there timely. [laughter] good morning, chair peskin, supervisors. John fungy. The caltrain the calmont Program Includes the electrification project and the electric procurement that upgrades the safety, and reliability of Caltrain Service, along the peninsula corridor. The current electrification project will electrify the corridor from San Francisco to san jose and replace caltrains Diesel Service with highperformance electric trains. Reducing air pollution and providing Better Service to more riders. There we go. Sorry about that. Chair no worries. At your service, john. Thank you, michelle. So the existing caltrain system, 32 stations from gilroy to San Francisco. As chair peskin indicated, the ridership has grown dramatically from 30,000 to over 60,000 riders on a daily basis. The electrified area is south of san jose, north to San Francisco, approximately 51 miles. The basic project elements of the Infrastructure Project are two major upgrades or actual replacements of the substations, one at east grand and the other in san jose. And incorporation of 10 facilities that will convey the power along the 50 miles, along with the contact wire and transformers. From the electric trains, the procurement contract is 133 trains. It will be purchased as part of this project. All well, the majority of the work of the infrastructure work happens at night, between 7 45 in the evening until 5 30 in the morning. That includes the settings of the foundation, the poles, the wires. The only components that actually occur during the day is work outside of the rail right rightofway, like the upgrades to the pg e substation. The electric vehicles are currently in fabrication in salt lake city. We have approximately two and a half train sets in various stages of operation, of assembly. Those vehicles, the first vehicle will be ready for testing in may of 20. And well be sending that first vehicle for the required f. R. A. Prototype testing to the ttc i facility in pueblo, colorado. To summarize the benefits of an electric train, convenience, comfort, capacity and sustainability. The Overall Program budget is 1. 98 billion. The program is scheduled to go into Revenue Service in may of 2022. The Infrastructure Project is currently forecasted to be completed in december of 2021. And with that, that completes my presentation. And id like to turn it over to michelle bouchard, the chief operating officer for rail. Thank you. Chair thank you, mr. Fungy. And ms. Bouchard, the floor is yours. So im going to give a brief update on our positive train control project. This is essentially the third leg of the calmont program. Just to briefly explain what p. T. C. Is. Its a complex signal system overlay. So its a Safety System that overlays the existing signal system, that provides for trains to brake and to be precluded from getting into unsafe situations, even if the engineers are not operating the train appropriately. Its important to understand, though, that training is still fundamental for our engineers. Its not automatic train operation. And so we like to say the p. T. C. System will never kick in if an engineer is operating his or her train appropriately. It is a federal mandate. So we are required to have Safety Certificate success from the f. R. A. At a date certain. That date is december 31st, 2020. We just reached a major milestone in our program, as of september 7th. We actually entered into the first trains running p. T. C. Enforced with passengers on board. And what happens is that what we call Revenue Service demonstration. It rolls out over the course of the time. Over the course of the next three months, were increasing the number of trains that are operated in Revenue Service. Im happy to report that things are going very well with this testing. This testing period is used to shake out any system bugs, to ensure that folks are trained both from an operating and maintenance perspective. The f. R. A. , our regulator, on property often to be able to oversee this testing. And so were really happy to have reached that milestone, which is critical to achieving the next milestones, which involve operating on the gilroy segment, which is actually union pacificowned property. So were working hard with the u. P. And very cooperatively. So thats going well. Thats anticipated in december 2019. And meeting these deadlines and milestones are critical to then submitting our safety plan, which is the final plan to the f. R. A. , that will then take about six months for them to concur with, to ask questions about, in hopes of full Safety Security in december 2020. So you see over here the budget. Were working well within our budget. And anticipate the need for no additional funds through the life of this project. So where that that completes our calmod update. Here you see the information as to where you can get more Information Online and to contact us at caltrain. Chair thank you, ms. Bouchard. With that im going to hand it over to sebastian petty for the Business Plan update. Good morning. Thank you for having me. Im a director of policy development at canada caltrain and provide a brief update on the Business Plan process as the chair mentioned, were reaching a major milestone in the process. Switch microphones here. So, first, i think its important to start by saying what is the caltrain Business Plan. Its called a Business Plan and ultimately will result in something that looks like a traditional Business Plan, it really is a longawaited longrange plan and the corridor that we operate on. Its a very comprehensive planning effort. As well as other regional operators and the private sector as part of this effort. As were at this sort of Pivotal Point where were making a recommendation around the longrange Service Vision for caltrain, its worth taking a step back and reminding ourselves of why were asking this question at all. The caltrain corridor, the rail corridor, on which caltrain operates, has been a Passenger Rail corridor for over 150 years. As the railroad has grown and changed, weve been part of the urban growth and change on the peninsula as a whole. And we see the growth is continuing. By 2040, using the last regional projects from the adopted plan bay area, we see there will be an additional 1. 2 Million People living and working within two miles of our stations. Thats a 40 increase in the human density around our stations. And so we as a railroad are in a position where we really want to ask ourselves what can we do to make sure were providing the Mobility Services that those folks need and making ourselves an attractive option to all of the different people who live near the corridor. And more platform are we going to be ready to provide that level of service. What do we need to do to plan and prepare to be the level of railroad that can be successful in that environment. Were also doing this work in the context of a lot of state and regional and local planning around rail thats happening in the bay area. There are any number of major projects, plans and concepts that are being actively built or designed or thought about related to rail. Many of them touch the caltrain corridor, probably most significantly here in San Francisco. The Sales Force Transit Center is a major new facility that will one day be the northern terminal of the caltrain corridor. And so as caltrain, because we, as you heard, are in some ways out in front, were actually building an electrification system. Were running new electric trains soon. Were in a unique position where we have the both the opportunity and the responsibility to sort of show what a true modernized rail system could look like in the bay area and in the state of california. And so we feel very strongly that we need to have a leadership role in defining a future vision for our corridor and showing how the Caltrain Service can help knit many of the big projects and plans together. And so thats really the context that we went to our board in august and laid out a draft recommendation for what the longrange Service Vision for caltrain could be. Its really asking and responding to the question of how much service should caltrain provide and what should that service look like. If we want to serve the market that we think is growing on the peninsula, if we want to help tie these big regional projects together and get sort of the best value and best use out of them. What is caltrains role in making that happen. And what does that mean for this specifically for the service that we plan to provide. Weve been doing that work and the analysis leading up to that recommendation over the last year. Weve been doing that work closely with San Franciscos staff, as well as staff from our other partner agencies, state agencies and communities up and down the corridor. And what weve done is laid out basically three potential growth scenarios or visions for what the future the service could be. One is what we called a baseline scenario. As youll see, thats a very ambitious baseline. It really cues to the work in planning thats been done in the corridor for the last decade or so. And then weve looked at two options that pose the question what it looks like if we wanted to expand rail service further. What would the service looks like, what infrastructure would be required and what would it cost. Weve done this work. And i wont go through the slides in detail. We have done the work at a high level of detail. This has been an intensive, technical effort. Although the policy language were proposing to the board is a little bit higherlevel. Weve really tried to prove out the concepts and do the technical work. Thats in part to make sure that were providing a vision statement thats sound. And its also the act of doing that work helps advance the projects up and down the corridor that were working on. Six caltrain trains per hour, electrified, blended with highspeed rail. Thats the planning thats been going on for the last decade in the corridor. Weve looked at what weve been calling the moderate or middle growth option that looks at growing Caltrain Service even more. So having basically eight caltrain trains per hour, per direction, four expressway trains, four local trains. And then weve looked at a highgrowth scenario, that actually really kind of pushes the existing corridor to the max. It kind of finds the limit of whats the most rail service we could provide. Thats going to as many as 12 caltrain trains per hour per direction, as well as the four highspeed trains that are common to all of these scenarios. We laid out to our board in august was really a framework for weighing the choices between the different options and think being how we can signed of sin synthesize them. A framework for thinking about these issues from a number of different perspectives. So weve looked at sort sort of a servicetoservice, we have done the detailed financial analysis. Weve looked at sort of the economic benefits to caltrain riders, things like time savings or vehicle trips not taken. We have thought about the regional aspects. So how this kind of an investment in rail Service Matters for people who maybe dont ride the train. And weve also talked a little bit about flexibility and uncertainty. And kind of how we can establish a vision thats doable in the future. So this is just a flavor of a much longer Technical Analysis sis. We looked at things to what extent they result in the stations in our system getting High Frequency or very High Frequency service. As you can imagine, as you add trains, the number of stations starting to really get that almost bartlike show up and go Service Really increases. Weve done detailed ridership projections, using landuse forecasts and caltrain today carries around 65,000 people every weekday. In the future, we think well be carrying between 150,000 to over 200,000 riders. Thats based on both the landuse changes in our corridor, as well as the improved service. Weve also done a lot of work trying to come up with the total program of investment, that would be required to support the service and really to again knit together all of those projects that are complicated. And those numbers are large. So