Specific Issues Affecting the Calculation
of Project Priorities

Two issues relating to the determination of project priorities were raised at the hearing. These issues, and their resolution, are discussed here.

First, the Greater Bakersfield Separation of Grade District (District) questioned the standing of the Port of Stockton (Port) to submit its project nomination for a new grade separation at Daggett Road (Port of Stockton Expressway). The basis for the District's concern is that the statutory description in Streets and Highways Code section 2451 of "local agency," the type of entity that may receive allocations under this program, does not expressly include port agencies. Following the hearings the District, by letter dated March 12, 2008, expanded its inquiry, calling to the ALJ's attention the circumstance that a number of other project nominations were made by proponents that are not identified as local agencies by section 2451, specifically San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), Orange County Transportation Authority, Port of Los Angeles, Alameda Corridor-East Construction Authority, and San Bernardino Association of Governments (SANBAG).

Subdivision (a) of section 2451 states:

For purposes of this chapter, `local agency' includes a city, a county, a separation-of-grade district, and any public entity that provides rail passenger transportation services.

Although this provision specifically identifies four types of entities as "local agencies," it does not exclude others expressly or by implication. The statute contains no language of limitation that would exclude a public entity, and there is no legitimate purpose to be served by reading limitations into this provision.

The purpose of the Grade Separation Program is to make allocations from the Grade Separation Fund available to entities that are planning the construction or improvement of grade separations. The ultimate purpose is to encourage the completion of these construction projects, consistent with priority of need, to promote the safety of the public. Restricting nominations to the four types of entities enumerated in section 2451(a) would defeat this purpose. A more likely explanation for the legislature's express mention of the four types of entities in the statutory definition of "local agency" is that it sought to eliminate any doubt that they have standing to propose projects for funding. However, it is reasonable to assume that the legislative intent is carried out when any public agency with jurisdiction to construct such projects proposes a project for inclusion in the List.

The second issue concerns a series of proposed projects to be built in connection with conversion of the former BNSF Railroad Escondido branch line for use by North San Diego County Transit District (NCTD) "Sprinter" service, which began operation early in March 2008. Sprinters are an entirely new technology in California. They are diesel-driven multiple-unit transit cars (DMUs) that are operated both on street tracks and on private right-of-way, much as light-rail cars operate on lines elsewhere in the State. The essential difference is that instead of utilizing electric power drawn from overhead wires to drive electric motors on the cars' axles, Sprinters are self-propelled, driven by onboard diesel engines much like buses.

The City of Vista's (Vista's) project nominations counted each Sprinter as a passenger train, rather than a light-rail vehicle, for purposes of computing project priorities. Because passenger train locomotives and cars are larger and heavier than light-rail vehicles, passenger trains are given a higher value in the formulas used to compute project priorities. Consequently, Vista's project priorities were increased in some measure by categorizing the Sprinter in this fashion.

Certain attendees at the hearing suggested that this categorization was justified, because Sprinters are similar to an earlier version of self-propelled rail diesel passenger cars that were utilized during the early 1950s on what is now NCTD's main commuter rail line. However, reliance upon this superficial similarity is misplaced. The earlier Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs) were full-sized heavy rail passenger cars of very different weight and construction than the Sprinter cars. More importantly, they had heavy rail braking characteristics that require much longer stopping distances at any given speed than Sprinters.

In Resolution ST-68. Granting North County Transit District an Exemption to General Order 143-B, Section Nos. 4.03 Brake Rates, 5.02 Stop Lights, 6.01Anti Climber, and 6.02 Corner Post Requirements (December 18, 2003), the Commission addressed several NCTD requests for authority to deviate from light rail safety requirements. These requests were predicated upon the assumption that Sprinters are light rail vehicles. This assumption was consistent with the braking and other characteristics of the Sprinter, which we discussed at some length in the Resolution. Vista cannot now seize upon the nature of the Sprinter's propulsion system to inflate the priorities of its projects, and Staff accordingly has revised the nominations to show the passenger train count as light rail train operations.