SMART Board Members See Clear Tracks Ahead

A relaxed and relieved audience of 40 met at the on Monday night to hear two members of the SMART board outline the ongoing development of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit system.

The meeting -- punctuated by train puns, laughter and even song --  was one of several informationals scheduled in coming days to spread awareness of the SMART project's progress. Debora Fudge, Windsor Mayor and  SMART Board Member, and Carol Russell, Cloverdale City Councilperson and also Board Member, narrated a 20-minute PowerPoint, while Executive Director listened from the audience.

The audience was "relieved" in large measure because only earlier in the day it was officially announced that the of their 15,000-signature goal to force a repeal election for the two-county transportation project.

In fact, Warren Watkins, the Healdsburg resident who leads , asked, "how Farhad kept the vote under 15,000," to general laughter.

But serious matters were posed as well, as when Watkins brought up the plan for the railroad bridge in Healdsburg that spans the Russian River just upstream from the historic .

"We haven't discussed specific plans for that yet," said Fudge, "but we know how important that bridge is to Healdsburg."

"There's a great deal of history to be maintained, and we want to work with the communities as much as we can," said Russell.

Healdsburg physician , who was in the audience, asked who would make the determination of the SMART station in Healdsburg, whether it would be at the on Hudson Street or a downtown site yet to be determined, such as the so-called which the city now owns.

The location were determind and studied in the EIR in 2006, and updated in 2008, Fudge clarified. "All the cities were consulted, and some cities told us where they wanted the platforms when they were flexible," she said. Healdsburg agreed to the historic depot earlier in the process, and 30 % of the engineering and design are complete. "We've already paid for that, the city agreed to it, there's double tracks there, there's a parking lot there - if your city officials want to talk to SMART about the decision, your city needs to talk to Farhad."

The PowerPoint presentation introduced a new color for the SMART train, to be built by Sumitomo Corp. whose bid was the lowest among six bidders for the train system. Although red has been used in most SMART illustration to this point, the color green was decided upon for the environmentally-conscious project.

"The cars will be very modern and sleek," said Fudge. "I think the floors are pebbly gray, some of the seats have tables, there's stainless steel detailing, and the tops of the seats are celadon."

The Sumitomo cars are of the DMU (Diesel Multiple Units) style, multiple cars powered by on-board diesel engines. They are significantly lower in particulate emissions, nitrous oxide and carbon doxide pollutants than traditional locomotives.

They are also quieter than locomotives, about 80 decibels at 50 feet – about the same as a medium-sized truck. Locomotives rate about 92 decibels. (Jackhammers rate 100, rock bands 110 for further comparison.)

Sumitomo apparently won the bid because they see the value in building a market for their rail cars in the U.S. "They know that the future is American [rail]," said Fudge.

Further details of the ongoing SMART project have been unveiled on the website www.sonomamarintrain.org, and in a new brochure that accompanies this article.

The trains will run every half hour in the morning and evening commute hours, Mansourian said from the floor during the question-and answer period, with a single train running midday. Weekends would have at least two midday runs, although exact details including start times for the commute hours have yet to be determined.

Fare is estimated to be $4.25 end-to-end, although zone pro-rated fares and other options are being considered as well.

"The challenge for the [SMART] board is balance," Mansourian said. "Public transportation has to be available, affordable, and within budget."

Other details to emerge from the informational include specifics on the IOS, or Initial Operating Service, from San Rafael to Santa Rosa. The nine-station phase will include two stations in San Rafael, Downtown and the Marin County Center; two in Novato, South and North; one each in Petaluma, Cotati and Rohnert Park (recently relocated to the old State Farm complex at Rohnert Park Expressway); and two in Santa Rosa, the original Railroad Square location and a new one added at Guerneville Road, near Coddingtown.

The addition of the Guerneville Road station brings the total length to 38.5 miles, a little over half of the final 70-mile projected route from Larkspur Landing to Cloverdale.

The initial phase represents 70 to 80 percent of the projected ridership, the board members said. Service is expected to being in late 2015 or early 2016. The added miles in the SMART corridor would be added "as the economy improves," according to the presentation.

Cloverdale's former mayor Russell has long been a strong voice for keeping her town in the plan for SMART.

"As some of you know, my grandmother used to be on welfare," he said. "To work my way off welfare, I needed two things: public education and public transportation," she said. "So I have a special feeling in my heart for public transportation."

Russell was among those backing the announced late last year, which will run direct buses from the communities not yet served in the IOS to functioning SMART stations. These include Cloverdale, Geyserville, Healdsburg, and Windsor in the north, and from San Rafael to the Larkspur Ferry in the south.

Each train will have two cars for the time being, because San Rafael will not allow two of their downtown streets to be blocked at the same time by the transport system.

La Reva Myles, an event planner and musician who moved to Cloverdale from the East Bay to be closer to her father, pointedly inquired if a connection bus service was being planned for the Sonoma County Airport.

"These are the kinds of questions that keep coming up," said Russell, promising to add it to the list of objectives for the project.

At the end of the meeting, Russell asked Myles to sing a song "by special request from the Friends of SMART," and the woman obliged with a verse from Louis Jordan's "Choo-Choo Ch'Boogie."

Headin' for the station with a pack on my back,
I got a reservation in the back of a hack
I love to hear the rhythm of the clickety-clack
And hear the lonesome whistle and the smoke from the stack
And pal around with democratic fellows named Mac,
Take me right back to the track, Jack.