Looks like Progressive is taking over:
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RTC on Verge of Approving Next Freight Operator
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For several minutes, Johnson, a member of the RTC, has been pressing the leaders of the freight company Progressive Rail about their intentions for rail car storage on Santa Cruz County’s rail line. Andy Schiffrin, an alternate for Commissioner Ryan Coonerty, did the same just before him.
Things are touchy because Iowa Pacific, the financially strained current operator of the rail line, has made a habit of parking cars on the line indefinitely. Both men want to make sure that the blight doesn’t continue under the next partner.
“I can appreciate what you’ve gone through, and it’s not the way we do business,” Progressive Chair Craig McKenzie assures Johnson at the April 19 Scotts Valley meeting.
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After a contract gets signed, the rail line would need repairs before opening up north of Watsonville because of storm damage, and the RTC recently approved $500,000 for inspections and recommendations of work for bridges and other infrastructure.
Progressive Rail’s plan for Santa Cruz County is divided into a few phases. The first would be freight service, followed by an occasional excursion train to Davenport, which would ultimately be followed by passenger service. Passenger service would hypothetically be a new venture for Progressive, but Dondero says the RTC could instead jointly run passenger service itself, perhaps via a partnership with METRO.
Josh Stevens, a 21-year-old Santa Cruz resident, thinks a commuter train would be a great fit for Santa Cruz County one day. After the meeting, he says that until a commuter train does come, freight by railroad would take a few trucks off the road. He likes them both for their carbon-reducing benefits and for safety reasons. “If we’re able to alleviate that in any way, shape or form, we should,” says Stevens, who’s wearing two layers of black jackets over a black T-shirt from the show Rick and Morty.
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Next stop, Willoughby
~el Jefe :: RAILROAD.NET Site Administrator/Co-Owner; Carman at Naugatuck Railroad
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~el Jefe :: RAILROAD.NET Site Administrator/Co-Owner; Carman at Naugatuck Railroad
YouTube Instagram Facebook