PLAIN TRAIN FACTS
2025 finally put real numbers and reality on the table for the Coastal Rail Corridor, and it’s clear why an Interim Trail is not just reasonable, but necessary.
This year, the RTC released the multi-year Zero Emission Passenger Rail and Trail (ZEPRT) Study, advanced Interim Trail design through Live Oak, Capitola, and Aptos, keeping the trail in the rail corridor and preserving critical grant funding. Capitola rightly demanded the RTC honor Measure L, reinforcing that voter intent still matters.
The final release of the ZEPRT Study made one thing undeniable—the costs are unfeasible on such a small community:
— $4.283+ BILLION to build
— $41 MILLION per year just to operate one rail line
That annual cost is roughly half of Santa Cruz Metro’s entire countywide operating budget, to run a single rail line that largely duplicates existing Metro bus routes. As proposed, passenger and freight rail simply aren’t fiscally achievable, especially when Metro’s bus-in-aux-lane improvements are expected to deliver travel times within about a minute of what the $4.283 billion train was projected to achieve.
Yet rail proponents such as Santa Cruz County Friends of the Rail and Trail (FORT) and even Roaring Camp continue to muddy the waters by demanding unusable tracks remain in place using rail fillers, preserving the appearance of rail while blocking straightforward trail construction while also creating an unsafe trail condition with slick metal rails next to high-traction rubber which will increase falls if installed over long distances. This doesn’t advance rail. It delays a trail and puts over $100 million in CTC trail grants at risk.
If rail supporters want to spend the next 20 years planning a more realistic, affordable rail solution, that’s fine, but take it out of the critical path to progress. What makes no sense is holding the community hostage to a $4.3B project with no funding plan while preventing a trail people can use now.
How you can help:
— Join mailing lists at sccgreenway.org and trailnow.org to stay up to date.
— Speak up at RTC meetings in support of the Interim Trail
— Email RTC commissioners and demand design work continue. A list can be found at linktr.ee/coastaltrail where you can simply pledge your support for the interim trail design.
— Hold the RTC and Capitola City Council accountable to Measure L
— Talk to friends and neighbors about the benefits of the interim trail
— Call out delay tactics when you hear them at community meetings and events or see them on social media
2025 showed that progress is possible—but only if the public holds elected officials accountable and demands that the RTC pursue buildable solutions rooted in fiscal reality and implementation urgency.
Jack Brown | Aptos
MLK CELEBRATION
Once more, NAACP Santa Cruz County is planning an MLK March for the Dream. This year it will be on Monday, January 19, 2026, beginning at 10 am in front of Santa Cruz City Hall at the Black Lives Matter mural.
Thank you for helping us get the word out by publishing the attached press release or writing your own article on it. Our president Elaine Johnson will be happy to speak with you.
Jane Sooby | Secretary, NAACP Santa Cruz County Branch #1071
Please report the amount of money spent on widening the freeway, painted bus lanes,crosswalk bumps, the overhead bike crossings including artwork, the sea walls and walkways on westcliff etc. Its odd that those total numbers have not been reported by our supervisors. It feels like a big secret. The rail trail numbers are reported frequently. I wonder if our current tax base actually increased with the improved properties downtown and by how much?
We have been waiting more then 20 years for a clean energy passenger rail. Future minded folks see connections beyond the back and forth train you are reporting. We have seen the freight trains run bringing goods and services to our county every Monday and more frequently during the holidays.
My concerns for the larger open space trail not addressed are will it be patrolled ? Will there be 24/7 bike riding officers who will actually ticket off leash dog owners, overnight campers, ticket speeding cyclists, check for required safety equipment our numbers of people grow? Will pedestrians be safe?