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FTA Delays Funding Decision on Caltrain Electrification Project
FTA has delayed a decision on whether to approve a $647 million Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) that originally was intended to advance Caltrain’s core capacity electrification project to the next step.
In a previous statement, Jim Hartnett, executive director of Caltrain (known formally as the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board), San Carlos, CA, said the FFGA was eligible for a signature from FTA on Feb. 17, the day FTA issued the decision in a brief letter from Executive Director Matthew Welbes. Hartnett had said a signed FFGA is necessary by March 1 to maintain the terms of active contracts, issue a full “notice to proceed” to the design-build contractor and prevent costly penalties and project delays. Caltrain is exploring options for extending this deadline in light of the delay.
Welbes stated in the letter that the agency was aware of the deadline, but the project required “additional time to complete review of this significant commitment of federal resources.” The letter added that FTA was deferring a ruling so the project could be considered as part of President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget and the companion “FTA Report to Congress on Annual Funding Recommendations for the Capital Investment Grant Program.” The letter did not specify a timeline. The FFGA would be funded through FTA’s Capital Investment Grant program.
After two years of review by FTA, the Caltrain FFGA has met all the statutory requirements needed to receive a signature, agency officials said, adding that approval would leverage more than $1.3 billion in secured local, regional and state commitments. Hartnett said the electrification project is eligible to receive $73 million already appropriated by Congress in prior years.
In September 2016, Caltrain awarded two contracts, one to install the infrastructure to electrify the corridor and the other to deliver the electric trains. Caltrain has issued a limited notice to proceed to those contractors; a full notice to proceed requires a signed FFGA.
Caltrain spokesman Seamus Murphy said the delay could put the project at risk, jeopardizing up to 10,000 jobs in several states.
Agency officials said the electrification project is benefiting from the California legislature’s decision to direct $713 million in high-speed rail funds to improve commuter rail service on the Caltrain corridor. If the high-speed rail project is approved, additional infrastructure would be needed before the operation of high-speed trains on an electrified Caltrain corridor would be possible.
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