Kandel, Alan

By Alan Kandel

The Yreka Western Railroad (YWRR) located in Siskiyou County, rail-connecting its namesake town with Montague to the east, may be on its last legs unless, as has been the case time after time after time in the pike’s history, it gets but one more reprieve. Or will it be that this is the line’s final curtain call?

“Because of the current economic crisis, it appears the people of Yreka and Siskiyou County could be about to lose the Blue Goose steam excursion train, and possibly the entire historic Yreka Western RR, as there is a plan currently under negotiation to relocate old number 19 to the Wallowa Union RR in northeast Oregon,” writes a concerned Bill Killion in “Save the railroad” in The Siskiyou Daily News.

By Alan Kandel

Even in these “I’m a day late and a dollar short” times, there is good news. For Fiscal-Year 2011, Amtrak California – comprised of the “Pacific Surfliner,” “Capitol Corridor” and “San Joaquin” state-supported services – moved a total 5,458,788 riders, up 6.1 percent from the year prior, according to Amtrak California. This represents yet another milestone achieved by Amtrak California in a long line of recent ridership records. Perhaps even more noteworthy is that, for the first time, “San Joaquin” ridership exceeded the 1 million mark.

By Alan Kandel

Over the last several weeks in the San Joaquin Valley and elsewhere in California, there have been numerous smog episodes. Thursday is no exception. In fact, a Valley Air Alert notification was issued.

When the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (Air District) issues an Air Alert, it is important to take heed. According to the Air District, “An Air Alert is a notification that the Valley is currently experiencing conditions that may lead to exceeding a health-based ozone (smog) standard. Air Alerts are issued Valley-wide.”

“When an Air Alert is called by the Air District, Valley residents and businesses are advised to put into place measures that reduce vehicle use. These can include carpooling, vanpooling, using alternative transportation, avoiding the use of drive-through services and refraining from vehicle idling,” the Air District emphasized.

As of late just how bad has Valley air been?

By Alan Kandel

A hearing on California high-speed rail was held in Fresno Sept. 20th at Fresno’s Convention Center downtown. The hearing, held from 3 to 8 p.m., gave the public a chance to address their concerns regarding both the Merced-to-Fresno and Fresno-to-Bakersfield Draft High-Speed Rail Environmental Impact Reports/Statements (EIR/EIS). However, it was clear from the comments of several people going before the panel, that they had not read the reports beforehand.

Case in point. One interested party who has a business that could possibly be impacted by the high-speed rail line made a plea to the panel that livelihoods would be adversely affected by HSR and urged the panel to reconsider its plan. Because the addressee feared his business would be impacted, his recommendation was that the existing freight railroad, located across the way from his “potentially” affected business, instead be made use of to provide high-speed passenger train services.

By Alan Kandel

September in California is Rail Safety Awareness Month. Its purpose is really very simple: prevent casualties and incidents at the state’s 10,285 highway-railroad grade crossings (railroad crossings) and on 5,352 miles of railroad track and associated property.

Here are some sobering facts:

• Statewide in 2010, motor vehicle-train collisions claimed 29 lives while pedestrian trespass incidents resulted in 66 lives lost. California leads the nation in pedestrian trespass incidents

• 32% of all motor vehicle-train collisions and 26% of all trespass incidents occur in California’s Central Valley and Fresno. The Valley ranks highest in the Western U.S. for train-vehicle/train-pedestrian incidents and California is ranked number one in the nation in both trespassing and grade crossing fatalities

• Nationwide in 2010, there were 2,012 incidents at crossings and 711 people died because they disregarded railroad crossing warning signs and signals

By Alan Kandel

I have never known there to be as much attention – media or otherwise – paid to rail – high-speed rail (HSR) or otherwise – at any time in history as there is right now. What all this coverage (the good and bad) tells me is that it’s crucial that California get HSR right the first time. There is no doing this over.

Those in the know are fully aware that the 60-day public comment period regarding the California HSR Draft Merced-to-Fresno and Draft Fresno-to-Bakersfield Environmental Impact Reports/Statements is in full swing. The comment period provides those who publicly want to weigh in on the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s plan the opportunity to do so. (Additional information on the public comment process is included at the end of this op-ed).

By Alan Kandel

In California, or more precisely the San Joaquin Valley, our problem isn’t droughts, hurricanes or floods; it’s smog – at least right now it is. Beginning this year assessed will be an annual $29 million penalty, the money presumably going to help clean this smog up. San Joaquin Valley motorists will have to pay an extra $12 added to what would be our usual registration fees. Is this fair? The penalty may be justified, but the fact that Valley motorists are on the hook for this expense may not be. And here is why.

By Alan Kandel

It is a known fact in the San Joaquin Valley, 80 percent of all air pollution comes from transportation, which means the remainder comes from stationary sources. All of last week except for Sunday in Fresno and Sunday and Monday this week, a bad-air alert has been issued. The air quality index for Monday this week is 147 placing it in the upper portion of the “Unhealthy for sensitive groups” range and just three points shy of the lower limits of the “Unhealthy (for everyone)” range.

It is one thing to know where toxins in our air come from. It is yet another to know what happens to the airborne toxins once they arrive. And it is another still to take corrective measures to try to stem the problem.

By Alan Kandel

Temperatures throughout the San Joaquin Valley today will range from the mid to upper ‘90s. I remember when I lived along the Atlantic seaboard, temperatures in the 90s were dreaded due to the oftentimes high humidity associated with them. In California’s Central Valley, high temperatures many times mean high ozone.

According to information in the Fresno Bee, “The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District issued [a bad-air] alert Monday to encourage residents and businesses to help minimize smog-forming emissions.”

So, just how bad is San Joaquin Valley air? In Fresno, the Air Quality Index is 101, which puts it in the “Unhealthy for sensitive groups” range. “The alert applies to Fresno, Tulare, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties and parts of Kern County,” noted the Bee.

By Alan Kandel

The first sections of California’s great high-speed rail line are to be built between Merced and Fresno and between Fresno and Bakersfield. It’s not as if California’s is the world’s first true HSR system to be built. There are many fine examples from which to learn. Other systems I’m sure went through similar growing pains.