Program Environmental Impact Statement – Salinas, CA to San Luis Obispo, CA

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), in cooperation with the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG), the California Department of Transportation Division of Rail (Caltrans DOR), and the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC), issued a Record of Decision (ROD) and Final Program Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) on November 10, 2015. FRA’s ROD signifies completion of the programmatic National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review for the project.

The project consists of rail improvements to the Coast Corridor between Salinas, California and San Luis Obispo, California, under the ownership of the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR), to enhance safety and develop a faster and more reliable passenger and freight rail system that will provide added capacity in response to increased travel demand between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and the cities in between. The rail improvements will allow increased passenger rail service in the form of a reestablished Coast Daylight rail line that would ultimately operate between San Francisco, California and Los Angeles, California.

The ROD and Final Program EIS/EIR describes the purpose and need for the project, describes the project alternatives, analyzes the potential impacts, and identifies appropriate mitigation strategies to reduce these impacts. In the ROD, FRA identifies the Build Alternative with modifications as the Preferred Alternative for potential future implementation on the Coast Corridor between Salinas and San Luis Obispo. Accordingly, FRA anticipates future project-level analysis and documentation as funding becomes available and that such analysis and documentation will further refine project design and will identify and refine the appropriate project-level mitigation measures.

The Draft Program EIS/EIR was published and circulated for public review for 55 days from November 14, 2014 to January 7, 2015. Four public hearings were held along the Coast Corridor during the public review period. SLOCOG and FRA addressed all comments received on the Draft Program EIS/EIR in the Final Program EIS/EIR.

View the Tier 1 ROD and Final EIS/EIR

• 00 Cover Sheets
• 0.1 Record of Decision
• 0.2 Executive Summary
• Chapter 1.0 Purpose and Need
• Chapter 2.0 Alternatives
• Chapter 3.0 Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
• Chapter 4.0 Section 4F-Section 6F
• Chapter 5.0 Comments and Coordination
• Chapter 6.0 References
• Chapter 7.0 List of Preparers
• Appendix 1 Technical Data from the City of King
• Appendix 2A Public Comments
• Appendix 2B Letter A3 Attachments
• Appendix A Scoping Summary
• Appendix B Union Pacific Capacity Model January 2011
• Appendix C Final Service Development Plan
• Appendix D Technical Data

View the Tier 1 Draft EIS

Please click on the links below to download and view an electronic copy of the Tier 1 Draft EIS. Options for downloading the document in its entirety or by individual section are available below. Downloading of the PDF may take several minutes.

• 00a Cover Page and Title Sheets
• 00b Summary
• 0.1 TOC 
• 1.0 Purpose and Need
• 2.0 Alternatives
• 3.0 Affected Environment 
• 3.1 Traffic and Travel 
• 3.2 Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• 3.3 Noise and Vibration
• 3.4 Energy
• 3.5 Land Use and Planning
• 3.6 Visual Resources
• 3.7 Agricultural and Forest Resources
• 3.8 Public Utilities & Services
• 3.9 Hazardous Materials and Wastes
• 3.10 Cultural and Paleontological Resources
• 3.11 Geology and Soils
• 3.12 Hydrology and Water Resources
• 3.13 Biological Resources and Wetlands
• 3.14 Growth Inducement
• 3.15 Cumulative Impacts
• 3.16 Next Steps
• 3.17 Unavoidable Impacts
• 4.0 Section 4f
• 5.0 Comments and Coordination
• 6.0 References

Appendices

• Appx A Scoping Summary
• Appx B UP Capacity model 1-11
• Appx C Final SDP
• Appx D Technical Data