Antioch’s Amtrak platform has been slated for closure, with the rail service transferring to Oakley, a metropolis with lower than half of the inhabitants of Antioch in a transfer that native officers say blindsided them.
The San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority, which oversees the passenger rail service between Oakland and Bakersfield, has stated that riders don't really feel protected on the Antioch station, and Oakley is constructing a brand new transit middle solely six miles to the east that may serve the complete space.
The SJJPA board voted 6-1 at a current assembly to decommission the Antioch/Pittsburg cease, which is on the foot of I Road in Antioch, in favor of Oakley, whose practice platform and car parking zone behind Essential Road are slated to be accomplished by late 2024.
It was a transfer that caught Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe abruptly. Thorpe stated at one level board members agreed to postpone a call on whether or not to decommission the Antioch platform, however later in that very same assembly they accredited the closure.
Reached later, Antioch Councilwoman Monica Wilson, who has been on the council for 12 years and sits on native transit boards, stated she additionally was completely unaware of the plan to close down Antioch’s cease.
Thorpe in the meantime stated that to say the transfer blindsided him was “placing it frivolously.”
“The primary vote, it died; It didn’t get sufficient assist,” he stated. “There have been individuals who really agreed with me and stated no.”
However in a subsequent vote after a gathering break, two board members modified their minds and the deal was carried out, he stated.
Tamika Smith, director of rail service for the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority, stated there have been 69 police calls from January 2021 to December 2022 at Antioch’s cease alongside the waterfront, the place a variety of homeless residents reside.
However Thorpe stated issues have modified across the station. “We actually cleaned up the world,” he stated in a cellphone interview, noting he didn’t know the deliberate Oakley station would exchange Antioch’s cease. He additionally stated Antioch has carried out so much to seek out providers for the homeless — together with a soon-to-open motel that may change into transitional housing for the unhoused.
Antioch agreed to demolish its practice station in 2019 after a homeless particular person was discovered tenting on its roof, kicking in $100,000 towards the $344,000 value to tear it down. Amtrak officers stated later somebody stole an $11,000 wheelchair carry from the practice platform in Antioch, forcing passengers in wheelchairs in that metropolis to board trains in both Martinez or Stockton.
And whereas Amtrak officers stated Antioch’s two former metropolis managers knew in regards to the plans to relocate to Oakley, an replace from then-Metropolis Supervisor Ron Bernal in 2019 indicated he thought officers had different plans.
“The imaginative and prescient for this essential entry to downtown Antioch is to create an inviting and enticing plaza for folks to attend and disembark from Amtrak trains,” Bernal, who has since retired, wrote in a metropolis report. “San Joaquin Rail Authority has instructed us they're planning on working a commuter practice from the Central Valley at 8:30 a.m. every workday with stops in Antioch.”
Reached by cellphone, Bernal stated he by no means accredited the decommissioning of the Antioch cease and he instructed the Rail Authority officers as a lot.
“It’s absurd to suppose that town supervisor may decommission a practice station,” he stated.
“In actual fact, I’ve at all times been working towards bettering that station in order that it will be a greater cease for Antioch as a result of I do imagine it’s an enormous amenity to our downtown and to our residents,” Bernal added. “So, my efforts have at all times been within the vein of bettering it in order that it will be higher by no means to tear down buildings to decommission it.”
San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority officers didn’t return emails looking for clarification or remark by deadline. Bernal indicated he additionally had not gotten a response to his emails.
Thorpe known as the transfer to decommission the cease “unfair,” and stated whereas he knew in regards to the Oakley platform being constructed, he was not conscious it will exchange the cease at Antioch, which has 120,000 residents, greater than double Oakley’s inhabitants of 45,000.
Town of Antioch owns and is answerable for sustaining the land and platform, however the BNSF Railway owns the observe.
Contra Costa County Supervisor Diane Burgis of Oakley, who additionally attended the assembly, stated Oakley has been working for years to develop its practice station, investing some $6 million within the challenge, and the cease is smart from a regional perspective.
Following the assembly, Peter Myers, Burgis’ communications director, stated Oakley is making a transit middle and a practice station with full capabilities and loads of parking for residents coming from different cities within the area.
The brand new 700-foot-long practice station platform might be behind Essential Road between Norcross Lane and Second Road and can embrace 300 parking areas. As soon as it’s completed someday in late 2024 and the cease is activated, commuters would have the ability to get from downtown Oakley to downtown Oakland in lower than an hour, Amtrak officers stated.
However Thorpe stated parking was not a difficulty in favoring Oakley over Antioch, as Antioch’s metropolis corridor is a block away and presents loads of parking. Apart from, he stated, the “purpose is to get folks out of their automobiles, significantly within the final mile.”
“That’s why On-Demand, Tri MyRide (corner-to-corner, shared shuttle providers) — these totally different apps we’re pushing towards — it’s as a result of we don’t need folks parking in parking tons,” he added.
The brand new station might be lower than six miles from the Antioch cease, a distance that disqualifies having each stations due to the lack to get the trains in control earlier than they should decelerate once more for a cease, in line with Myers.
However Myers stated new expertise may very well be on the horizon that will enable the trains to speed up quicker and make it attainable to have each stops “someplace down the road.”
The Oakley cease in the meantime will go into service as quickly as the brand new platform is accomplished, after which Antioch will lose its service.