Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line Operating Agreement

Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line Operating Agreement

Background Information

The RTC purchased the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line in 2012 from Union Pacific. At that time, Union Pacific, which retained the easement for freight rail service operations, transferred that easement to a new rail service operator selected by the RTC. The RTC went through a public process to seek a new rail operator and selected Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Railway (a company of Iowa Pacific Holdings) as the operator. Currently, Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Railway can no longer meet all of the requirements of the operating agreement with the RTC. Given this, the RTC began the process to select a new rail service operator.

In December 2017, the RTC released a request for proposal (RFP) for a new rail operator, and five proposals were submitted to the RTC. After review of all of the proposals and careful due diligence, the RTC selected Progressive Rail as the potential operator to enter into negotiations with for an operating agreement.

The RTC approved the agreement at its June 14, 2018 meeting.

Documents available for public review:

RTC Contact

Luis Mendez
Deputy Director
info@sccrtc.org
(831) 460-3200