All aboard for SMART train ‘soft launch’

Fred Codoni stepped onto the shiny new Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit car Wednesday, plopped down in a reclining seat and gazed out tinted, plate-glass windows at a sight not seen by North Bay rail passengers in almost 60 years.

Flashing by on a run from Petaluma to San Rafael were backsides of houses, weed-choked empty lots and miles of wetlands glistening in the morning sun.

“I haven’t seen this in so long,” said Codoni, 82, of Fairfax, a train publications editor who worked on the railroad when passenger service ended in 1958. “You’re in everyone’s backyard.”

The rare glimpse for Codoni and about two dozen others came during a media preview of the more than $600 million commuter rail project spanning 43 miles and two counties that has been in the works for about 15 years.

Now, the public will be afforded a similar view as SMART officials begin a “soft launch,” offering a series of free rides while awaiting final government approval of rail safety systems. Today, the train will make three round trips between the Rohnert Park and Marin County Civic Center stations.

Trains depart southbound from SMART’s Rohnert Park Station at 8 a.m., 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Trains will depart northbound from the Marin Civic Center at 4, 6 and 8 p.m. Riders can get on and off at any stop.

More rides are scheduled for Saturday and July 4, taking passengers to the Marin County Fair from as far north as the Sonoma County Airport station. Additional free rides will be announced over the next two weeks.

Farhad Mansourian, SMART’s general manager, said federal officials were completing a review of the line’s positive train control system, which automatically shuts down service in an emergency such as derailments caused by excessive speed.

Once final approval is made, the North Bay’s newest transit agency will begin ramping up, eventually running 34 trains daily. Mansourian said that could happen in a few weeks but declined to put a firm date on it.

“We’re looking forward to opening up very, very soon,” Mansourian said. “To put it in football terms, we’re first down and a half-inch.”

A Federal Railroad Administration spokesman reached Tuesday could not say when the government review would be complete.

The debut of the commuter train promising an alternative to traffic-snarled Highway 101 has encountered numerous delays.

A downturn in revenue from the voter-approved quarter-cent sales tax pushed the initial 2014 opening to late 2016. Further delays were caused by crank replacements in the rail cars’ diesel engines. Other setbacks were linked to warnings systems at some crossings and flooding in the Puerto Suello Hill Tunnel in San Rafael.

Even without the federal review’s completion, officials granted permission for limited passenger service, Mansourian said, including Wednesday’s trip and those upcoming through July 4.

Wednesday, he strode through the two cars shouting to media, “There are no bad seats!”

Riders strolled the train that can seat more than 300 passengers, mingling with rail officials and testing the two-tone simulated leather upholstery.

Each seating area is equipped with power outlets and free Wi-Fi runs throughout the train. Also in each train is a wheelchair-accessible bathroom, along with capacity for 24 bicycles, said SMART spokeswoman Jeanne Mariani-Belding.

Coffee is sold by an onboard vendor for $3 a cup. The one-way fare from Petaluma to downtown San Rafael will be $7.50.

Overall, the ride is plush and mostly silent, except for the sound of the horn.

“It’s a beautiful train,” Mariani-Belding said. “It was designed with people in mind.”

Passengers agreed. As the silver-and-green cars hurtled along at just under 60 mph, Codoni, who rode his first trains in the early 1940s, couldn’t help but be impressed.

“This is certainly prettier,” he said.

As he glanced out a window toward slowing cars on the freeway, he voiced skepticism about whether the new service would reduce congestion. But he said that isn’t the point.

“The beauty of this train is you now have a choice,” Codoni said. “If you don’t want to drive, don’t drive. If you want to stay out in this traffic, help yourself.”