PUC Ends Months of Negotiations : Wine Train to Roll Through Napa Valley

With warm congratulations to all parties, the state Public Utilities Commission today gave its unanimous approval to a settlement that will allow the Napa Valley Wine Train to start passenger service through the famed wine valley in about three weeks.

NVWT President Jack McCormack immediately announced that service between Napa and St. Helena will start Sept. 15, with twice-daily service Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and three-times-a-day service on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The agreement provided that passengers will remain on board during the entire three-hour, 36-mile round trip.

The PUC’s approval process for “preliminary limited service,” took about five minutes and followed months of negotiations by the agency, the NVWT and a coalition of valley opponents to the operation.

The agreement, with the understanding that pending court cases remain to be resolved, obliges the railroad to submit to an environmental impact review, among other provisions.

The rail line has been embroiled in a hassle with the Napa Valley establishment, including the city of St. Helena and many wineries, over expectations that regular rail service would further crowd a valley already jammed by 2 million tourists a year.

Opponents also claimed that locomotives would be blowing their horns day and evening as the trains rolled through the valley, intermittently blocking the many intersections that cross the tracks from California 29.