The Capitol Corridor is a 168-mile (270 km) passenger train route in Northern California operated by Amtrak between San Jose, in the Bay Area, and Auburn, in the Sacramento Valley. The route is named after the two points most trains operate between, San Jose and Sacramento. The route runs roughly parallel to I-880 and I-80. Some limited trips run between Oakland and San Jose. A single daily round trip runs between San Jose and Auburn, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Capitol Corridor trains started in 1991.
The San Joaquins is a passenger train service operated by Amtrak in California's San Joaquin Valley. Six daily round trips run between its southern terminus at Bakersfield and Stockton, with onward service to Sacramento and Oakland.
The Altamont Corridor Express is a commuter rail service in California, connecting Stockton and San Jose during peak hours only. ACE is named for the Altamont Pass, through which it runs. Service is managed by the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission, and operations are contracted to Herzog Transit Services. The 86-mile (138 km) route includes ten stops, with travel time about 2 hours and 12 minutes end-to-end. In 2023, the line had a ridership of 576,300, or about 2,500 per weekday as of the fourth quarter of 2023. ACE uses Bombardier BiLevel Coaches, MPI F40PH-3C locomotives, and Siemens Charger locomotives.
California High-Speed Rail (CAHSR) is a publicly funded high-speed rail system being developed in California by the California High-Speed Rail Authority. Phase 1, about 494 miles (795 km) long, is planned to run from San Francisco to Los Angeles and Anaheim via the Central Valley, and is partially funded and under construction. A proposed Phase 2 would extend the system north to Sacramento and south to San Diego, for a total of 776 miles (1,249 km). The project was authorized by a 2008 statewide ballot to connect the state's major urban areas and reduce intercity travel times. Phase 1 targets a travel time of 2 hours and 40 minutes from San Francisco to Los Angeles, compared to about nine hours on existing Amtrak service.
Merced station is an intercity rail station located in Merced, California, United States. The station is served by seven daily round trips of the San Joaquins and is a transfer point between trains and Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System (YARTS) buses serving Yosemite National Park. Merced station has side platforms adjacent to the tracks of the BNSF Railway Stockton Subdivision.
Oakland–Jack London Square station is a train station in Jack London Square of Oakland, California, United States. The station is served by Amtrak's Capitol Corridor, Coast Starlight, and San Joaquins trains. It is officially named Oakland–Jack London Square/C. L. Dellums Station after C. L. Dellums, co-founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; a statue of Dellums stands outside the station.
Bakersfield station is an intermodal facility in Bakersfield, California. It is the southern terminus of Amtrak California's San Joaquins route, with Amtrak Thruway buses continuing to Amtrak stations and bus stops throughout Southern California and Nevada. The station opened with a celebration on July 4, 2000. It contains an 8,300-square-foot (770 m2) train station with two platforms and three tracks, as well as a 17-bay bus station.
Corcoran station is an Amtrak train station in Corcoran, California, United States.
The Santa Fe Passenger Depot, also known as Fresno station, is an historic railroad station and transportation hub in downtown Fresno, California. It is served by San Joaquins inter-city passenger trains, Greyhound inter-city buses, and regional transit services including Fresno Area Express and the Fresno County Rural Transit Agency.
Hanford station is a train station in Hanford, California served by Amtrak. The station also services the larger city of Visalia, California, 20 miles (32 km) to the east.
Wasco station is an Amtrak station on the San Joaquins line located in Wasco, California, United States. The station has one platform on the west side of a single track.
Madera station is an unstaffed train station near Madera, California, United States that is served by San Joaquins trains, which run between Oakland or Sacramento and Bakersfield, California.
Hercules station is a proposed intermodal infill train station and ferry terminal in Hercules, California in Contra Costa County. It is to be the first direct Amtrak-to-ferry transit hub in the San Francisco Bay Area and will be constructed in between the existing Richmond and Martinez stations. By July 2018, three of the station's six construction phases had been complete, including street at Bay Trail approaches. However, no proposed opening date has yet been announced by the City of Hercules.
The Transbay Transit Center is a transit station in downtown San Francisco. It serves as the primary bus terminal for the San Francisco Bay Area, and is proposed as a possible future rail terminal. The centerpiece of the San Francisco Transbay development, the construction is governed by the Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA). The 1,430-foot-long (440 m) building sits one block south-east of Market Street, a primary commercial and transportation artery.
The construction of the California High-Speed Rail system is an undertaking by the California High-Speed Rail Authority. The project is expected to span about 800 miles (1,300 km) and will be completed in two phases:
The California High-Speed Rail Authority was established in 1996 after decades of advocacy for building a high speed rail system in California. The passage of Proposition 1A in 2008, followed by the awarding of federal stimulus funds in 2010, established the initial funding for the California High-Speed Rail system. Construction contracts began to be awarded in 2013, and the groundbreaking ceremony for initial construction was held on January 6, 2015.
Merced station is a proposed California High-Speed Rail station in Merced, California, located in Downtown Merced. The originally proposed site was to have been located at ground level on Martin Luther King Jr. Way near the interchange with Route 99/59, placing it about 7 blocks south from the existing Merced Amtrak station. The station was initially intended to be the northern terminus of the system's Initial Construction Segment. An alternative location for a fully elevated station proposed by the City of Merced and other stakeholders, 8 blocks to the west-northwest along 15th Street, between O Street and R Street was approved after a supplemental environmental review. The high-speed rail line will run on the south side of the Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way.
The California High-Speed Rail system will be built in two major phases. Phase I, about 520 miles (840 km) long using high-speed rail through the Central Valley, will connect San Francisco to Los Angeles. In Phase 2, the route will be extended in the Central Valley north to Sacramento, and from east through the Inland Empire and then south to San Diego. The total system length will be about 800 miles (1,300 km) long. Phase 2 currently has no timeline for completion.
The Caltrain Modernization Program (CalMod), sometimes referred to as the Caltrain Electrification Project, is a $2.44 billion project that will add a positive train control (PTC) system and electrify the main line of the U.S. commuter railroad Caltrain, which serves cities in the San Francisco Peninsula and Silicon Valley, as well as transition from its current diesel-electric locomotive powered trains to electric multiple units (EMU). According to Caltrain, electrification of the tracks will allow it to improve service times via faster acceleration and shorter headways, reduce air pollution and noise, and facilitate a future railway tunnel into downtown San Francisco's Transbay Transit Center, as diesel trains cannot serve underground stations.
In addition to the direct reduction in travel times the HSR project will produce, there are also economic and environmental impacts of the high-speed rail system. These were also specifically noted in Proposition 1A at the time the project sought authorization from the voters of the state in 2008. The anticipated benefits apply both generally to the state overall, as well as to the regions the train will pass through, and to the areas immediately around the train stations.
