Northern California Issues & Proposals


ACE Gaining Altitude by Arne Brown

Northern California
Issues and Proposals

We are involved in explaining the advantages of, and potential issues surrounding, current proposals:

  1. Expanding regional rail service in Northern California with added service of the Capitol Corridor, linking Salinas and Reno, NV.
  2. Extension of Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) with the Valley Link and Valley Rail initiatives.
  3. Creating an integrated Northern California network including rail service in the Dumbarton Rail Corridor and coordinating service among the Capitol Corridor, ACE, BART, Caltrain Amtrak and California High Speed Rail at common hub stations.
  4. Joining the Northern and Southern California Regional Systems with a high-speed rail line starting incrementally with the Interim Operating Segment (Merced – Bakersfield), then bridging the gap between San Jose and Chowchilla for service to the Bay Area.
  5. Given the passenger rail focus of the Coast Line, including the fact segments are currently owned by public agencies, RailPAC recommends that given this focus and the limit potential for freight traffic, the State of California should purchase the Coast Line. This would facilitate expanding Caltrain to Salinas as well as coordinating and utilizing the capital investments made for extended Caltrain service to facilitate service from San Luis Obispo to Oakland.  
  6. Extending the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) line to Cloverdale.
  7. Providing light rail, bus transit and other mobility links to provide true door-to-door service, ensuring systems are fully accessible for the physically challenged and having an integrated information, contactless payment and schedule tracking systems.

Check out our Other Issues and Proposals:

SoCal Issues
Southern California Issues & Proposals
National Network Issues
Amtrak National Network/Long Distance