Caltrain, the provider of commuter rail service along the San Francisco Peninsula, was awarded 14 grants, worth $20 million, from the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA).
The funding will be used for the electrification of the corridor between San Francisco and the Tamien Station in San Jose, replacing Caltrain’s diesel equipment with high-performance electric trains for faster, more frequent service while significantly reducing emissions. Caltrain projects that this will reduce emissions by 97 percent by 2040 and reduce greenhouse gases by 176,000 metric tons of CO2 a year.
“The state of California has shown a decades long commitment to Peninsula rail service,” said Jim Hartnett, Caltrain’s executive director. “First by stepping in to directly operate the service in the early 80’s and later as a partner in infrastructure investment as the service has grown under the leadership of the Joint Powers Board.”
“I want to thank Governor Brown for his commitment to investing in public transportation infrastructure and for helping to ensure Caltrain remains a vital component of Bay Area public transportation,” added Hartnett.
Caltrain electrification is expected to cost $1.98 billion, with $713 million of the funding provided through the State/California High Speed Rail Authority. The program will also be funded through a combination of federal, regional and member agency contributions.
Recently, Caltrain’s congressional delegation announced that the electrification project was one of two projects accepted into the engineering phase of the Federal Transit Administration Core Capacity Program. The program is expected to provide $643 million towards the project.
The region’s business leaders commented on the grant award on behalf of the Caltrain Commuter Coalition (C3), which advocates for improved service and expanded ridership capacity on the Caltrain system.
"Electrifying Caltrain is essential to protecting our local economy, our quality of life, and our environment,” said SAMCEDA CEO Rosanne Foust. “Fully electrified Caltrain will almost double the capacity for passengers, dramatically reduce travel times, and get more people out of their cars.”
“This is truly an exciting milestone that our members have been looking forward to for along time,” said Jim Wunderman, Bay Area Council president and CEO. “Electrifying Caltrain will bring immediate benefits to Peninsula Commuters and will provide the foundation for other major improvements including the extension of rail service to the Transbay Transit Center under construction in Downtown San Francisco.”