California kicks in another $40 million to extend ACE to Turlock. When will 1st train run?
The Altamont Corrdor Express has received a $40 million state grant toward the Ceres-to-Turlock leg of its expansion.
The money will go to double-tracking and other upgrades aimed at opening this rail stretch to passengers by 2029.
ACE runs four weekday round trips between Stockton and San Jose, timed for commuters to Bay Area jobs. It is expanding into Stanislaus, Merced and Sacramento counties thanks to about $1.8 billion in previous grants.
The southern branch’s current timeline calls for stations by late 2026 in Manteca, Modesto and Ceres and by 2027 in Ripon and north Lathrop. Turlock would have service in 2029 and Livingston and Merced in 2030.
The new grant, announced Monday, came from the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program. The double-tracking also will ease freight movement by the Union Pacific Railroad, which owns the corridors used by ACE.
The Ceres-to-Turlock segment got another $57 million last year from the state’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program. ACE is applying for other state and federal grants to cover the remaining $36 million.
SJ rail commission chairman welcomes grant
ACE is governed by the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission, chaired by Ripon City Councilman Leo Zuber.
“The $40 million TCEP award continues SJRRC’s commitment to working with our state and federal partners to fully fund the Valley Rail program, which will connect so many new communities to rail transportation,” Zuber said in a news release.
Valley Rail is the name for an effort that also includes adding two Amtrak round trips between the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento.
The overall cost has risen due to inflation and the need for detailed review of the plans by freight railroads in the same corridors.
ACE has operated since 1998 as an alternative to often congested highways. It has stations in Stockton, at the Manteca/Lathrop border and in Tracy, Livermore, Pleasanton, Fremont, Santa Clara and San Jose.
The northern branch is scheduled to have stations by late 2026 in northwest Elk Grove and the Midtown and Natomas areas of Sacramento. A Lodi-area stop could be ready in 2027, followed by Sacramento City College and Old North Sacramento in 2029.
More Amtrak trains to Sacramento
The Amtrak San Joaquins service has five daily round trips between Bakersfield and Oakland and a sixth branching north to Sacramento. Another trip to the capital is still suspended due to COVID-19. The two additional Sacramento trains will share stations with ACE’s northern branch.
The Ceres-to-Turlock work will include safety improvements at 11 sites where roads cross the Union Pacific tracks. They include busy Monte Vista Avenue and other streets in Turlock.
That city’s ACE stop will be across the tracks from the Roger K. Fall Transit Center. It is at Fulkerth Road and serves city and regional buses.
Some residents have urged a downtown station instead for ACE, about a mile to the south. Officials have not acted on that idea.
ACE and Amtrak would tie in at Merced with the first leg of California’s high-speed rail service, to Bakersfield. It’s under construction between Madera and Shafter, Kern County, but needs several billion dollars more.
