Big expansion of train service to Central Valley, San Jose is delayed and over budget

The start of new rail service connecting Sacramento with the Central Valley and San Jose is at least three years behind schedule and over budget, forcing officials to consider dropping some of the 16 new train stations that were part of the $1.3 billion-plus plan.

The vast project is part of a regional expansion of rail travel that would start in north Sacramento, head south and then split off in North Lathrop on separate lines toward Ceres or San Jose. It’s the largest buildout of rail service in California in more than two decades, part of an effort to get super-commuters and other travelers off the growing Central Valley’s congested freeways.

Four of the new stations scheduled to be built are in Sacramento, a fifth is in Elk Grove and a sixth in Lodi. The new midtown station will reintroduce passenger service to that section of

Sacramento for the first time in more than 50 years. Other stations would pop up in Manteca, Ripon, Modesto and Merced.

“We may delay certain stations being constructed as we search for additional funds for the program,” said David Lipari, manager of marketing & outreach for the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority and the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission. The two groups are running the train expansion program.

The delays and cost overruns of the program will sound familiar to anyone following the plight of California’s high-speed rail project, which officials want to run between

Merced and Bakersfield in its first phase. The new regional train expansion is designed to connect passengers with highspeed rail when, and if, it’s eventually built. Ultimately, the high speed is supposed to go between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Future lines after that could extend the system to Sacramento and San Diego.

Train passengers can already get from Sacramento to San Jose and the Central Valley via the Amtrak station downtown. But a second Sacramento-area line that does not connect with the existing downtown station will add more station choices and more trains.

The plan also includes the extension of ACE commuter train service to Sacramento for the first time. In addition, a new line for the ACE trains is scheduled to be built in the Central

Valley. The line will go from North Lathrop to Ceres, and eventually to Merced.

It’s unclear which of the planned new Sacramento area stations or those in the Central Valley could be tossed out of the plan.

But developers are moving forward with community meetings, including one last week in Sacramento, and designs for stations in Natomas north of Sacramento and midtown.

“We are not speculating on what stations will or will not be constructed,” Lipari said.