Planners are working quickly to refine a proposal for a $1.8 billion project connecting the 680 corridor in the East Bay Area to bedroom communities in the Central Valley.

"A newly-formed transit authority is moving at a lightning pace to design and build a rail link between the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station and Lathrop in the Central Valley," reports Erin Baldassari. The newly formed rail authority is known as the Tri-Valley-San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority.
"The authority’s governing board last month released its vision for the Valley Link: a 10-station commuter line, with BART-like service in the Tri-Valley, that could start carrying passengers in five to seven years."
According to Baldassari, the new rail link could come as welcome relief to super commuters traveling between the far East Bay and the Central Valley, which is an increasingly common practice in what officials are calling the "megaregion."
The article includes a lot more details on what the new rail line could deliver in terms of service, and what to expect from next steps in the planning process.
FULL STORY: Meet the Valley Link: Your ticket out of mega-commuting hell

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