Caltrain
Gov. Jerry Brown, Peninsula congresswomen, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and state legislative leaders gathered in Millbrae with shovels-in hands to mark the beginning of a four-year construction project to electrify Caltrain.
The Daily Journal
In 1995, planners forecasted that the Millbrae BART Station in San Mateo County, where riders can transfer to/from Caltrain, would attract 16,500 weekday riders. Fourteen years after it opened, ridership is 7,000. Planners were off by 58 percent.
San Francisco Chronicle
The oldest commuter rail line west of the Mississippi is also unique in another way—it lacks a dedicated source of operating revenue. Legislation has been introduced to allow Peninsula counties to vote to increase sales taxes by 0.125 percent.
The Daily Journal
Apple's new campus contains thousands of parking spaces, but neither transit options nor daycare.
Wired
Nothing comes easy for high-speed rail, or anything connected to it, as the agency that runs Caltrain learned in February. But now that a $647 million federal grant has been approved, $713 million in state bond funds will be directed to the project.
Los Angeles Times
A week ago, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao indicated she would not sign-off on the $647 million federal grant for the $2 billion Caltrain electrification project. On Monday, she changed her mind.
The Mercury News
Electrifying Caltrain is low-hanging fruit for Infrastructure spending. Unfortunately, the fruit may spoil on the vine because the California GOP and Donald Trump have put the project on hold.
Medium
In one of her first major decisions, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao deferred a decision on a critical $647 million federal grant to electrify the 51-mile San Francisco to San Jose Caltrain line, which would also be used by high-speed rail.
SF Gate
California's GOP congressional delegation has written the U.S. DOT asking them to delay a vital $647 million grant needed to electrify the 55-mile, San Francisco-to-San Jose commuter line on which 92 diesel-powered commuter trains operate daily.
The Mercury News
Up against an unexpected federal requirement to produce substantially more funds for a crucial rail project, San Mateo County's transportation authority showed the importance of "self-help" counties that control local transportation sales tax funds.
The Daily Journal
A new survey has found that every day more than 800 tech buses are traveling on the region's roadways, carrying around 34,000 passengers daily
San Francisco Business Times
At their July 7 meeting, the Caltrain Joint Powers Board, a 3-county body that administers the crowded San Jose-to-San Francisco commuter rail line, unanimously approved $1.25 billion in contracts to rail and infrastructure firms for electrification.
Streetsblog SF
As a result of a critical lawsuit that California high-speed rail opponents lost last March, a bill to release $1.1 billion in 2008 bond funds has been advanced to fund high-speed rail 'bookend' projects, particularly Caltrain electrification.
Associated Press
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority unanimously approved the 30-year, half-cent transportation sales tax for the countywide ballot in November. $1.5 billion in tax revenues would go to Phase II of a BART extension in the Silicon Valley.
Planetizen
The lawsuit by Kings County et.al. was a significant threat to California's $64 billion rail plan, based on the plan's ability to meet the terms promised in the 2008 proposition, such as travel time due to sharing tracks with Caltrain.
The Fresno Bee
New pilot projects authorized by the FAST Act include allowing private operators to bid on operating three of Amtrak's 15 long-distance lines for up to eight years "provided they reduce the need for taxpayer support" and allowing pets on trains.
The Wall Street Journal - Business
The Surface Transportation Board's denial of Caltrain's request to provide an exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act gives the go ahead to the Town of Atherton's lawsuit requesting the rail board redo its Environmental Impact Report.
The Daily Journal
The San Francisco to San Jose Caltrain commuter rail line continues to set ridership records, but capacity has not increased, much to riders' chagrin. Starting today, four train sets will add a sixth car, courtesy of Metrolink commuter rail.
San Mateo Daily Journal
That's the question asked by legislation introduced after a Metro-North commuter train slammed into an SUV at a crossing in Valhalla, N.Y., killing six people. More than 200 people die annually in over 2,000 grade crossing crashes.
Progressive Railroading
All four cars* of a Metrolink train derailed sending 28 people to the hospital, four with critical injuries. The southbound Ventura line train was headed to Union Station Los Angeles when it hit the produce truck at 5:45 AM.
NBC Los Angeles
