Manteca once bragged that it was the Crossroads of California.
In the coming years Manteca along with Lathrop could lay claim to another boast that no other municipality can as the Crossroads of California High Speed Rail.
Some 131 years after a discarded box car was placed by the newly laid Western Pacific tracks to serve as Manteca’s first train station the City Council is moving a new transit station closer to construction in downtown. And within a few years after it is completed the proposed sleek trains of the Altamont High Speed Rail system could be pulling into it on its way to and from Modesto and San Jose.
At the same time the California High Speed rail is moving forward. Within a year or so the preferred northern route from Merced north to Sacramento may be identified. One would skirt the eastern edge of Manteca while the other follows Union Pacific through Manteca and along the western edge of Lathrop. Manteca-Lathrop is the only place on the radar so far in California for the two systems to cross although the Altamont High Speed system could use part of the state tracks to reach a southern terminus in Modesto.
The City Council this past week voted to award RRM Design Group a $162,838 contract funded with federal stimulus money to provide 30 percent of the design services for the transit station going on the southeast corner of Moffat Boulevard and South Main Street, they instructed City Manager Steve Pinkerton to keep them abreast of high speed rail developments.
Although the state high speed rail won’t stop here, its operations will impact Manteca.
Councilman Steve DeBrum expressed concern that the decision to locate the station in downtown could backfire since the San Joaquin County Rail Commission is also studying an alternative that would take the Altamont high speed rail down the Highway 120 Bypass median and head east to Escalon to connect with the Santa Fe tracks and continue into Modesto.
Councilman John Harris, who has more than a dozen years under his belt on the rail commission, said ACE staff has indicated that is highly unlikely. The 120 Bypass corridor is being studied as the alternative route to meet environmental requirements.
The design work is for the $6.6 million transit station project expected to be completed within 20 weeks. The project is being funded with Measure K funds.
The 7,000-square-foot station will be accompanied by a 100-space parking lot on 3.1 acres.
The two-story building will include space for transit staff that encompasses dispatching functions, ticket and pass sales, offices for city and transit services contractor staff, a lobby area, a break room for drivers, and a conference room that will be available for public use. The plan also calls for allowing on-street parking along Moffat.
The transit station will hopefully serve Greyhound and ACE trains in the future in addition to serving as a hub for city and San Joaquin Regional Transit buses.
The California High Speed Rail trains are capable of speeds up to 220 mph that would only be attained in “isolated” stretches such as between Merced and Bakersfield. It would make it possible to travel from Stockton to Los Angeles in one hour and 59 minutes with the system designed to ultimately handle a train every five minutes.
The high speed Altamont Commuter Express train project moving forward in tandem with the state high speed rail would also send the sleek, modernistic trains through Manteca with two possible routes in a proposal to extend services to Modesto. Those trains, however, will operate at lower speeds as they will use grade level crossings as opposed to new tracks in the Altamont that will take travel from 10 mph to speeds close to 150 mph. The ACE trains would reduce the trip from a little over two hours and 10 minutes down to 55 minutes.
In the coming years Manteca along with Lathrop could lay claim to another boast that no other municipality can as the Crossroads of California High Speed Rail.
Some 131 years after a discarded box car was placed by the newly laid Western Pacific tracks to serve as Manteca’s first train station the City Council is moving a new transit station closer to construction in downtown. And within a few years after it is completed the proposed sleek trains of the Altamont High Speed Rail system could be pulling into it on its way to and from Modesto and San Jose.
At the same time the California High Speed rail is moving forward. Within a year or so the preferred northern route from Merced north to Sacramento may be identified. One would skirt the eastern edge of Manteca while the other follows Union Pacific through Manteca and along the western edge of Lathrop. Manteca-Lathrop is the only place on the radar so far in California for the two systems to cross although the Altamont High Speed system could use part of the state tracks to reach a southern terminus in Modesto.
The City Council this past week voted to award RRM Design Group a $162,838 contract funded with federal stimulus money to provide 30 percent of the design services for the transit station going on the southeast corner of Moffat Boulevard and South Main Street, they instructed City Manager Steve Pinkerton to keep them abreast of high speed rail developments.
Although the state high speed rail won’t stop here, its operations will impact Manteca.
Councilman Steve DeBrum expressed concern that the decision to locate the station in downtown could backfire since the San Joaquin County Rail Commission is also studying an alternative that would take the Altamont high speed rail down the Highway 120 Bypass median and head east to Escalon to connect with the Santa Fe tracks and continue into Modesto.
Councilman John Harris, who has more than a dozen years under his belt on the rail commission, said ACE staff has indicated that is highly unlikely. The 120 Bypass corridor is being studied as the alternative route to meet environmental requirements.
The design work is for the $6.6 million transit station project expected to be completed within 20 weeks. The project is being funded with Measure K funds.
The 7,000-square-foot station will be accompanied by a 100-space parking lot on 3.1 acres.
The two-story building will include space for transit staff that encompasses dispatching functions, ticket and pass sales, offices for city and transit services contractor staff, a lobby area, a break room for drivers, and a conference room that will be available for public use. The plan also calls for allowing on-street parking along Moffat.
The transit station will hopefully serve Greyhound and ACE trains in the future in addition to serving as a hub for city and San Joaquin Regional Transit buses.
The California High Speed Rail trains are capable of speeds up to 220 mph that would only be attained in “isolated” stretches such as between Merced and Bakersfield. It would make it possible to travel from Stockton to Los Angeles in one hour and 59 minutes with the system designed to ultimately handle a train every five minutes.
The high speed Altamont Commuter Express train project moving forward in tandem with the state high speed rail would also send the sleek, modernistic trains through Manteca with two possible routes in a proposal to extend services to Modesto. Those trains, however, will operate at lower speeds as they will use grade level crossings as opposed to new tracks in the Altamont that will take travel from 10 mph to speeds close to 150 mph. The ACE trains would reduce the trip from a little over two hours and 10 minutes down to 55 minutes.
