The rail project that, by extremely wide margins, will move more people and reduce more greenhouse gases per dollar invested is likely to be up and running by 2027.
No, it’s not the much-ballyhooed California High Speed Rail which, with apologies to Zager & Evans, will be completed in 2525 if man is still alive.
The rail endeavor is the ACE in hand that the Northern San Joaquin Valley holds thanks to forward thinking by down-to-earth elected leaders like the late Bob Cabral as opposed to wild-eyed green futurists with their heads in the clouds.
Cabral was an Escalon farmer who — along with his fellow San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors members and other local leaders — had the vision in the early 1990s to pursue establishment of the Altamont Corridor Express commuter service.
ACE has one of the highest fare box recovery rates in the country for commuter rail meaning it requires less government funding to subsidize.
It addresses a real need where rail investment makes practical sense from both economic and ridership perspectives.
It was initially meant to reduce traffic congestion and improve quality of life for San Joaquin County commuters whose families are dependent on employment in the job rich Bay Area.
But as the years evolved, it has emerged as an effective way to reduce greenhouse gases.
The San Joaquin Rail Commission, the “owners” of ACE, have launched corridor improvements that will end with double tracking in key spots.
That will allow ACE service to run north from Lathrop to Natomas just across the American River from downtown Sacramento.
It also means ACE trains will run south from Lathrop to Ceres with stops in Manteca, Ripon, Modesto, and Ceres
And while the hub transfer station at the heart of it all is in Lathrop at the Sharpe Depot site, it’s location on train tracks along that city’s eastern border with Manteca means it will be a significant game changer for both communities.
It might be even more so for Manteca given it’ll be less than a mile where Del Webb at Woodbridge is located.
There are some in the 55 and older community who may still work in the Bay Area as well as those as likely to use the robust rail system coming soon for pleasure excursions.
It will allow day trips to Sacramento or San Jose without transferring and one transfer via BART to reach San Francisco.
The real impact will be on the coming wave of new neighborhoods north of Lathrop Road whether it is the Kiper Homes at Indelicato now under construction or no less than five others in the approval process.
They will be within a two-mile drive, bicycle trip, or walk to catch a train to employment centers in the Sacramento and Bay Areas.
That said, cutting a 45- to 75-mile one way commute requiring a car to reach job hubs down to five miles or less — which includes all developed and yet to be built areas in Manteca and Lathrop — is a big deal.
Plans for the Manteca station that is essentially an extension of the Manteca Transit Station parking lot with a passenger loading platform and over-the-rail crossing — given there will be double tracking from Lathrop to a point just north of Industrial Park Drive — are now being processed by City of Manteca.
The original goal, based on a $400 million funding condition that secured then State Senator Anthony Cannella’s vote in 2017 needed to assure passage of the Road Repair & Accountability Act that hiked the gas tax, was for ACE service to Ceres to be up and running by no later than 2023.
Snags pushed that back to late 2026.
The odds are it won’t happen until 2027.
If that is how it plays out, what better way to mark the 30th anniversary of ACE service from Stockton to San Jose?
The coming service to downtown Manteca allowing you to stay on one train to reach San Jose or Sacramento is just the start.
There are two other ACE endeavors on the horizon.
One is a 3.5-mile tunnel through the Altamont Pass area and other track straightening work that will allow ACE trains to travel from Tracy to Livermore at up to 125 mph.
Compare that to the 25-mph top speed on the curvy tracks today.
And while it isn’t much worse than the auto traffic snaking up and over the Altamont Pass on Interstate 580 during fhe commutes, at the end of the day it ends up taking almost as long to reach San Jose by rail as it does in a car.
The tunnel project would reduce overall travel time by 11 to 15 minutes.
That means a commuter going back and forth from this side of the Altamont to any stop along ACE on the west of the pass would spend 2.5 hours less a week commuting.
It represents roughly four 24/7 days a year commuters could be doing something else.
The other ACE initiative is extending service from Ceres to Merced with additional stops in Livingston and Atwater.
In Merced, ACE would tie into the California High Speed Rail station.
It should be noted when the first segment of high speed is in place between Merced and a point near Bakersfield by the mid-2030s, it will still not be connected to Los Angeles and San Francisco as promised.
This is where ACE enters the picture.
A single transfer from high speed to ACE would get riders to San Jose or Sacramento.
And depending how far along a Tri-Valley connection — or a Valley Link to Lathrop — transfers from ACE could get you to San Francisco.
That is not exactly what voters were promised.
But it is likely what they will initially get.
And who knows? Maybe the two just mentioned ACE endeavors could become part of a hybrid solution that eliminates the problematic, in terms of geology and cost, challenge a Pacheco Pass high speed tunnel presents.
One switch at Merced to an ACE train that then only stops in Lathrop could get you to San Jose in a reasonable time with the twisty Altamont Pass tracks replaced with a tunnel.
Rethinking the approach to a more robust and reasonable rail system in California instead of having a death grip on the original vision at all costs makes sense.
This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
