ACE train extensions could ease Modesto-Bay Area commute, rail advocates say

Thursday evening brought more of the same – traffic backed up on Highways 120 and 99 as Bay Area workers headed home to the San Joaquin Valley.

It doesn’t have to be that way, rail advocates said at a meeting the same evening at Manteca City Hall. They talked about possibly expanding the Altamont Corridor Express, which connects Stockton and San Jose, to Modesto by 2020 and Merced by 2023.

“When you compare ACE to driving, ACE is far more reliable than the option of driving on those roads,” said Dan Leavitt, manager of regional initiatives at the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission.

This agency has not secured the estimated $1.2 billion needed to build the extensions, but Leavitt said they have support from the region’s lawmakers. The money sources could include the state’s cap-trade program, funded by businesses that produce climate-changing emissions.

ACE started in 1998 with two morning and two evening trains, mainly serving Silicon Valley workers who could not afford homes in that booming region. It now has four round trips, but could reach 10 with the branch to Merced.

The trains stop in Stockton, Manteca, Tracy, Livermore, Pleasanton, Fremont, Santa Clara and San Jose. On six Sundays this fall, they will deliver San Francisco 49ers fans to Levi’s Stadium.

On board, passengers can read, sleep or plug in their laptops and get work done. Not all cars have Wi-Fi, but that should be fixed within two months, said Chris Kay, manager of outreach and marketing.

The extension to Modesto would start at the current station at the Manteca/Lathrop border and have possible new stations in downtown Manteca, Ripon and Modesto. The next leg to Merced could include stops in Ceres, Turlock and either Livingston or Atwater.

“We are a bedroom community,” said Ripon City Councilman Mark Winchell. “We have a large number of commuters who go into the East Bay, San Jose.”

The extension could tie in at Merced to the first leg of the state’s high-speed rail system. The controversial project eventually would connect San Francisco and Southern California, with a branch through Modesto to Sacramento.

The Stanislaus County portion of the ACE extension has already had a setback: It is not among the projects that would get money from a half-percent sales tax increase on the November ballot. ACE has long had help from a tax increase in San Joaquin County.

The regional rail commission plans a November release of an environmental impact report on the Modesto extension for public comment.

The extensions are part of the ACEforward effort, which also involves upgrades to the current route. This includes double-tracking in places (the system shares the route with freight trains) and expanded parking lots and station platforms.

ACE also aims to connect better with other transit systems. The station in Pleasanton, for example, is far from the Bay Area Rapid Transit station in the same city, requiring a bus ride.

Leavitt has a similar planning role with Amtrak’s San Joaquin Corridor, which has five round trips a day between Bakersfield and Oakland and two a day between Bakersfield and Sacramento. The stops include Modesto, Denair and Merced.

This story was originally published September 17, 2016 at 4:17 PM with the headline "ACE train extensions could ease Modesto-Bay Area commute, rail advocates say."