Modesto-area residents can ride Amtrak to Sacramento once again, a night train for now
Amtrak will restore one of its trains from the San Joaquin Valley to Sacramento starting Monday, Oct. 18.
The service has been suspended since March 2020 because of COVID-19. It runs between Bakersfield and the capital by way of Modesto, Denair and eight other stations.
A caveat: It’s a late train, arriving in Sacramento at 11:35 p.m. daily after departing Bakersfield at 6:12 p.m. The restored southbound train will leave Sacramento at 6:26 a.m. and reach Bakersfield at 11:57 a.m.
Amtrak is still suspending a train that had arrived in Sacramento at midday. Rail planners must weigh both the passenger demand and the need to mesh with the frequent freight traffic on the route.
Amtrak also runs five round trips between Bakersfield and Oakland, branching west at Stockton. And it connects with a network of Thruway buses that reach much of California.
Ticket and other information is at www.amtraksanjoaquins.com.
The added train service “represents an important step forward for our service as we work to provide the safest, most convenient and reliable transportation possible,” marketing manager David Lipari said in a news release.
Amtrak continues to require face masks on trains and at stations and has done extra cleaning to help control COVID-19.
Amtrak plans to have four daily trains to Sacramento by 2023 thanks to $900.5 million in state grants that also will expand the Altamont Corridor Express.
Both Amtrak and ACE will stop at new stations on a less busy freight route to Sacramento. The stations will be west of Lodi, in Elk Grove and at four capital-area locations. Amtrak will continue to have two daily trips on the old route, stopping in downtown Lodi and Sacramento.
ACE now runs four weekday round trips from Stockton to San Jose by way of Livermore and Fremont. It plans to add stations in the downtowns of Manteca, Ripon, Modesto and Ceres by 2023. Stations in Turlock, Livingston or Atwater, and Merced could be in use by 2025.
Both ACE and Amtrak will feed passengers into the first leg of the state’s high-speed rail system, if it withstands efforts to divert the money elsewhere. It could be operating between Merced and Bakersfield by 2029 unless the current construction is interrupted.
