Valley ACE trains could be making a new stop in Stanislaus County
People can share thoughts on the idea of ACE trains carrying riders from places like Modesto and Merced to Bay Area jobs and entertainment.
That call for feedback might sound familiar. Transportation officials asked the same thing in June under the title ACEforward, but after 4 1/2 years of work, that effort — as well as improving ACE’s existing corridor, from Stockton to San Jose — has been scrapped.
They aren’t exactly starting over, as everything learned will inform a fresh new round of environmental studies; “We’re reusing all the work that was done,” said Dan Leavitt, a San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission manager. But the new round drops west-leg improvements to San Jose, preferring to focus on the future east end, here in the valley.
A public meeting to talk about the scope of new studies is scheduled Monday in Ceres, which will assume a prominent role in the new plan.
Before, Ceres, population 48,000, was mentioned only as a city through which the new rail service would pass, on its way south toward Turlock and Merced. In the new plan, Ceres would get a downtown station and might serve as the valley’s only connecting point for once-daily nonstop trips to ACE’s terminus in San Jose, during the initial construction phase; three other trains each day would make the usual stops in Modesto, Ripon and so on.
Ceres would become the last stop heading away from the Bay Area, in the first phase, including improving tracks now being used by valley freight trains, paralleling Highway 99. People would board valley trains by 2023, although officials are hoping for a year or even two earlier.
“We do take a pretty important role” in the new plan, said Ceres Mayor Chris Vierra.
Credit goes to Ceres’ mayor before Vierra: Sen. Anthony Cannella. Without the Republican’s help back in April, Democrats in Sacramento may not have had enough juice to pass the new state gas tax.
Cannella took heat from fellow Republicans, but was willing to pay the political price to secure $400 million from the gas tax for ACE expansion, plus another $100 million to build Campus Parkway between UC Merced and Highway 99.
“We couldn’t be more pleased,” Vierra said. “Some are not supportive of the gas tax, but at least our region is going to get something as a result.”
In addition to the new station, Ceres would host a temporary layover facility for storing trains overnight in Phase 1. People getting off trains in Ceres could catch buses there to Merced, with stops in Turlock and Livingston.
Phase 1 also would add stations in Manteca, Ripon, Modesto and Ceres, all in downtown areas, and the existing depot in Lathrop might move to another spot.
Phase 2 would bring stations to Turlock and Merced, and either Livingston or Atwater. A permanent layover facility would store trains overnight in Merced. This phase could add one nonstop train daily from Merced to San Jose.
ACE officials also are excited about the concept of another corridor heading north in the valley to Sacramento.
And eventually — under yet another plan — passengers could exit a train in Merced, walk across a platform and board high-speed rail bound for the Bay Area or Southern California.
Meanwhile, the dream of a smooth ACE-BART connection in Alameda County is moving forward under the newly created Tri Valley and San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority.
Monday’s meeting will run 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Ceres Community Center, 2701 Fourth St., and comments are encouraged.
Written comments can be submitted by Feb. 9 to ACEextension.south@gmail.com, or mailed to 949 E. Channel St., Stockton, 95202.
Garth Stapley: 209-578-2390
This story was originally published January 26, 2018 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Valley ACE trains could be making a new stop in Stanislaus County."