Monterey County Rail Extension Project Salinas to Gilroy

[Jeff Smith]

Didn't see a topic on this; if there is one, please let me know: kion546.com

I was stationed at DLI in Monterey years ago, I'd love this.

They use a stock Amtrak photo in the article, but I have to assume this is a CalTrans project? Or not?

Monterey County Rail Extension project underway

SALINAS, Calif. - The long-awaited Monterey County Rail Extension Project between Santa Clara County and Salinas is finally underway.
...
Once the project is completed, there will be two morning and two evening trains between Salinas and Gilroy, perfect for folks making the commute. There are also passenger lines from Gilroy to San Jose.

"People can work in the Bay Area and other places and hop on a train and come home to Salinas," said Paul Farmer, CEO of the Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce.
...
The $81 million project is being paid for with state funds, including the so-called gas tax.

There are also plans to build additional stations in Pajaro for those in Santa Cruz County or North Monterey County who don’t want to drive to Salinas. There’s also plans for one in Castroville, where folks can connect to the Monterey Peninsula.

[njtmnrrbuff]

Initially, Caltrain will provide the service below Gilroy but eventually, Caltrans will enable Amtrak to extend the Capitol Corridor out to Salinas. It's not the first time there have been passenger rail studies to the Salinas Valley region from the Bay Area. I don't think the trains will just run between Salinas and Gilroy. I think they will be extended to San Jose and even San Francisco.

[Jeff Smith]

Moving forward: KSBW.com

Commuter rail to the Bay Area: Monterey County's plan for more trains
...
The plan has three phases, with the first involving the construction of a six-train layover facility at the Salinas train station. The first phase also requires improvements to the Gilroy station. All designs for the project are 100% completed.

When the rail extension is finished, the route from Salinas to Diridon Station in San Jose is expected to take 91 minutes. Currently, the plan is to have two trains running each day, with the capacity of up to six.

The project is already fully funded, with the majority of support coming from state grants. Agreements need to be made with Union Pacific and Caltrain before construction can begin.

After the Salinas phase is complete, additional stops in Pajaro and Castroville will be added.

[lpetrich]

Monterey County Rail Extension - Transportation Agency for Monterey County - the project's home page. Links to Rail Network Map

From Gilroy, the line will follow the existing Coast Line to Salinas, paralleling Hwy 101, then paralleling SR 156 to Pajaro and Watsonville, then paralleling SR 1 to Castroville, then to Salinas. OpenRailwayMap

There is a possible extension from Pajaro to Santa Cruz, using existing tracks, and a possible "light rail" extension from Castroville to Monterey that will require rebuilding some abandoned tracks: The Monterey Branch - Abandoned Rails

[lpetrich]

Monterey County Rail Extension - Wikipedia - helped straighten out the timeline.

The next part of the work involves construction of an overnight train layover facility at Salinas.[19] The cost of the Salinas train layover facility is estimated to be $25 million.[17] The project is expected to start accepting bids for construction in 2024 and finish as early as 2025.[19] Gilroy track modifications are scheduled for approximately the same time with an estimated cost of $16 million; the scope and schedule need approval from Union Pacific.[20]

Phase 2:

The next phase of the project will add a new intermodal Pajaro/Watsonville infill station to serve both Pajaro and Watsonville, at the site of the former Southern Pacific Watsonville Junction station, connecting with Santa Cruz METRO bus routes for destinations in Santa Cruz County.[21] In addition, there are several proposal to inaugurate commuter rail service over the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line, which runs west and north along the coast between Pajaro and Davenport via Santa Cruz.[22]

Phase 3:

The final phase of the project would add the Castroville station, another multimodal infill station that will be built at Castroville,[30] connecting to a new planned local express transit service along the Monterey Branch Line down the Monterey Peninsula to Monterey via Marina.[31]

It seems like the project will start with service to Salinas only, then to Pajaro/Watsonville, and then to Castroville.