Response to errors in February 27, 2025 Guardian article: “Trump and California don’t see eye to eye, but critique of high-speed train has many on board” by Andrew Gumbel Brian Yanity, Vice President-South, Rail Passenger Association of California and Nevada (RailPAC) Adriana Rizzo, Co-Founder, Californians for Electric Rail March 17, Read more…
California High Speed Rail does have cost issues, but it’s not an impossible boondoggle, and slashing funding will not fix things. On Thursday, February 20th, Trump Department of Transportation head Sean Duffy visited Union Station in Los Angeles to announce he will be auditing California High Speed Rail. This audit Read more…
We need to improve project delivery in order to deliver service upgrades to transit riders at an acceptable cost and timeline. One way to achieve this is through service-led planning. The State Rail Plan identifies service-led planning and project delivery of organizational, electronic and concrete improvements as critical to delivering Read more…
Californians for Electric Rail envisions a California where communities around the state have access to fast, frequent, reliable and clean regional and intercity rail service. To deliver on that vision we need more investment but we also need to get better at building the necessary electrification and other infrastructure. In Read more…
On September 27, 2024 Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2503, which exempts electric rail projects within existing rights-of-way for passenger service from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Based on the experience of years of delay via CEQA lawsuit Caltrain experienced and the aborted attempts by other agencies Read more…
Southern California is falling behind the Bay Area on regional and high speed rail. Sign the petition! Electrification proposal for Southern California regional rail. Metrolink needs to make it happen. The Bay Area’s Caltrain just debuted its first in the state electric service, powered by proven overhead wire technology, Read more…
Last time, we got an overview of how the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), can affect rail projects in general. In this entry in the series on how CEQA holds back clean, transformative electric rail, we’ll do a deep dive into how CEQA litigation caused serious delays to Caltrain electrification, Read more…
California needs significant reductions in transportation-related emissions to meet its climate targets. Those reductions need to come from both the vehicles themselves as well as mode shift – reducing the number of Vehicles Miles Traveled (VMT). Rail electrification is a policy that accomplishes both goals: it converts diesel-spewing trips to Read more…