Capitol Corridor expands Central Valley-Bay Area service

STOCKTON
August 28, 2006 11:29am

Six additional passenger trains are being added to move commuters between the Central Valley and San Jose via the Capitol Corridor train service.

The 52 percent increase in direct intercity train service between San Jose and Sacramento started Monday, Aug. 28, according to the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority.

Coupled with a 30 percent increase in train service between Oakland and Sacramento, this is the largest service expansion in Capitol Corridor's history, the authority says.

The new schedule will provide 14 daily trains to and from San Jose for passengers' ease and convenience.

When CCJPA began managing the Capitol Corridor service in 1998, there were eight daily trains and 463,000 passengers annually. In FY 2005, nearly 1.3 million passengers rode the Capitol Corridor trains. This number is expected to jump further with the increase in service for San Jose/Silicon Valley area.

"Ridership has tripled in the past eight years, and continues to grow,” says Eugene Skoropowski, CCJPA managing director.

He credits the increasing price of gasoline for part of the increase in train use.

Also Monday, the Altamont Commuter Express train service, connecting Stockton to San Jose, added a fourth daily train.

Funding comes in part from Caltrans to help absorb congestion from motor traffic on I-205 during its three-year widening project. Funding also will come from Amtrak whose passengers connecting to and from the San Joaquin trains #711 and #716 will be carried on this new train.