Rail News – California awards $392 million to freight, passenger rail projects. For Railroad Career Professionals

The California Transportation Commission (CTC) late last week approved $2 billion in funding for 56 new transportation projects throughout the state, including more than $392.4 million to help fund 10 freight- and passenger-rail projects.

The awards, which cover funding from 2020 to 2023, are being distributed through three state programs: Solutions for Congested Corridors, Trade Corridor Enhancement and Local Partnership Competitive.

Combined, the projects receiving awards will help reduce traffic, improve goods movement, increase transit service, expand the state’s managed lanes network and invest in bicycle and pedestrian improvements, CTC officials said in a press release.

The CTC received 130 application requests for $3.7 billion in projects, almost twice the funding available.

Funds awarded under the Solutions for Congested Corridors include:
• $67.1 million to the Placer-Sacramento Gateway Corridor, Phase 1, a package of multimodal improvements linking Placer and Sacramento counties along Interstate 80. The project includes enhancing service reliability along the Sacramento Regional Transit District’s light-rail Blue Line. Total project cost: $135.1 million.
• $60 million to Bay Area Rapid Transit’s (BART) Train Control Modernization Program, designed to allow BART to increase the number of trains operating through the Transbay Tube. Total project cost: $1.1 billion.

Funds awarded under the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program include:
• $8 million to the Fourth Track Rail Expansion at Ocean, Port of Long Beach. Part of the East Basin Rail Gateway Expansion, the project will add a new fourth track, realign and reconfigure 3,000 feet of three existing tracks and rail crossovers, and improve rail signals to increase the reliability and capacity of the connection between marine terminals and the Alameda Corridor. Total project cost: $24.8 million.
• $10.3 million, McKinley Street Grade Separation in the city of Corona. The project calls for construction of a new four-lane overhead grade separation at the BNSF Railway Co. double tracks near the McKinley Street intersection with Sampson Avenue. Total project cost: $108.3 million.
• $19.2 million to the Port of Los Angeles Fenix Container Terminal Intermodal Rail Yard Expansion and Modernization Project, which entails adding five new working tracks north of the parallel to the existing Fenix on-dock rail yard. Total project cost: $51.47 million.
• $106.4 million to the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Intermodal Improvement Program, which implements key capital improvements along the San Diego Subdivision Rail Corridor. The project is designed to facilitate freight trips from the Port of San Diego to points state- and nation-wide. The corridor is important as the only viable freight-rail connection for the San Diego region. Total project cost: $202 million.
• $5.3 million to the Port of Stockton Rail Bridge Replacement, a project that calls for replacing an existing outdated wood bridge. Total project cost: $46 million.
• $100 million for the Stockton Diamond Grade Separation. Total project cost: $237 million.

Funds awarded under the Local Partnership Competitive Program include:
• $2.8 million to the Windsor River Road and Intersection Improvement and Multi-use Pathway Connector, which is designed to improve safety and other factors for a new active rail line that’s part of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) commuter service. Total construction cost: $8 million.
• $13.3 million to the South Watt Avenue Improvement in Sacramento County, a project aimed at relieving congestion and improving mobility choices on a major arterial corridor. Planned improvements include upgrading a rail crossing.