Californians for Electric Rail

Read more about our transit rally in San Jose! Thanks @350sv.bsky.social @seamlessbayareaca.bsky.social and SCC4Transit and so many others for helping make this a success

Union Pacific doesn't want you to know about this.

Commentary: More Trump and Co. High Speed Rail Sophistry - Streetsblog San Francisco Sorry not sorry you're getting sued for the HSR money you're trying to steal from California, Sean Duffy

Commentary: More Trump and Co. High Speed Rail Sophistry - sf.streetsblog.org/2025/07/30/c...

"...Caltrain electrification has been a smashing success," wrote Adriana Rizzo of Californians for Electric Rail. "Electrified Caltrain is also the first segment of California High-Speed Rail to start operation, and we can apply lessons learned to the rest of the system."

Shout it from the rooftops! Investing in transit agency capacity rather than outsourcing so much of their work to consultants SAVES MONEY.

All of Metrolink should get the Caltrain treatment!

Tuesday's Rally for Transit in Santa Clara County was a huge success! But we still need VTA to opt into the regional measure to prevent cuts and improve service. Please sign up below to comment at their August 1st and 7th meetings!

Build the tunnels, save the Surfliner, #ElectrifyIt

Bill to support rail electrification reintroduced in Congress - Trains WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass) and Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) have reintroduced a bill that would devote $200 billion over a five-year period for rail projects including high speed rail...

The All Aboard Act is back! $200 B in federal rail investments, including dedicated funding for rail electrification, is exactly what we need if Democrats retake congress. www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...

Trains: already (largely) electrified since 2000 - in the rest of the world. California needs to get with the program - we have the technology.

Rally tonight!

The regional funding measure for transit will be stronger with more counties. Bay Area transit does not work well if it's only funded in some counties. The fractured nature of existing funding is part of what allows counties and cities to prioritize island archipelagos of mobility.

In case it wasn't clear, we're talking about electrifying freight railroads.

Join tonight to tell CARB to keep fighting on freight electrification! We need state-wide infrastructure planning, funding, and demonstration projects for freight electrification, policy that encourages mode shift, and no more promotion of hydrogen trains! Virtual session from 5:30-7:30.

134M was secured early last week to finish adding a HOV lane on 101 between Goleta and Ventura by SBCAG
This is the last project in almost 2 decades with a total cost over 1B dollars expanding freeway infrastructure while the parallel rail line struggles to get funding to add more sidings

This is a great argument for level boarding, which cuts boarding times by making trains accessible for all. Level boarding, through-running, and electrification are the three pillars of fast, frequent Metrolink service - but Metrolink has still only committed to one: through-running via LinkUS.

* Capacity IN highways and airports

Vince Fong wants us all to be stuck in traffic on the 99 and his constituents to keep dying of preventable lung diseases.

Yes, definitely, another lane on 99 will fix what ails Bakersfield. (Total economic dependence on Big Ag
and oil — production’s been declining for decades — and maybe the worst air quality in the country)

Building HSR's capacity and highways and airports would cost twice as much as the train. Cancelling HSR funding isn't about fiscal responsibility, it's about culture war and supporting Big Oil.

Recently, SMC conducted its own polling... It showed that roughly 60% of voters would support a quarter- or half-cent regional sales tax measures. About 79% of respondents supported using tax dollars on BART service and 84% for Caltrain...

California lawmakers urge DOT to reinvest rail funds to road projects Congressman Vince Fong, alongside eight other congressional members, has called on the U.S. Department of Transportation to redirect $4 billion in federal funds

California Republicans want Trump to divert illegally withheld High Speed Rail money to highways, in case you had any questions about what motivates HSR opponents. bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/c...

A colorful chart showing how much money would be raised by the regional measure for transit and where that money would go. The vast majority of the Santa Clara county funds would go to the county's transportation authority with the remaining funds mainly going to Caltrain and a small amount going to "transit transformation" (which is improvements in interagency coordination, signage, and accessibility), and a tiny line going to admin.

The Regional Funding Measure for Transit would raise hundreds of millions of dollars for Santa Clara County to invest in VTA and to save Caltrain. But county leaders need to "Opt-In" the county to SB 63 -- the law that'd make this all possible. (H/t Dylan F. for the graphic!)

Rally for Transit in Santa Clara County Bay Area transit is struggling, and is at risk of becoming much worse. In order to meet our climate, economic growth, affordability, air quality, public health, and justice goals we need drastically i...

Santa Clara County needs funding to enact the plan to make all bus and rail routes more frequent, run for more hours of the day, launch overnight service on key routes and significantly improve weekend transit service. Join us Tuesday to rally for transit!
actionnetwork.org/events/rally...

Despite the initiation of pre-construction and its transformative impacts on the greater LA region, LinkUS still isn't fully funded, and has experienced reduced scope and delays due to its funding complexity. We need to end patchwork funding to lock in LinkUS's future. bsky.app/profile/cale...

Through-running will transform Metrolink, offering time savings and totally new service patterns for Southern California - not to mention bringing High Speed Rail to Anaheim. Good to see progress on this important project - and High Speed Rail - happening.

This level of centralized, state "arms around" a program, working on hundreds of individual projects with defined timing and outcomes, is something we need to build in California.

Letting People Move - Climate and Community Institute Transportation policy represents a key tool to address both the cost of living and climate crises. In the United States, the shortcomings of today’s transportation system …

What’s the best way to spend $1 billion for transportation?

Our latest report shows the positive impacts of every $1 billion shifted from highways to transit and identifies key policy levers to shift transportation investments away from highway spending.

climateandcommunity.org/research/let...

To catch up to the rest of the world on electrification, California needs to fund and plan rail improvements like the rest of the world. bsky.app/profile/cale...

A great rail network needs hundreds of small improvements to become reality. Overlooking one or two may not seem like a big deal, but without leadership prioritizing these improvements, the whole program can fall to the wayside, as may be happening with Metrolink SCORE. bsky.app/profile/chit...

This here is the key to Italy's rail excellence. The State Rail Plan is CA's mid-term equivalent, but there is no yearly followup, allowing project deadlines to slip past. In addition to more short term accountability, SRP projects need guaranteed funding to get built on time.