U.S. Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) called on the U.S. Department of Transportation to boost federal funding for the Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Electrification project on Friday.
In a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the senators asked the department to help fill a $410 million funding gap for the state’s first electrified commuter rail system – a 51-mile track between San Francisco and San Jose.
“With additional resources to complete the project, more than 30,000 direct and indirect jobs will be sustained and created during the next several years,” the senators wrote. “Additionally, when the Caltrain corridor becomes entirely zero-emission, it will reduce 110 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions every day and take nearly one million vehicle miles off Bay Area roads.”
The project would modernize the existing 150-year-old rail corridor and replace 75 percent of the current aging diesel fleet with electric trains, the senators said, and create thousands of jobs in California and contribute to job creation in 36 other states. The project would also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 110 metric tons per day, the senators said, and take nearly one million vehicle miles off of Bay Area roads.