Electrifying the Capitol Corridor would enable fast, frequent travel between the South Bay, East Bay and Sacramento. It would connect the economic and political capitals of Northern California– but powerful interests are pushing unproven hydrogen trains technology that could instead lock in poor train service for decades.
The Capitol Corridor is the spine of Northern California, uniting the San Francisco Bay Area and the state capitol. As people’s housing, work and lives continue to change, the lives of Sacramento Valley and Bay residents are more connected than ever. It’s time for our transit options to catch up. But even with record congestion on I-80, a trip from Sacramento to San Jose on Capitol Corridor is slower than driving at more than 3 hours. Also, the trains run less than hourly and that simply doesn’t work for most people. We need faster, more frequent train service that connects our megaregion and helps take cars off the highway.
How do we fix this? With the tried and true international gold standard for rail: electrification with overhead wires. Electric trains have faster acceleration, higher maximum speeds, and lower maintenance costs than the dirty diesel status quo. That means faster travel and better service for riders. Overhead wires are used for regional and intercity rail on the East Coast, Japan, Paris, and all around the world for decades. Overhead electrified rail is already here in the Bay Area with Caltrain, set to begin service in late 2024, and the benefits are staggering: electric Caltrain will see 25% faster local service, 15 minute peak and 30 minute weekend service frequencies. Capitol Corridor riders deserve the same benefits.
Electrifying the Capitol Corridor also opens the door for future High Speed Rail trains into the East Bay. For these reasons and more, Capitol Corridor made a plan in 2014 and 2016 for electrified, 150 mph service.
But right now the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority Board of Directors is preparing to abandon this vision plan in favor of expensive, unproven hydrogen trains that will lock in the low speed, low frequency status quo for decades. Hydrogen trains have been tested in operation in Germany and found to be more expensive and harder to maintain. When they have been used, hydrogen trains have generally been abandoned in favor of wired or battery trains. And hydrogen’s best use case is for long distance, low frequency rural service – not high frequency urban regional rail like Capitol Corridor.
But Union Pacific, the massive railroad corporation that owns the tracks, fights tooth and nail against passenger service improvements and infrastructure like overhead wires. Hydrogen trains require less infrastructure on the tracks. More pressingly, state agencies like CalTrans and CARB are pushing hydrogen trains around the state in order to create a market for hydrogen, in response to fossil fuel lobbying who want to generate hydrogen from natural gas.
To fight back against these powerful interests, the Transbay Coalition recently partnered with California for Electric Rail to make sure that the Capitol Corridor JPA Board got the message. At a recent staff presentation on the hydrogen trains, dozens of our members called in to speak out against dirty, unreliable hydrogen and called for fast, frequent, electrified service on Capitol Corridor.
Fill out the form here to join the effort!
