PLEASANTON, Calif. — A proposed 41-mile light rail system which would connect the San Joaquin Valley to the Bay Area’s BART system is gaining traction, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
The system, known as Valley Link, would run from the Dublin-Pleasanton BART station — the easternmost station of a line that runs to Daly City — to Lathrop, with the possibility of eventual connection to Stockton. It would address congestion on Interstate 580 through Altamont Pass, which carries almost 83,000 commuters daily.
A feasibility study released in June envisions that the system would connect both with BART and Altamont Corridor Express commuter trains. It would use self-propelled multiple-unit trainsets with hybrid power, with part of its route in the median of Interstate 580. It could be operating by 2024.
The project is estimated to cost $1.8 billion, with a third of that — $600 million — available from funding originally earmarked for a BART extension from Pleasanton to Livermore, which BART’s board decided not to pursue in 2018.
Projections are that the light rail system could carry 25,000 passengers daily by 2040.
