Double tracking Union Pacific’s Fresno Division line through Manteca is key to improving the movement of passengers and freight by rail.
It also is essential to eliminating lengthy blocked crossings at Industrial Park Drive and Woodward Avenue.
Councilman Jose Nuno — who represents Manteca on the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission — noted Tuesday that steps are being taken to get the lengthy process in place to move toward double tracking the busy train corridor.
Nuno referenced the effort after several constituents in his district that covers the southeast section of the city — complained at the City Council meeting about lengthy delays at blocked crossings.
Oen resident, who just bought a home in a Woodward area neighborhood several months ago lamented how the “trains seem to break down a lot.”
Actually, the trains aren’t breaking down.
They are intentionally sidelined in order to keep trains moving in both directions on the single track corridor.
The long-range conceptual plan has always hinted at double tacking the heavily traveled UP corridor to Merced as passenger service is added and freight traffic continues to grow.
ACE trains will eventually connect with high speed rail in Merced using the rail line that passes through downtown Manteca where ACE passenger service is on target to start in 2026.
High speed rail passengers are likely for a number of years to switch to ACE trains in Merced to continue their journey to San Jose, Sacramento, and San Francisco until such time the Pacheco Pass segment is built.
Nuno said he is hoping that the San Joaquin Council of Governments will have a project in place to start working on funding by the time his council term ends in December 2024.
Given double tracking is a long haul and costly proposition, it won’t happen overnight.
That’s said, if SJCOG can get the double tracking in place in San Joaquin County ahead of the eventual effort that takes it all the way to Merced, it is something that he wants to see happen.
The UP Fresno line — on its short stretch through Manteca — crosses five existing arterials (Airport Way, Louise Avenue, Union Road, Main Street, and Industrial Park Drive) as well as two quasi arterials (Woodward and Yosemite) plus Center Steet, Austin Road, and Walnut Avenue
It also has a siding that once crossed two sleepy country roads that saw maybe four or five vehicle movements an hour prior to 1998 — Woodward Avenue and Spreckels Road (the forerunner of Industrial Park Drive).
Those are now two heavily traveled streets where trains sidelined for passing freight trains routinely block both crossings throughout the day for often as 20 or so minutes at a time.
And it will only get worse when ACE service from Ceres is up and running by 2026 and additional UP train traffic comes down the track.
The Union Pacific’s Altamont line crosses four streets in Manteca (Lathrop Road, Louise Avenue, Yosemite Avenue, and McKinley Avenue.
It is unusual for a San Joaquin valley city to have 14 combined crossings on heavy traveled rail lines with trains moving as fast as 55 mph passing through them.
The first phase of the Highway 99/120 Bypass interchange upgrade breaking ground next year includes a replacement bridge for Austin Road that will span the Highway 99 freeway and the train tracks.
Other projects to keep
trains moving on UP line
A $237 million rail project in Stockton will help move commuters from Manteca to Sacramento faster and reduce the potential increase for more blocked crossings in Manteca as Union Pacific Railroad train traffic increases .
It’s the Stockton Diamond Grade Separation Project.
It is at a point just to the southeast of downtown Stockton where the main lines of both the Union Pacific and Santa Re railroads cross at grade. Traffic literally comes to a standstill on the UP line as is passes through Stockton when Santa Fe trains are passing through.
The Stockton Diamond already ranks as the most congested at-grade rail crossing in California.
The $237 million endeavor that already has secured more than half the funds needed to build a flyover of the Santa Fe line for the UP tracks. This will eliminate rail congestion and allow for quicker movement of goods and rail passengers through Stockton.
It will also ease congestion at several grade crossings in Stockton for cars, pedestrians, and bicyclists.
The projection by UP regarding the number of trains that pass through Manteca that will increase in the future along with Altamont Corridor Express service starting from Ceres in 2026 with most trains taking commuters into Sacramento.
That means trains traveling the tracks that slice through the middle of Manteca could triple from an average of 20 to 60 a day.
That is the equivalent of a train on average every 24 minutes as opposed to the current average of once every hour and 12 minutes.
Both Union Pacific and Santa Fe have major intermodal yards in the Manteca area where truck trailers are transferred to and from train flatcars. Much of that rail traffic passes through the Stockton Diamond.
The UP facility is nestled between Lathrop and Manteca and accessed from Roth Road. It has been approved to almost triple in size to 2,186 truck movements a day at complete buildout that is expected in 40 years.
The 2001 expansion of the Santa Fe facility 12 miles northeast of Manteca between Austin and Jack Tone roads has increased that railroad’s intermodal capacity in San Joaquin County from 120,000 to 300,000 units annually.
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
In July, the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission was awarded $40 million in Trade Corridor Enhancement Program funds to double track the Union Pacific Railroad line between Turlock and Ceres.
It now has $97 million of the $133.4 million needed for the double track project.
They are submitting applications for state and federal money to fully fund the endeavor.
Following the same alignment as the existing mainline track, the project will also include the extension of two culverts, modification of the undercrossing at Highway 99, and improvements to 11 at-grade crossing locations. The improvements will enhance current freight mobility and allow for passenger service as a part of the larger Valley Rail service plan.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
