If you were hoping 2026 would be the year you could hop on the Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) train in Ceres and take a ride to the Bay Area for a 49ers game or a day of exploration elsewhere, there’s some bad news for you.
Officials now say it may not become a reality even in five years.
Why the delay? Not only has construction costs estimates shot past the $1.1 billion in available funds by $250 million, but working out the sharing of tracks with Union Pacific freight trains has been complex.
ACE, which is part of what’s called Valley Rail and governed by the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission, was supposed to reach Ceres with a new platform by this year.
ACE currently runs passenger train service from Stockton and Lathrop west of Manteca to Tracy, Livermore, Pleasanton, Fremont and Santa Clara. Four round trips are offered during weekdays.
Two extensions are planned – the northern route from Lathrop to Sacramento and the southern route that is intended to reach Modesto, Ceres, Turlock and Merced.
Bringing the line to Stanislaus and Merced counties is a pricy endeavor because a second parallel track needs to be laid to minimize conflicts with freight trains. Union Pacific Railroad has to authorize any new track work as well as station platforms like that planned in Ceres. UP said working out the logistics in a careful and thoughtful manner takes time but is something it’s committed to working out.
Other complications are dealing with fiber-optic cables as well as fuel pipelines that run with the tracks from Stockton to Atwater which were once used to channel jet fuel to Castle Air Force Base.
Ceres has been licking its chops over a possible ACE platform ever since then state Senator Anthony Cannella’s snagged $400 million for the southern route extension in exchange for his vote to pass a gas tax increase in 2016. The goal of reaching Ceres by 2023 was pushed back to late 2026 and now maybe another five years or longer.
In 2018 the state granted $500 million to extend ACE north with stations west of Lodi, in northern Elk Grove and at Sacramento City College, Midtown, Old North Sacramento and Natomas.
In 2023 The San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission was recently awarded $40 million from the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program for the Union Pacific Railroad line from Ceres to Turlock.
In preparation for ACE, three years ago Modesto city officials remodeled the 1915 downtown train depot. It serves Greyhound an local transit bus riders but a train platform will be added when ACE is closer to becoming a reality there.
The Ceres platform site has been planned for west of Highway 99 and between the new track and existing railroad tracks. ACE train passengers will park on the east side of the freeway and walk beneath the freeway overpass to access a pedestrian tunnel that will lead to the platform.
Stanislaus County Supervisor Vito Chiesa was disappointed over the news of the continued delays but promised “it’s coming.”
