Construction is expected to begin in 2024 on the train passenger station with bids being sought soon but trains on the Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) won’t run until late 2026. That was the latest report offered by David Lipari, the deputy director of Passenger Experience and Communications of the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority (SJJPA).

Originally, ACE train service, which currently runs between the Bay Area and Lathrop, was expected to extend passenger service to Manteca, Ripon, Modesto and Ceres this year and to Turlock and Merced by 2027 Ceres will have a train platform and service by 2026, according to the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission which is overseeing the ACE expansion.

Because significant work like double tracking needs to take place between Ceres and Turlock, ACE train service likely won’t be offered to Turlock until 2029 and Livingston and Merced by 2030.

Adding double tracks in some areas will allow trains to pass one another. In some areas, wyes need to be constructed to allow trains to transition from north-south directions to east-west.

The city of Modesto’s transit center on Ninth Street has been revamped its former train station in anticipation for ACE train service

ACE also plans to extend a line to Sacramento. Other new stations opening by the end of 2026 are in Modesto, Oakley, Natomas, midtown Sacramento and Elk Grove.

The delay is due to a complicated review process that Union Pacific Railroad – which operates freight trains on the same tracks to be used by ACE trains – must undertake to ensure safety for all and maintaining reliable freight deliveries.

Lipari said a milestone was reached recently when a meeting was held to gear up prime contractors and subcontractors on what will be included in the initial bid packages sought by Valley Rail. The ACE train extension is part of Valley Rail, an ambitious program to improve passenger rail connectivity and accessibility between the Valley and Bay Area and Sacramento area. It also will include connections to existing Amtrak service in the Valley.

“I think it was a pretty big exciting day and there was a huge turnout, a lot of interest in the Valley Rail project,” said Lipari.

The final plans and designs for the Ceres rail platform are being finalized and will be completed in the next couple of weeks with bid documents going out at the end of the year.

“We would look to award the construction contract sometime at the beginning of next year with construction beginning three to six months after that,” he noted.

Besides the platform, work will also be taking place on adding a second track for the station and a 1,200-foot-long fence between the two tracks in the vicinity of the station platform.

Construction is expected to take 18 to 24 months.

“The goal for service to start is at the end of ’26. That’s not solely on Ceres but a series of other projects both stations and track work that have to be completed before we can actually operate service.” 

Another required project will be creating train layover facility between Service Road and Keyes to store trains overnight. The temporary layover facility would be discontinued with the completion of the extension to Merced and a permanent layover facility in Merced.

“That certainly will have to be completed before service can start.”

The Ceres platform is planned for west of Highway 99 near Whitmore Park. Measuring about 15 feet wide and 1,000 feet long – the center loaded platform will feature passenger amenities and safety features such as patron shelters with benches, map boxes, ticket validation machines, street lamps, guardrails, security equipment and emergency call box stations. 

It’s presently unknown if passengers will be able to buy tickets from a ticket kiosk at the platform. That’s because ACE needs to change vendors for ticket sales and the types of services won’t be known until a contractor is selected. But Lipari said online and app ticket sales will definitely be offered. 

Still to be determined is if the facility will be equipped with a restroom although passengers have access to restrooms in the rail cars.

Parking for Ceres station passengers has become a sticking point. Original plans called for a concrete retaining wall to be constructed to shoulder the east side of the raised freeway to create 116 parking stalls along El Camino Avenue from Central Avenue to the southern point of Whitmore Park. According to City Engineer Kevin Waugh, Caltrans has rejected those plans, leaving few options for the city other than shave off part of Whitmore Park’s western section to create room for parking.

Plans call for pedestrians to access the train platform via a 12-foot-wide new pedestrian path crossing beneath the freeway.

That will mean passengers boarding in Ceres can use a train going to San Jose and Sacramento.

Extending the ACE train service southward into Ceres and Turlock is being mostly funded by a $400 million amount committed by the state as a result of a 2017 legislative tax hike. Then state Senator Anthony Cannella cast the swing vote to approve then Governor Jerry Brown’s $52 billion transportation tax hike in Senate Bill 1 in exchange a state promise to commit $400 million to extending ACE as far south as Merced. Cannella has since left office.

The Ceres portion of the job will cost an estimated $80 million, said Lipari.

Ceres would be the end of the southern extension until the second phase takes the line to Turlock and Merced. Until a Merced line is extended, Merced riders will be able to ride south to Ceres and take a bus to return to Merced.

ACE currently operates four westbound trains in the morning from Stockton to San Jose and four eastbound trains in the afternoon from San Jose to Stockton during weekdays. ACE stops at 10 stations along the route: (from west to east), San Jose Diridon, Santa Clara and Great America stations in Santa Clara County; Fremont, Pleasanton, Livermore, and Vasco Road stations in Alameda County; and Tracy, Lathrop/Manteca, and Stockton stations in San Joaquin County.

ACE trains are typically diesel locomotives pulling four to seven bi-level passenger coaches traveling at a top speed of 79 mph. A feature of the train is Wi-Fi connection so that riders may work on laptops as they ride to the workplace.