Regional rail rising?

Electrification has allowed Caltrain to steadily adopt a regional-rail service model. Notably, it more than doubled the number of daily trains on weekends after electrification to 33 departures in each direction. As a result, weekend ridership has more than doubled. In fact, it now exceeds pre-pandemic level, even though Caltrain’s overall ridership in 2025 remained at about 60% of pre-pandemic levels.

And Caltrain’s commitment to regional rail could get a boost in this fall’s California elections.

Last October, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that authorizes a Bay Area transit funding ballot referendum. A signature-gathering campaign is underway to place it on the ballot in November.

If it does appear on the ballot and voters approve the measure, a new, regional transportation sales tax of 1% in San Francisco and 0.5% in surrounding counties will be levied. The tax will generate nearly $1 billion annually creating a stable, dedicated funding source for local transit systems.

Illinois is also moving toward the regional-rail model, as the Alliance reports here, with the passage of a transit law that invests $1.5 billion annually in trains and transit. It “isn’t a maintenance bill,” we write. Instead, “it positions Illinois to do something that few American states have attempted: build a modern, frequent, interconnected railway network that treats mobility as essential infrastructure rather than a social service.”

The challenge now is to keep building the momentum in states already on board—most notably California, Illinois, and New York—while making the case for regional rail as “essential infrastructure” for building stronger economies, healthier communities, and a cleaner environment across the U.S.