SACRAMENTO — Caltrans today released the public draft of the California State Rail Plan, which outlines a new framework for California’s rail network. The Rail Plan sets the stage for new and better rail, and multimodal and community connections in the state for the next 20 years and beyond.

“The plan will guide the state’s priorities for rail investments that support California’s economy for future generations. Public feedback is critical to ensure that the strategies developed reflect the diverse needs of all communities throughout the state.”

The Rail Plan is unlike prior plans. Strategic investments will lead to an easy-to-use rail system offering faster and more frequent service, customer-friendly timed multimodal connections, integrated ticketing and trip planning, and increased reliability of travel in congested corridors around the state. The plan outlines a series of investments to connect most communities in California to each other at least every hour throughout the day, with many regions being connected with half-hourly service. It also highlights the critical role for the rail system to be expanded in its ability to move a growing volume of freight cleanly and efficiently.

Caltrans is seeking public input throughout the planning process to understand the public’s priorities for passenger and freight rail. The public comment period begins October 11, 2017 and ends December 11, 2017. This is an opportunity for the public to submit comments on the Rail Plan through the project website’s online comment form or visit http://www.CaliforniaStateRailPlan.com. The project website provides the latest project information, including the draft plan, and visitors can join the project email list to receive future notifications and updates.

During the public comment period, Caltrans will host seven public workshops across the state, as well as an online statewide webinar. The dates and locations for the public workshops are:

Public Workshops

Seven public workshops will be held across the state in the fall of 2017. The time, date and location for each meeting is below:

Date	City	Location	Time
Saturday, October 14th	San Luis Obispo	Central Coast Railroad Festival San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum 1940 Santa Barbara Avenue San Luis Obispo, CA 93401	10:00am-4:00pm
Monday, October 30th	Fresno	Historic Tower Theater 815 E. Olive Ave. Fresno, CA 93728	4:30 – 7:30pm
Wednesday, November 1st	Oakland	Oakstop Event Space 1721 Broadway Oakland, CA 94612	4:30 – 7:30pm
Tuesday, November 7th	Sacramento	Sacramento Public Library Tsakopoulos Library Galleria Galleria West Room 828 I St. Sacramento, CA 95814	4:30-7:30pm
Monday, November 13th	San Diego	California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 11 Offices 4050 Taylor Street Garcia Room San Diego, CA 92110	4:30 – 7:30pm
Tuesday, November 14th	San Bernardino	San Bernardino Santa Fe Depot 1170 W. 3rd St. San Bernardino, CA 92410	4:30 – 7:30pm
Wednesday, November 15th	Los Angeles	Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) Headquarters 1 Gateway Plaza Lobby & Board Room Los Angeles, CA 90012	4:30 – 7:30pm
Wednesday, December 6th	Webinar	Online: join the webinar	12:00pm – 1:30pm