Central Valley-Bay Area super commuters may see a public transit solution as early as 2027

Valley Link’s first rail service will run from Dublin/Pleasanton BART to Mountain House.

Since 2018, commuters traveling from the Central Valley to the Bay Area have heard talk of a transit system that would reduce their hours-long commutes across the Altamont Pass. But six years and a pandemic later, I-580’s standstill traffic continues to plague the over 105,000 drivers who commute via the route each day.

The Tri-Valley – San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority originally hoped Valley Link — a 42-mile zero-emission transit system connecting cities in San Joaquin County to BART — would welcome its first passengers as early as 2024. The original proposal featured a preliminary rail line from the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station to a proposed ACE station in Lathrop, with the possibility of a future connection to Stockton.

But the current project proposal calls for an initial 22-mile rail from Dublin/Pleasanton to Mountain House, with stations at Isabel Avenue and Southfront Road in Livermore. The rail would provide daily service in both directions at 15-minute intervals during peak commute hours, and could extend to Lathrop in the future.

A ride from Mountain House to Dublin/Pleasanton would take 30 minutes, or around half the time it takes to drive that same distance during peak commute hours, according to Valley Link Executive Director Kevin Sheridan.

Commuters may see service as early as 2027, Sheridan said. The project is undergoing environmental impact reviews and the 18-month final engineering and design process may begin in the fall. If construction starts by 2026, the project will be on track for testing in either 2027 or 2028, with service beginning three to six months later.

In 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill to establish the governing authority of Valley Link as a Rail Transit District, exempting the project from local building and zoning restrictions. And in 2022, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) approved the project’s entry into the Capital Investment Grants program, allowing Valley Link to access federal funding.

Since then, the project has identified all of its funding sources for the initial operating phase, which carries an estimated cost of $1.86 billion. The project accumulated close to $850 million via local sources — funds from ballot measures, local agencies and tolls — and $575 million from state transportation funds. Following the environmental review, the project expects to see $450 to $650 million in federal funds.

Some residents have pushed back on a proposed operations and maintenance site in Tracy and a proposed layover facility — an area to store out-of-service trains — in Mountain House, expressing concerns over health, pollution and the storage of chemical materials used for the project’s hydrogen-powered trains.

Sheridan explained that only limited maintenance, like “vacuuming, washing and checking light bulbs” will take place at the facilities. Valley Link does not plan to use the facilities for hydrogen production, he added.

In response to previous community concerns, the latest plan involves shifting the Mountain House station closer to the I-205 freeway to alleviate congestion flowing from I-580, I-205, I-5, CA-99 and CA-120 that “dumps” into the Tracy Triangle.

“There’s a huge collection of traffic at the San Joaquin and Alameda county lines,” Sheridan explained. “It’s just a bottleneck right there.”

The rise in remote work since the pandemic has not alleviated daily traffic, Sheridan added. While some workers no longer commute every weekday, more people are moving to the Central Valley and super commutes to Bay Area offices have become more prevalent.

San Joaquin County has seen massive population growth in the past 20 years, attracting over 140,000 additional residents since 2005. Between 2023 and 2024, the city of Lathrop saw a 5.4% population increase, making it the state’s fastest growing city.

By connecting these new residents to the Bay Area, Valley Link will provide an influx of passengers for BART, said Tim Sbranti, former Dublin mayor and director of strategic initiatives at Innovation Tri-Valley — a network of Tri-Valley business leaders advancing economic growth. He also said Bay Area businesses stand to benefit from a larger Central Valley labor market.

These benefits also extend to the relationship between housing and transportation, Livermore Mayor John Marchand explained. Valley Link represents one portion of Livermore’s goal to create walkable, affordable communities, where residents “can get the amenities they need within their neighborhoods” without getting in a car, he said.

Former Manteca resident Eric Rowell moved to Livermore because of previous proposals to extend BART to Isabel Avenue. Instead, it takes him around 12 minutes by car to get from his residence in Livermore to the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station, where he takes the 50-minute train ride to Montgomery Street Station in San Francisco.

While Rowell gets to avoid the journey over the Altamont Pass, his commute remains difficult. A public transit station on Isabel Avenue would be within walking distance of his home and would allow him to avoid the nuisance of driving. Taking public transit also means he can pull out his laptop and work during his commute — a perk especially helpful to Rowell, the owner and CEO of a San Francisco-based tech startup.

Rowell is one type of resident Marchand thinks the project will benefit. For him, Valley Link provides an opportunity to shorten grueling super commutes and “give people back some quality of life.”