advertisement

---

Building a rail line across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, adding elevated downtown trains and implementing high-speed freight service from Oakland to Tracy were just a few of the ideas proposed earlier this week at a Bay Area Regional Rail Plan workshop.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), California High Speed Rail Authority and Caltrain hosted the workshop as a means to gather public input on a regional rail plan.

Attendees at this week’s meeting also proposed expanding BART service, constructing a direct high-speed rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and improving rail service in dense urban areas. The hosting organizations will evaluate each proposal for economic feasibility and environmental impacts.

“The regional rail plan is a blueprint for the next 50 years,” said Doug Kimsey, planning director for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in a prepared statement. “We want to use the public’s knowledge of their own communities to create the best possible plan for the entire region.”

The organizations will hold additional workshops during the next two weeks.