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On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) introduced a bill that would help fund the Altamont Corridor Rail Project, which would expand rail services between California’s Central Valley and Bay Area.

The Altamont Corridor Rail Improvement Act (H.R. 1504) would authorize the U.S. Department of Transportation to provide up to $450 million in grants over the next 10 years to fund the project’s preliminary engineering, final design and construction.

The project is vital to expanding the area’s economy and quality of life, McNerney said in a prepared statement.

“This project will create jobs, provide a significantly faster way to travel between the Central Valley and the Bay Area, and reduce traffic on busy highways,” he said.

The Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) currently operates weekday trains from the Central Valley to the Bay area, and shares tracks with freight trains and Amtrak. However, sharing track limits passenger-train speed, and affects arrival and departure times. The project would establish a dedicated track for passenger rail. The 85-mile corridor has the potential to serve 35,000 people each way, according to McNerney.

Meanwhile, ACE’s ridership rose 20 percent in March compared with March 2010, ACE officials said in a prepared statement. ACE spokesman Thomas Reeves attributed the increase to higher employment rates and gas prices in the region. Even with the increase in daily ridership, ACE trains were only 60 percent full, he said.