ACE Extension to Ceres and Merced (Valley Rail)

Alignment

The extension is the southern half of Valley Rail, the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission’s program to expand ACE and Amtrak San Joaquins service in the Central Valley; the northern half extends ACE to Sacramento. Today ACE runs four weekday round trips from Stockton through Lathrop, Tracy and the Altamont Pass to San Jose. Southbound extension trains would turn off that route at a rebuilt Lathrop Wye and run down Union Pacific’s Fresno Subdivision, which they share with frequent freight traffic. Much of the corridor needs a second main track to keep passenger and freight trains apart, and Union Pacific must approve each design segment.

Phase I (Lathrop to Ceres) adds a North Lathrop transfer station and new stops in downtown Manteca (at the transit center), Ripon, Modesto (at the restored 1915 depot downtown) and Ceres, where the platform is planned on the west side of Highway 99, with parking on the east side reached by a pedestrian tunnel under the freeway. Phase II (Ceres to Merced) runs about 34 miles. It adds roughly 26 miles of new main track between upgraded sidings, new bridges, stations at Turlock (linked by a pedestrian bridge to the Turlock Transit Center), Livingston and downtown Merced, and a layover and maintenance facility north of downtown Merced. An alternative studied in the EIR would put the station in Atwater instead of Livingston. In Merced, ACE would connect with Amtrak and the planned high-speed rail station. Planners have proposed starting with one weekday round trip to San Jose and building to six.

Updates

2026-06 — First service slips to at least 2031

The Modesto Bee reported that ACE service to Modesto, planned for 2026, is now delayed until at least 2031, because of rising construction costs and because Union Pacific has not yet approved work in its right-of-way. The Ceres Courier reported that construction estimates exceed the $1.1B in available funding by about $250M, and that officials say service may not reach Ceres even within five years. Fiber-optic cables and fuel pipelines along the Stockton–Atwater corridor have added complications.

2024-06 — Construction begins at the Lathrop Wye

SJRRC and partners broke ground on the first construction package: a $6.9M, 384-foot concrete box culvert built by Shimmick, which carries an irrigation drain under the future Lathrop Wye tracks. A second contract for the wye track itself was scheduled to start in late 2025 or early 2026. At the time the schedule called for Manteca, Modesto and Ceres in late 2026, Turlock in 2029, and Livingston and Merced between 2030 and 2033.

2024-05 — Temporary Modesto platform considered

To start service sooner, SJRRC floated a temporary platform under the Needham Street overpass, about half a mile north of Modesto’s downtown depot. Utility conflicts, including a major gas line under the planned Modesto and Ceres stations and fiber-optic cables in Ceres, had complicated the permanent sites.

2023-09 — $1.2B of Valley Rail contracts prepared

SJRRC began outreach to contractors for about $1.2B of upcoming work across 17 Valley Rail projects, part of a $1.8B program for ACE and San Joaquins expansion. The state also awarded $40M from the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program in 2023 for work on the Union Pacific line between Ceres and Turlock.

2021 — Ceres–Merced environmental review

SJRRC released the Draft EIR for the 34-mile Ceres–Merced extension in April 2021, and the Final EIR followed in November 2021.

2018 — Lathrop–Ceres EIR completed

SJRRC published the Draft EIR for the Lathrop to Ceres/Merced extension in April 2018. It projected service to Ceres no later than 2023 and to Merced from as early as 2025. The Final EIR followed in July 2018.

2017 — $400M secured in gas-tax deal

State Senator Anthony Cannella secured $400M for the southern extension in exchange for his vote for the state’s gas-tax increase. The fuel-tax money is the core of the project’s funding. The goal at the time was to reach Ceres by 2023 and Merced by 2027.