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ATHERTON -- Officials in this wealthy Bay Area enclave will decide by early next week if they'll seek a restraining order to stop Caltrain from going ahead with $1.25 billion in contracts for bringing electric train service to the Peninsula.

Caltrain's announcement Thursday that its board had approved the contracts for electrical infrastructure and electric trains drew praise from federal and state politicians for the project's expected reductions of traffic and pollution. Under the plan, most diesel trains running between San Francisco and San Jose would be replaced with electric trains, and passenger capacity would expand. Caltrain said the new system would improve regional air quality by up to 97 percent and take 619,000 daily vehicle miles off the region's roads by 2040.

However, Atherton, which is suing Caltrain in San Mateo County Superior Court over alleged deficiencies in Caltrain's environmental impact report for the project, will consult outside counsel in coming days about whether to seek a judicial restraining order to stop the train agency from proceeding with the contracts, said Atherton city attorney William Conners.

Atherton officials contend that Caltrain has not addressed physical and aesthetic impacts of building an electric train system that will run through the community. Electrical towers will require removal of at least 200 trees, Conners said. And because the system is also intended as a step toward high-speed rail -- the California High-Speed Rail Authority has committed to $113 million in funding -- Atherton officials anticipate future train-related issues.

"High-speed rail has even more impacts because of the speeds at which it goes through communities," Conners said.

The city will decide by early next week whether to ask a judge for a temporary restraining order to prevent Caltrain from proceeding with the contracts until the dispute over the environmental impact report is resolved, he said.

Caltrain said in a statement that it has been "struggling to accommodate unprecedented regional growth, with six consecutive years of record-setting ridership and a near doubling of ridership since 2010." During peak hours, trains between San Francisco and Silicon Valley are at "well over 100 percent capacity" and ridership on some trains exceeds 125 percent of seats, Caltrain said.

"As Highway 101 and 280 have become more and more congested, Caltrain has become a preferred commute option between San Francisco and Silicon Valley," the transit agency said.

Representative Mike Honda, D-San Jose, lauded the contract approvals.

"I am pleased that Caltrain is taking the next step in its initiative to create an environmentally friendly transit system along the Peninsula that will take cars off the road, saving residents from massive commute times and boosting our local economy," Honda said.