Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz Monterey and Ventura county transportation planning agencies have established a council to improve the frequency, speed, reliability and ease of use of passenger trains between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Agenda items can be accessed on the Coast Rail Coordinating Council web housed on the SLOCOG website at

San Louis Obispo

Recent Coast Rail Coordinating Council actions include two rail extension projects already underway to ease commuter congestion on Highway 101 and encourage tourism.


One is the Grover Beach rail extension project that will incorporate a bus passenger loading and unloading area, additional parking and improved accessibility for providing direct connections to San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, and San Diego on Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner.

The other is the Salinas rail extension project that will offer two weekday round-trip passenger trains from Salinas to Gilroy, San Jose and San Francisco.


In addition, the council has been working with the Caltrans Rail Program, Amtrak and Union Pacific to initiate a new train from downtown San Francisco to downtown Los Angeles.


Working with Caltrans, the council is programing $11.3 million in Federal Railroad Administration grant funds to design and install positive train control signal systems at 30 existing control points and 111 intermediate signal locations from Oakland to San Luis Obispo.
Santa Maria Times