Expanded train service is in the works, if years away.

Pam Marino here, certified train enthusiast. I don’t know exactly where my love of trains comes from. I know my parents took me when I was very young to the Skunk Train in Northern California and perhaps that’s where I became hooked.

As a teenager I experienced tastes of freedom through taking Caltrain from the Mountain View or Palo Alto stations to San Francisco with friends. We’d knock around the city for a few hours and then hop on the train to come home. When I was 18, my mom and I went to Europe and rode Eurail all over for three weeks.

I love watching the scenery go by, and the clack-clack-clack of the train rolling over the tracks. It’s a combination of relaxation and a remembrance of the fun I felt riding trains as a kid.

So I’m excited for the long-promised rail extension between San Jose and Salinas. In this week’s paper, David Schmalz shares that it is coming a little closer to fruition, although as he says, while it’s “within sight, it’s not yet within reach.”

There are still design plans to work out between the Transportation Agency for Monterey County and Union Pacific, plus hashing out service plans with Caltrain and the State Division of Rail.

When it’s finally completed—and that’s still a few years out—it will connect commuters between Monterey County and the Bay Area. For the full story, check out Schmalz’s article. 

Someday I hope to be one of the first to ride the new extension, if only to watch the scenery go by and relive the fun of riding a train.

What about you? Will you ever use a rail extension between Salinas and the Bay Area?