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The San Joaquin Rail Corridor (defined by the State Rail Plan as the railroad infrastructure connecting Bay Area/Sacramento – Fresno – Bakersfield – Los Angeles) is a major transportation resource between Southern and Northern California. Caltrans, in cooperation with multiple local agencies located within 11 California counties, proposes to fund expansion of the existing rail system within the BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) and Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) rights-of-way along three segments of passenger rail corridor in the San Joaquin Valley and portions of the San Francisco Bay area. If federal funding becomes available in the future, a separate document for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) will be prepared at that time. The map in Figure 1-1 shows Amtrak’s existing San Joaquin Corridor intercity rail passenger route. Some of the proposed Project alternatives would utilize rights-ofway along the San Joaquin Valley Railroad (SJVR) and the Southern California Regional RailSan Joaquin Rail Corridor – 2035 Vision Project – Notice of Preparation — Page 2 Authority (SCRRA), also known as Metrolink. The expansion of this system would serve to accommodate existing and future passenger rail demand and projected increases in ridership through 2035. The proposed Project infrastructure would generally be installed within the existing Corridor track rights-of-way. The land use setting for the Project area includes a variety of rural and urban uses and the existing BNSF, UPRR, SJVR and/or Metrolink rail transportation corridors. The track and siding upgrades would generally occur within the rail corridor rights-of-way, with limited rights-of-way acquisition if any, and would not change the existing land use of the rail corridor or the surrounding parcels. The proposed Project traverses approximately 357 miles of existing track that is located mainly throughout California’s San Joaquin Valley, reaching into portions of the San Francisco Bay area, and includes three main rail line segments:  Bakersfield to Port Chicago (BNSF) – Milepost 887.7 to Milepost 1164.0 (276.6 track miles);  Port Chicago to Oakland (UPRR) – Milepost 41.3 to Milepost 3.2 (38.1 track miles); and  Stockton to Sacramento (UPRR) –Two separate line segment alternatives are proposed that would extend from Stockton to Sacramento. The first proposed alternative (UPRR’s Fresno Subdivision track) for this segment would extend generally to the east of Highway 99 from Stockton to Sacramento from MP 82.96 to MP 39.35 (43.61 miles). The second proposed alternative (UPRR’s Sacramento Subdivision track) would generally extend just east of Interstate 5 from Stockton to Sacramento from MP 95.1 to MP 136.85 (41.75 miles). Only one alternative alignment for this segment would be selected as part of the final preferred Project. Some of the Project alternatives include secondary passenger train segments that extend beyond the existing areas presently served by the three main San Joaquin Corridor track segments. These secondary passenger train segments include:  Fresno to Porterville (SJVR);  Bakersfield to Lancaster (UPRR tracks) and Lancaster to Los Angeles (SCRRA/Metrolink – Antelope Valley Line); and  Port Chicago to Richmond on the existing BNSF main line.