Gov. announced nearly $1.3 billion in state awards to protect passenger rail service, expand clean buses and advance rail projects, the governor’s office said Nov. 10, 2026.
The account in a state news release said 28 awards through the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program and State Rail Assistance will fund projects that keep trains running, add more than 75 zero‑emission buses and microtransit vehicles, and advance Caltrain’s downtown San Francisco extension.
The single largest listed award is $750 million for The Portal; the governor’s office said the funding will extend Caltrain about two miles from Fourth and King streets into downtown San Francisco and connect to the Salesforce Transit Center as the future terminus for high‑speed rail.
The release said a $20 million state investment will help Metrolink avoid proposed service reductions of 29% on weekdays and 40% on weekends compared with its 2025 schedule and will maintain service through summer 2028 while agencies seek longer‑term funding solutions.
The awards also include $66.5 million in State Rail Assistance for eight projects, and the release said TIRCP’s eighth cycle will support 19 projects; together the programs are funded in part by Senate Bill 1 and California’s Cap‑and‑Invest program.
Practical effects named in the release include adding 21 hydrogen fuel cell buses for Sacramento‑Davis service, battery‑electric buses in Kings County and Santa Monica’s completion of an all‑electric Big Blue Bus fleet; the release also cited projects to improve signals, pedestrian safety near SMART tracks and tap‑to‑pay fares across Metrolink.
“California is turning big transit ideas into everyday trips,” California Transportation Secretary is quoted as saying in the release; the governor’s office framed the investments as part of California’s delegation work at COP31 in Türkiye and as building on a prior $4.64 billion transit recovery package the governor secured with the Legislature.
State
Gavin Newsom
Governor · Democrat
Named 2 times in this story.
Portrait: Official portrait
State
Toks Omishakin
Secretary, California State Transportation Agency
Named once in this story.
Portrait: Toks Omishakin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Sources & methodology
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