Sacramento Railyards project breaks ground

The Sacramento downtown rail line relocation project is now underway. Moving the rail lines is the first phase of a long-term project that includes the construction of the intermodal station, which will connect downtown to Amtrak and Capitol Corridor trains, RT light rail and buses. Congresswoman Doris O. Matsui (D-CA), who was there at the project's ground breaking, has been an advocate for the rail line project and helped secure over $26 million dollars in federal Recovery Act funding to help relocate the rail lines. The project will create over 350 construction jobs onsite and a total of 1,107 local jobs including the offsite jobs by way of subcontracting, truck drivers, material producers, service providers and others. "Relocating the rail lines has been one of Sacramento's top priorities for a number of years now, and is the first step in a much larger plan for downtown," said Congresswoman Matsui. "This relocation will improve safety and efficiency, and allow for the development of both the intermodal facility and the Railyards. This groundbreaking is the culmination of the efforts of hundreds of people at every level of government and is a great victory for the City of Sacramento. "We must continue to make investments in our local infrastructure, from transportation to flood protection, in order to put people back to work today and plan for tomorrow," Matsui added. "The rail line relocation project is a prime example of the type of projects we must stay focused on and the federal government must continue to support."