FTA provides Caltrain second installment of funding, which is not nearly enough
Written by RT&S Staff
Grade-separated East 25th Avenue reopens.
Caltrain
Caltrain will take whatever it can get at this point, and whenever it can get it. The Federal Transit Administration will be giving the struggling rail service another $15.3 million in aid.
The money comes from the CARES Act, and the first installment was $49.3 million. Caltrain will use the money to support operations. The rail service has struggled mightily during the pandemic, as ridership has been down as much as 95 percent. Caltrain could be looking at an operating deficit of as much as $80 million by the end of the next fiscal year on June 30, 2021.
Caltrain spokesperson Dan Lieberman says the dose of federal funding is not enough to get the rail service to the end of 2020, and more money will be needed. There will be an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax increase on the November ballot, which will generate $100 million annually to serve Caltrain over the next 30 years if it is approved by the voters.
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