Californians are ‘all aboard’ rail service as gas prices rise

Ridership is booming on the three Amtrak California passenger rail lines. Caltrans, which operates the service in partnership with Amtrak, has added more daily runs to all lines over the past 18 months, but still can’t keep up with the standing-room-only crowds. This budget year, according to the SF Chronicle, ridership is up 13.6 percent on the San Jose to Sacramento “Capitol Corridor”, 11.1 percent on the Oakland to Bakersfield “San Joaquin” and 4.7 percent on the “Pacific Surfliner” - which offers stellar views of the coastline for much of is route from San Diego to San Luis Obispo. The Surfliner, the state’s busiest train, carried 2.7 million passengers in the 2007 budget year, while the Capitol Corridor hauled 1.45 million and the San Joaquin carried 805,000