Today
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Southern Pacific was purchased by Union Pacific and acquisition was finalized in 1996. Prior to the purchase, a 175 mile portion of the Southern Pacific network in southern California (Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura Counties) were purchased by the Southern California Regional Railroad Authority, the parent organization of Metrolink. Ownership allowed the public agency the opportunity to set priorities on the usage of the lines, giving passenger schedules priority over freight schedules. With the ATSF-BN merger, the two major railroads in California are now Union Pacific and the BNSF. Amtrak serves California with the Coast Starlight, the California Zephyr, the Southwest Chief, and the Sunset Limited. Amtrak California runs the Capitol Corridor, San Joaquin and the Pacific Surfliner. Also, Caltrain, Altamont Commuter Express, SPRINTER, COASTER and Metrolink all provide commuter rail service. The future of passenger rail in California looks promising, with funding being implemented for transit in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, as well as for a high-speed rail system.
Read more about this topic: History Of Rail Transportation In California
Famous quotes containing the word today:
“The poet is he who can write some pure mythology today without the aid of posterity.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I rather think the cinema will die. Look at the energy being exerted to revive it—yesterday it was color, today three dimensions. I don’t give it forty years more. Witness the decline of conversation. Only the Irish have remained incomparable conversationalists, maybe because technical progress has passed them by.”
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