The Sacramento Subdivision is a

rail line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

owned and operated by the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. The line begins in Marysville as a continuation of the Canyon Subdivision at a junction with the Valley Subdivision (the former

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was ...

line), and travels south through the Central Valley to a junction with the

Fresno Subdivision The Fresno Subdivision is a railroad in California owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad. Mostly built by the Southern Pacific Railroad in the 1870s, the line traverses the San Joaquin Valley on a northwest to southeast alignment. Rou ...

Stockton Stockton may refer to: Places Australia * Stockton, New South Wales * Stockton, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region New Zealand *Stockton, New Zealand United Kingdom *Stockton, Cheshire *Stockton, Norfolk *Stockton, Chirbu ...

. South of

Downtown Sacramento Downtown Sacramento is the central business district of the city of Sacramento. Downtown is generally defined as the area south of the American River, east of the Sacramento River, north of Broadway, and west of 16th Street. The central busines ...

, the

Sacramento RT Light Rail Sacramento RT Light Rail is a light rail system that serves the Sacramento, California area. It consists of three rail lines, 54 stations, and a fleet of 96 vehicles. It is operated by the Sacramento Regional Transit District (RT). With an ave ...

Blue Line runs adjacent to the

right of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

until a flyover near Consumnes River Boulevard. The route between Sacramento and Stockton hosts about 12 to 20 freight trains daily . The subdivision was formerly part of the

Western Pacific Railroad The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dir ...

Feather River Route The Feather River Route is a rail line that was built and operated by the Western Pacific Railroad. It was constructed between 1906 and 1909, and connects the cities of Oakland, California, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The line was built to compe ...

. Passenger services along the line ceased with the cancellation of the original ''California Zephyr'' in 1970, but the

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

Coast Starlight The ''Coast Starlight'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. The train, which has operated continuously since Amtrak's formati ...

'' was rerouted along the line starting in 1997 between Marysville and Sacramento. In the 2010s, demand had increased for more passenger services between Stockton and Sacramento, but the sole existing route along the Fresno Subdivision was deemed to be at-capacity without prohibitively expensive upgrades. This led to the parallel Sacramento Subdivision being selected to carry additional

San Joaquins The ''San Joaquins'' is a passenger train service operated by Amtrak in California's San Joaquin Valley. Six daily round trips run between its southern terminus at Bakersfield and Stockton, with onward service to Sacramento (all round trips) an ...

'' and new

Altamont Corridor Express The Altamont Corridor Express (also known as ACE, formerly Altamont Commuter Express) is a commuter rail service in California, connecting Stockton and San Jose during peak hours only. ACE is named for the Altamont Pass, through which it runs ...

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are co ...

trains. Six new stations were planned: three in Sacramento and one each near

Lodi Lodi may refer to: Places Canada * Lodi, Ontario, a community in North Stormont, Ontario, Canada Italy * Lodi, Lombardy, in the Province of Lodi of the Lombardy region ** Treaty of Lodi, 1454 between Italian city-states ** Battle of Lodi, 1796 in ...

, Elk Grove, and

Natomas Natomas is a community in northwestern Sacramento, in the U.S. state of California. North Natomas was historically an agricultural area on the floodplains of the Sacramento River, but grew quickly starting in the mid-1990s with extensive residen ...

. A proposed North Elk Grove station was eliminated from planning in September 2020.

References

Rail lines in California Union Pacific Railroad lines {{California-transport-stub