Fresno Subdivision

California railroad route

Fresno Subdivision

Legend

Martinez Subdivision

Placerville Industiral Lead

Sacramento RT Light Rail

CCT

Siemens Mobility

Ione Lead

Lodi Industrial Lead

Lodi

Sacramento Subdivision

STE

Stockton–Downtown

BNSF Stockton Subdivision

Oakland Subdivision

Tracy Subdivision

Manteca Transit Center

Ripon

Stanislaus River

Modesto

MET

Tuolumne River

Tidewater

Subdivision

Ceres

Turlock

Merced River

Livingston

Atwater

Merced Intermodal Track Connection

Merced CAHSR

California High-Speed Rail

Madera Spur

Madera

San Joaquin River

San Joaquin River Viaduct

SJVR West Side Subdivision

Fresno

BNSF Stockton Subdivision

SJVR Clovis Subdivision

SJVR Exeter Subdivision

BNSF Bakersfield Subdivision

SJVR Hanford Subdivision

SJVR Goshen Subdivision

Tulare

Delano

SJVR North Joint Subdivision

SJVR Oil City Subdivision

SJVR Landco Subdivision

Bakersfield

Bakersfield Yards

BNSF Mojave Subdivision

UP Mojave 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.

Route

The Fresno Subdivision runs from Sacramento, California through the centers of several cities in the eastern San Joaquin Valley to Bakersfield, California.^[1] From its interchange with the Martinez Subdivision in the north, it runs south through Elk Grove, Lodi,^[1] Stockton,^[2] Manteca,^[3] Modesto, Merced,^[4] and Madera before entering Fresno. The line intersects with the BNSF Railway Stockton Subdivision at Stockton, forming the Stockton Diamond.^[2] It largely parallels the BNSF Railway Stockton Subdivision and California State Route 99.

Operations

The line is primarily used for freight movements. As of 2003^[update] a total of 16 trains daily operated between Fresno and Stockton, with 12 operating between Stockton and Sacramento.^[5] The San Joaquin Valley Railroad has trackage rights over the line south of Fresno.^{[citation needed]}

Amtrak and the Altamont Corridor Express operate passenger trains over the northern segment of line. Altamont Corridor Express is also expanding its service area, with new stations along the line planned as far south as Merced.^[3]

History

The line was largely built by the Southern Pacific Railway in the late 1800s. The tracks between Sacramento and Lathrop run on the route of the original Central Pacific Railroad. The branch line from Lathrop reached Goshen in August 1872, Delano in July the following year, and had extended past Bakersfield to Caliente in 1875.^[6] The merger of Southern Pacific and Union Pacific in 1996 brought the line under its current ownership.

Ten miles (16 km) of the line between Ceres and Turlock is expected to be double-tracked as part of the Altamont Corridor Express expansion.^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b SMA Rail Consulting (April 2016). "California Passenger Rail Network Schematics" (PDF). California Department of Transportation.
^ ^a ^b Goldeen, Joe (September 20, 2020). "Feds chip in $20M for major Stockton railroad project". The Record. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
^ ^a ^b Wyatt, Dennis (April 14, 2022). "LINKING ACE WITH VALLEY LINK IN NORTH LATHROP". Manteca Bulletin. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
^ Luczak, Marybeth (December 6, 2021). "ACE Ceres-Merced Extension Project Advances". Railway Age. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
^ Union Pacific Tons per Train (PDF) (Map). Trains. 2003. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
^ Daggett, Stuart (1922). Chapters on the History of the Southern Pacific. New York: Ronald Press Company. p. 126.
^ Luczak, Marybeth (July 12, 2023). "Transit Briefs: Caltrain, Metro-North, SJRRC, VIA Rail". Railway Age. Retrieved September 10, 2023.