The bullet train won't open for years, but it's already taking cars off the road and clearing the air. Here's how.
For supporters of rail travel, which offers more environmental benefits than autos or planes, Earth Day 2025 is the best of times and the worst of times. Best of times: Privately-funded Brightline is in pre-construction for a project connecting Las Vegas to the L.A. suburb of Rancho Cucamonga, while boasting impressive ridership on its Miami-to-Orlando route. Worst of times: The new administration canceled a grant for a high-speed rail corridor in Texas and initiated a federal review of California's decades-in-the-making high-speed rail connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles. California high-speed rail (CHSR) currently lacks tens of billions of dollars it needs to complete service between the state's two most important urban centers. The project is even struggling to finish a first phase by the early 2030s that will connect Central Valley cities like Madera, Fresno, and Bakersfield. Still, many Californians are already reaping the benefits of high-speed rail. Aside from the 14,000 construction and planning jobs the project has created, CHSR has funded smaller, local projects that have already opened for business. Most of those, including new grade separations at currently operating rail lines, have flown under the radar. When the Bay Area commuter rail system Caltrain debuted its electrified train fleet last year, few outside of northern California were aware. But the Caltrain project, partly-funded by CHSR (since its future bullet train will use the same electrified tracks), has proven a game-changer for millions of commuters — and become a successful model for other transit systems. How electrification improved ridership Caltrain, which goes from downtown San Francisco and winds through Silicon Valley, was struggling post-COVID. In May 2024, ridership remained stubbornly low, at 33 percent of pre-COVID numbers. Then in September, Caltrain's main…