The Martinez subdivision is a Union Pacific railway line which runs from Roseville, California to Oakland, California. It is informally referred to as the Cal-P line, after the original

California Pacific Railroad The California Pacific Railroad Company (abbreviated Cal. P. R. R. or Cal-P) was incorporated in 1865 at San Francisco, California as the California Pacific ''Rail Road'' Company. It was renamed the California Pacific Railroad ''Extension'' Compan ...

, who constructed the line from Sacramento to Suisun and Fairfield. (As such, the nickname may only apply to that segment.) The line is entirely double-tracked including bridges, and features extensive sidings.

History

Originally built as a more direct route to the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

to compete with the Western Pacific Railroad, the Cal-P segment opened months prior to the

First transcontinental railroad North America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the " Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail netwo ...

. California Pacific was taken over by the Central Pacific, which in late 1879 completed the line from Suisun-Fairfield to Oakland via the train ferry '' Solano'' from Benicia to Port Costa. The present double-track lift bridge across the Carquinez Strait replaced the train ferry in 1930. The California Pacific became part of the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

(SP) which in the 1990s merged into the Union Pacific Railroad, the line's current owner. The subdivision forms part of the modern Overland Route. The Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority is planning to construct a third track between Sacramento and Roseville as part of a plan to expand

passenger rail Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

operations in the area.

Traffic

The line hosts several Amtrak passenger routes: the '' Capitol Corridor'', '' Coast Starlight'', and '' California Zephyr'' operate 36 trains daily over the Benicia–Martinez Bridge. Union Pacific operates numerous freight trains over the route, and BNSF has trackage rights in some segments.

References

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