Senate subcommittee presses rail agencies for service, funding and resilience ahead of World Cup and 2028 Olympics

The California State Senate Subcommittee on Losan Rail Corridor Resiliency convened an informational hearing at Los Angeles Union Station to review plans for increasing rail capacity, improving reliability and addressing coastal geohazards ahead of the FIFA World Cup (2026), the Super Bowl (2027) and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Chair Senator Blake Spear opened the hearing and said the corridor must be "functional, competitive, reliable" and urged state-level responsibility to ensure passenger service between San Diego and Los Angeles. "These two cities deserve to have functional, competitive, reliable train travel between them," she said.

Why this matters: the corridor is a primary regional passenger rail route linking Southern California cities and will be critical to move millions of visitors and residents during three back-to-back mega-events. Witnesses described both near-term operational steps and longer-term investments needed to expand seats, reduce delays from freight conflicts and harden the line against storms, landslides and seismic damage.

Major capacity and fleet proposals - Chad Edison, chief deputy secretary of rail and transit at the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), told the subcommittee the state is "actively pursuing service expansion for the LA28 Olympics" and is targeting about a 40% increase in total seats on the state's inner-city rail fleet between now and 2028. He outlined three components: delivery of zero-emission train sets (hydrogen fuel-cell trains), leasing legacy equipment (including from Caltrain) and revitalizing the state's bilevel passenger cars. - Edison said the state currently has 10 hydrogen fuel-cell train sets on order (each with more than 200 seats) with deliveries beginning late 2027 and options for 19 more, and that the first demonstration hydrogen trainset has completed…