2020: A rail bridge with no trail access. 2025: A completed rail-with-trail, open to the public, with tracks still in place. Humboldt County didn't remove the rails. They used flangeway fillers to build the trail around them.

The FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) has sponsored the project to bring Rail Service back to the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line! We've been accepted into the Federal Corridor ID program that will help pay 80-90% of our engineering costs! www.railandtrail.org/bignews/rail...

How do rail and trail share space? Like this. These examples from Humboldt Bay show what's possible: flangeway fillers, shared bridges, narrowed corridors, and low-speed rail running alongside the trail. It works. It's already happening. #RailAndTrail

The Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line is 150 years old. It runs through the center of every major commercial area in the county. Capitola Village. Downtown Watsonville. The Boardwalk. Aptos Village. Natural Bridges.

Greenway's strategy is simple: repeat claims that are completely false, but that they wish were true, and count on those claims being treated as a legitimate "competing perspective." Just like we see on the national stage, there's a difference between fabricated information and actual facts.

Once the rail is gone, it's gone forever. Losing the rail line means fewer options, longer commutes, higher costs, and fewer chances to stay in Santa Cruz County. Transportation isn't abstract. It's whether people can live where they work. That's why we're organizing to build both Rail & Trail.

Santa Cruz County wants to hear what matters to you. Town halls are happening across all five districts this month. If you support transit, rail, and trail, this is your chance to say so. Come on out and let's make some noise! #RailAndTrail

$6.3 trillion on highways over the next 20 years. That's what U.S. governments are projected to spend. More than it would cost to build world-class public transit nationwide. We already have the infrastructure. The question is whether we use it. www.governing.com/transportati...

This is Lenox Street. Tracks down the middle, cars parked alongside, people biking through. It's called a streetcar track. Having rail, cars, cyclists, and pedestrians all share the same space is more common than you'd think. And it works. #RailAndTrail

Know the Facts About Rail & Trail Greenway's strategy is simple: repeat claims that are completely false, but that they wish were true, and count on those claims being treated as a legitimate "competing perspective."

This is what FORT is all about. Talking with neighbors about how rail and trail can work for a community like ours. You learn what people need by showing up. #RailAndTrail

Another trip on the trail. Where are you headed? #RailAndTrail

Should Santa Cruz have to settle for bad design and no rail? A streetcar rail-with-trail design is feasible, affordable, and delivers the full trail length expected by the grants within the required timeline.

Woah! The RTC has gone off the rails! Thursday night, the RTC made a late-night announcement that they decided in closed session to: → End the contract with Progressive Rail → Divide the rail line into two parts

A place to walk that feels safe. Space to share with others. A route you can count on, day or night. That's what the trail means for the people who use it most. #RailAndTrail

Our rail line is more than infrastructure. It is a shared public asset that connects Santa Cruz County’s communities to jobs, schools, housing, and public space.

As we honor civil rights leaders whose work shaped transportation justice and our communities, we continue the work they began. Friends of the Rail & Trail will march alongside the NAACP to affirm that access, mobility, and dignity are civil rights.

Great public spaces are built at a human scale. Art, transportation, and streets designed for people create places where community life can happen. When walking, rolling, and gathering are prioritized, public space becomes somewhere you want to be, not just pass through.

Rail, trail, and transit help connect people to public spaces and to each other. When people can walk, roll, bike, or ride together, public space becomes part of daily life, not something you just drive past. #RailAndTrail

This comic gets at a simple idea: when we design streets only around driving, we end up with more traffic and fewer choices. Rail & Trail is about adding options in Santa Cruz County so not every trip has to be by car, and so streets work better for everyone.

The truth about Rail & Trail: • Voters have repeatedly approved rail and trail together • Most transportation funding comes from state and federal grants • The trail is already successful • Rail expands access, resilience, and safety

New year, same goal. A safer, more connected Santa Cruz County through Rail & Trail. Thanks for being part of the journey. #RailAndTrail

“We can’t all be expected to bike.” That’s true, and that’s the point. Rail & Trail is about giving people real transportation options so not every trip has to be by car. In Santa Cruz County,

Over a 30-year period, it’s reasonable for roughly 20% of transportation funding to support Rail & Trail, while most still goes toward road repair. More cars equal more wear and higher costs. Without alternatives, traffic increases and maintenance expenses continue to climb.

How the anti-transit lobby tries to destroy the Rail & Trail project Their claims follow the familiar anti-transit playbook:

Did you know Friends of the Rail & Trail is run entirely by volunteers and community members like you? There’s no big budget or paid staff behind this work. Just people who care deeply about safer streets, cleaner air, and better ways to get around Santa Cruz County.

As we close out the year, we have genuinely good news to share about the Rail & Trail, and it’s the kind of progress that only happens because of sustained community support like yours.

Rails and trails from all over — faster than traffic, right next to a bike trail. 📍Rio de Janeiro #RailAndTrail

Trail construction is taking shape near Wilder, with views looking both north and south along the corridor. This is what turning plans into reality looks like. #railandtrail

Here’s a thoughtful piece from the Santa Cruz Sentinel about how Santa Cruz can build both a trail and a train together. Worth a read if you care about connected, balanced transportation in our county. www.santacruzsentinel.com/2025/12/11/g...

Here is a look at construction on the North Coast Trail near Four Mile. Projects like this do not happen overnight, but every day of progress moves us closer to a safer, more connected county. #railandtrail

Windsor just opened its new SMART station this year — and the ripple effects are already showing up in local life. This SF Chronicle story highlights how a small town becomes more connected, more accessible, and more vibrant when rail comes back.

This cartoon sums it up. We pour most of our money and space into car infrastructure, but it still doesn’t serve everyone-- and everyone else gets squeezed. It's time we make space for everyone, not just cars.

Vehicle tires are now one of the biggest sources of microplastics in our ocean. It is a reminder that the way we move affects far more than traffic. Cleaner transportation options like rail, walking, and biking reduce pollution at the source and protect our coast. #RailAndTrail #SantaCruz

A supporter shared these photos with us from a national exhibit in Washington, D.C. and yes, that’s our Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line on display. From the first trains into Santa Cruz in the 1870s to Watsonville’s agricultural boom in the 1890s, this corridor has always connected our communities.

Cars can get sleeker and smarter, but without real options for transit, traffic stays the same. We deserve better ways to get around. #RailAndTrail

Rail works here for a reason. Our corridor already links the places people live, work and visit every day, without getting stuck in traffic. We bought the rail line. Now it’s time to use it. #RailAndTrail #SantaCruz

Today is Giving Tuesday, and we’re taking a moment to remind our community that Friends of the Rail & Trail is entirely volunteer powered. Everything we do comes from people in Santa Cruz County who want safer streets, cleaner air, and real transportation options.

Over the next 30 years, it’s reasonable for about 20 percent of transportation funding to go toward Rail & Trail, while the majority continues to support road repair. More cars mean more wear on our roads.

This week, we’re feeling especially thankful for the volunteers who power Friends of the Rail & Trail. Every meeting you attend, every note you send, every conversation you spark with a neighbor keeps this movement going.

Investing in public transportation is one of the smartest things we can do as a community. California would save an estimated $50 billion in healthcare costs over the next 30 years by shifting more trips to transit. www.apta.com/research-tec...

Big news: Rail is officially moving forward with state and federal backing. Santa Cruz is part of the Central Coast Corridor, one of just nine rail corridors in California accepted into the Federal Corridor ID Program — a fully funded program designed to move top rail projects toward construction.

Rail can go where buses and cars simply can’t. The rail corridor cuts straight from Santa Cruz to Capitola and Aptos, which is why passenger rail would move faster than driving even before traffic comes into the picture.

There are a lot of ways to support Rail & Trail, and every single one of them matters. If you haven’t written the RTC yet, now’s the time. If you’ve been meaning to volunteer, we’d love to have you.

This postcard shows the Southern Pacific Flyer crossing the Capitola Trestle more than a century ago. The rail line has always tied together our communities, our beaches, our neighborhoods, and the places we work. Now we get to decide what the next 100 years look like. #RailAndTrail

Here’s a public transit model more cities should know about. It’s the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn in Germany, a metro region of about 310,000 people. Their system runs tram-trains that work like commuter rail outside town and like streetcars inside town, with no need to switch modes.

Friends of the Rail & Trail is a volunteer-powered group of neighbors who want Santa Cruz County to have safer streets, cleaner air, and real transportation options. Teachers, students, retirees, parents, small business owners — all pitching in because we care about the future of this county.

The Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line has been here for almost 150 years, and it still runs right through the heart of our community. It passes by Capitola Village, Downtown Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Aptos Village, and Natural Bridges — all the places people already spend their time.

When the federal government shuts down, everything that depends on it slows or stops. Our transportation system is built on that dependence. Highways, airports, parking, and big infrastructure all rely on billions in public funding every year.

At the Rail & Trail Festival, Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley reminded us that big projects come with big visions. Quoting transportation leader Rob Diridon, he spoke about how we can’t let large price tags scare us away — projects like rail aren’t built for the next five years,