Judith Prieve is a reporter and editor for the Bay Area News Group who covers eastern Contra Costa County for the East Bay Times and The Mercury News. She has worked as a reporter, features editor and assistant metro editor at newspapers in Wisconsin and Northern California and has been at what is now the Bay Area News Group since 1990.
Antioch residents rally at the Pittsburg/Antioch Amtrak Station, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, demanding that the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority reconsider their plan to eliminate the stop. ANTIOCH — Community members this week had a few choice words for Amtrak, which they chanted again and again: “Don’t drop the stop! Don’t drop the stop!”
Speakers at the afternoon rally, organized by Antioch ACCE Action members, said the trains provide a vital service for area residents, and they won’t abandon their battle to keep the Antioch platform from being decommissioned. Within minutes, the rally was interrupted by the blaring sound of an Amtrak horn signaling a train was about to pull in. Among those waiting were retirees David and Diane Stertzbach about to board the train to Bakersfield to visit their son and family. Sterzbach said she prefers riding the trains and that her children and grandchildren use them too to visit her and her husband.
The San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority board, which oversees the intercity passenger rail service between Oakland and Bakersfield, voted last spring to decommission the unstaffed Antioch stop in favor of nearby Oakley, set to begin construction on a new train platform and parking lot in October. As for the possibility of keeping both stations open, Lipari said that “the current service plan, railroad agreement, and infrastructure available does not allow for both stations to remain open.” The new station will be less than six miles from the Antioch stop, a distance that disqualifies having both stations due to the inability to get the trains up to speed before they have to slow down again for a stop, according to officials.
Melvin Willis, a Richmond City councilman who also works with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment for Contra Costa County, also questioned how the move was approved with little or nor community input. Happening near the tail end of pandemic shut-downs, the proposal to decomission Antioch’s station sailed through with many unaware it was up for a vote, he said.
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