Amtrak’s Central Valley train service is getting a new name

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The Amtrak service that connects the Central Valley with the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento is getting a new name.

Officials say “Gold Runner” will be the new name for the rail service that links Merced, Madera, Fresno, Hanford, and Corcoran. While a full rebrand is expected to take around three years, the changes online and on social media are expected to be complete by November.

“I wouldn’t say that there’s anything wrong with the previous name,” said Marques Cook with the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission. “The San Joaquin Valley is more akin to just speaking towards the Central Valley, whereas when you look at the full map and the route that Amtrak San Joaquin serves, it is almost the entire state.”

According to the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority, which oversees the Amtrak San Joaquins, the plan to rebrand the service has been in the works for several years.

“We did focus groups: we had our own ideas that we thought would be brilliant. But of course, the focus groups didn’t like them, because they felt in some instances that it didn’t speak to their regionality,” said Cook.

The name “Gold Runner” was chosen because officials felt it best represented the entirety of the service area covered, from the Bay Area to Bakersfield, and matched the whimsical names given to California’s other Amtrak routes, such as Pacific Surfliner and Coast Starlight.

According to Cook, rebranding “Amtrak San Joaquins” to “Gold Runner” will require almost everything the public sees to be rebranded to match the new name. That includes station signage, train cars, and even the buses used by the service.

The cost of rebranding is estimated to be around $2.5 million, with the project expected to last about three years from beginning to end.

“We already have scheduled maintenance work that’s being done,” said Cook. “And so the plan is when we’re bringing cars in for maintenance, repairs, that sort of thing, we can do some branding at the same time.”

Cook adds that future plans for the “Gold Runner” also include better connecting the service with the Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) that links Stockton and San Jose.