And those are opportunities area companies shouldn't pass up, said Michael Ammann, chief executive of the San Joaquin Partnership.

The partnership hosted a forum Tuesday morning in Stockton to detail the region's railroad resources and expansion plans - including those of California's high-speed rail, Altamont Commuter Express and private freight hauling.

Ben Tripousis, regional director of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, said construction of the rail system's initial leg from Merced to Fresno is slated to begin this summer.

The nearly $1 billion project is expected to generate 20,000 short-term construction jobs a year for the next five years. The authority has set a goal of giving 30 percent of the work to small businesses, with special incentives for minority-, woman- or disabled-veteran-owned firms.

While the objective is to provide high-speed-rail connections between Northern and Southern California, Tripousis said, "It's really a land-use and economic development project."

The high-speed-rail system, to be build in different segments, by 2029 is projected to run from San Francisco to Los Angeles, with travelers making the trip in less than three hours at speeds of more than 200 mph.

It will also be built to coordinate with and complement other existing and future regional rail systems, such as the ACE commuter service between Stockton and San Jose and Amtrak's San Joaquin system.

Stacey Mortensen, ACE's executive director, said while the rail agencies don't necessarily agree on everything, "We are committed to working together."

The High-Speed Rail Authority is giving ACE the lead role in making improvements to its existing Altamont line, including making connections to BART in the East Bay.

And ACE is also looking to extend its commuter service to downtown Modesto and, eventually, beyond to Merced to connect with the high-speed service.

"We think the stars are aligning," Mortensen said about developing those connections.

By April to June of next year, she expects to begin environmental studies and preliminary engineering on the Modesto extension, which very initial projections say may cost $181 million.

Stockton's history is its blueprint for the future, said Andrew Chesley, executive director of the San Joaquin Council of Governments. Founded as a transit and trade center between San Francisco and the gold mines of the Mother Lode, it remains a major transportation hub between the San Joaquin Valley and the rest of the world.

He highlighted the county's two intermodal facilities - Burlington Northern Santa Fe in Stockton and Union Pacific in Lathrop - where steel shipping containers are transferred between rail and truck. There are other intermodal facilities in Northern California, there are two more intermodal operations in Alameda, near the major container port in Oakland, and one in Fresno.

"We have some of the best locations and the best capacity on the West Coast of the United States," he said.

Perhaps, bring your railway relatives from janakpur and other areas on H1B?

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