The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District has been granted $81 million in state funding to extend passenger rail service to communities up through Healdsburg in northern Sonoma County, according to the rail line’s officials.

The funding is from two grant programs, the Solutions for Congested Corridors and Local Partnership Competitive Program, and is being matched by $187.7 million in other secured federal, state, regional, and local funds, SMART said.

The SCCP award includes an additional $6 million to acquire a zero-emission locomotive for the SMART railroad.

“Full steam ahead!” said state Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire, D-North Coast, in a statement released by SMART. “The momentum is real and the SMART Train keeps on chugging north and will soon be serving riders from one end of the North Bay to the other!”

The station complex at 300 Hudson St. in Healdsburg appears in a 2025 Google aerial image. The property will be the location for the new SMART Healdsburg station. (Google image)

With this award, SMART will serve the newly opened Windsor Station north through Healdsburg to the northern Healdsburg city limits.

“Northern Sonoma County is an important part of the Bay Area, and extending our rail and pathway to Healdsburg and the Alexander Valley will connect people to jobs and grow regional-tourism-supported industries,” said Chris Coursey, chair of the SMART Board of Directors.”

The project will be delivered by 2028, Coursey said.

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.