Santa Clara VTA cuts express light-rail service

[Editor's note: This story was updated at 1:35 p.m. CDT.]

Effective Oct. 8, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in California (VTA) will end its express light-rail service to reduce the agency's operating costs.

The VTA has operated six express weekday trains for the past eight years on the Alum Rock-Santa Teresa line. The express service reduces commuting time by skipping stops between Convention Center and the Ohlone/Chynoweth Station in San Jose, California.

Although express trains will be eliminated, VTA's regular light-rail service will continue to run every 15 minutes, making stops at each station throughout the system.

VTA will add cars to regular trains if the service change causes a capacity issue, agency officials said in a press release.

Cutting the express service is slated to save the agency between $720,000 and $820,000 a year, depending on the number of extra cars needed to handle any shifts in passengers, VTA spokeswoman Holly Perez said in an email.

"These light-rail express trips were identified for discontinuation because these are discrete trips that are supplementary, not critical, to VTA's core light-rail service," Perez said, noting that the agency is facing a "structural deficit."