‘Freedom Train’ Gains Last-Minute Riders, Will Run Again

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) The Freedom Train will likely run again next year on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day after last-minute ticket sales for the commemorative ride from San Jose and San Francisco skyrocketed.

Some 1,031 riders took the chartered Caltrain ride by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Santa Clara Valley for nearly 30-year tradition Monday morning.

It was more diverse than weve ever seen it, organizer and association president Kathleen Flynn said.

She said residents of all backgrounds and from all parts of the Bay Area and beyond took the ride that included gospel singers, U.S. Marshals members speaking about the history of the civil rights movement, and local dignitaries including San Jose City Councilman Ash Kalra talking about civil rights.

If everyone continues to step up, well keep running the train, she said.

The ride between the two Bay Area cities is about the same distance as the 54 miles between Selma and Montgomery, Ala., which King and other civil rights activists marched in March 1965.

The association foots the $5,000 bill to charter the train, and this year decided to modify the ride with passengers only getting on in San Jose. The train then went directly into San Francisco to meet up with a march that headed to an MLK celebration at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Gardens.

Any surplus from ticket sales goes to the groups scholarship fund, Flynn said.

She said next year the train would again run without stopping.

In past years the train has picked up riders in Sunnyvale, Palo Alto and San Mateo.

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‘Freedom Train’ Gains Last-Minute Riders, Will Run Again