Governor Edmund Brown has signed SB 1029, which will create thousands of new jobs in California by modernizing regional transportation systems and linking them to the state’s future high-speed rail line.

The $4.7 billion investment will be matched by an additional $7.9 billion in federal and local dollars for state-wide improvements to transportation in California.

“This legislation will help put thousands of people in California back to work,” said Brown.

“By improving regional transportation systems, we are investing in the future of our state and making California a better place to live and work.”

Brown signed SB 1029 at the historic Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, the site of one of the many regional systems receiving funding through this legislation.

The governor also appeared later in the day in downtown San Francisco at the future site of the Transbay Transit Center.

Both of these stations will serve as major hubs of the future high-speed rail line.

One of the many infrastructure improvements funded by this legislation includes a two-mile light rail connection that will be built in Southern California to link existing Metro transit and provide a one-seat ride to Union Station.

Construction is scheduled to begin in April 2013.

In the Bay Area, improvements include more than $700 million to modernize the Caltrain system with electrified rail that is ready to connect to high-speed rail by 2019.

These improvements leverage more than $2 billion in additional matching federal and local funding.

In 2013, construction of the initial segment of high-speed rail, linking Merced to the San Fernando Valley, will create 100,000 job-years of employment over the next five years, the equivalent of 20,000 full-time jobs annually.