It is operated by the Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT) and has 42.9 miles (69.0 km) of network comprising three main lines on standard gauge tracks, 53 stations, and a fleet of 121 vehicles.

With an average of 22,100 weekday daily boardings as of the third quarter of 2024, the SacRT light rail system is the fifteenth busiest in the United States.

The Sacramento Regional Transit District (also known as simply SacRT) began planning for a light rail system in the mid-1980s, after the successful opening of the San Diego Trolley in 1981 and amid a surge in light rail construction in mid-sized cities nationwide (Buffalo, Denver, Portland, and San Jose also built systems at the same time).

Originally branded as RT Metro,[12][13] the new line linked the northeastern and eastern corridors which both parallel Interstate 80 and Route 50 respectively with Downtown Sacramento.

[18] In December 2006, the final leg of the Amtrak/Folsom project was extended by 0.7-mile (1.1 km), to the downtown Sacramento Valley Station, connecting light rail with Amtrak inter-city and Capitol Corridor services as well as local and commuter buses.

They were withdrawn from use in 2022 as "despite the extensive refurbishment and several ongoing maintenance contracts, the UTDC LRVs have failed to operate consistently in revenue service.

RT recently bought 55 new low-floor Siemens vehicles, that allow passengers to directly enter trains at nearly floor level instead of walking up stairs.

[37][38] The system's station platforms on the Blue and Gold Lines are currently being raised to eight inches (20 cm) above the top of the rail to allow a small bridge plate (on the new trains) to be used to load passengers who require it.

To increase frequency to every 15 minutes, a second track will be added between Park Shore Drive and Bidwell Street to allow more trains to pass through in both directions.

[39] On October 24, SacRT announced they received another round of funding for 10 additional S700 LRVs to their existing order of 45 out of the contract option of up to 76 units.

The plan to extend light rail to the airport has been in the works since early 1990s and is the project most requested by residents of the Sacramento region.

[42] Transportation officials most recently proposed funding the project with a half-cent sales tax increase in Sacramento County, but the measure was narrowly defeated in November 2016.

While originally under the jurisdiction of a separate agency, RT is also planning the Downtown Riverfront Streetcar project to expand service to West Sacramento.