If Caltrain can’t find a dedicated source of funding, local roads and highways will become inundated with new drivers, experts said Friday during a high-profile summit meeting on the rail agency’s future.

“Our mobility up and down the Peninsula cannot survive without Caltrain,” said Genentech Associate Director of Transportation Dan McCoy.

Advocates, politicians, business leaders and academics Friday detailed a myriad of devastating impacts residents could face if a plan is not developed soon to save the beleaguered commuter rail service.

“Caltrain is maxed out,” said Congresswoman Anna Eshoo in a pre-recorded keynote speech in which she feared the “devastation to our region that would occur should Caltrain simply and tragically disappear.”

Organized by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and held at Stanford University, the goal of Friday’s summit was to assemble a coalition to save the rail service.

Experts spent hours outlining the benefits Caltrain brings to the Peninsula and the greater Bay Area.

Residents along the Caltrain corridor use on average 42 percent less greenhouse gas emissions because they own, on average, .7 fewer vehicles, according to transportation advocacy group TransForm Executive Director Stuart Cohen. And residents on the Peninsula spend $550 less on transportation each year, he said.

UC Berkeley Professor of City & Regional Planning Elizabeth Deakin pointed out that Caltrain, unlike cars, is stress-free travel, gets cars off highways, and presents numerous economic benefits, such as infill development.

“The idea that we would let a tremendous asset go to waste is a foolish mistake,” she said. “Everybody benefits from CalTrain because there is less pollution in the air then when people are driving their cars. The benefits certainly outweigh the costs.”

But unlike most other transit agencies in the State, Caltrain has no dedicated source of government funding, relying instead on contributions from neighboring transit agencies such as SamTrans and VTA.

Since its inception, Caltrain has had to generate about 40 percent of its own revenue from fares, and in recent years has done so, all the while accommodating an increase in ridership and significant jump in operating costs.

Since the economy tanked, however, the state has cut back on contributions to the transit agencies that make up another 40 percent of Caltrain’s budget. This has created a critical need for the agency to find alternative sources.

“The partners of Caltrain have been paying for the system out of their pockets,” said Eshoo, “and their pockets are empty.”

Solutions offered by speakers Friday included reducing administrative costs, shifting funding sources from sales tax to other taxes and fees, such as a gasoline tax or a fee on high-occupancy/toll (HOT)  lanes on Highway 101; seeking efficiencies in new operating contracts; and, perhaps the most important, finding a dedicated funding source to supplement contributions from partner transit agencies.

Without buy-in from local, regional and state authorities, saving Caltrain may indeed be impossible, as experts said Friday, but if attendees take action and organize, Caltrain may once again find itself back on track.