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Cost of San Francisco Downtown Rail Extension Swells to $8.2B
A planned Downtown San Francisco rail extension called The Portal is about to get much more expensive, according to an estimate presented at a regional transit meeting Wednesday.
The proposed rail tunnel is intended to connect Caltrain—and future high-speed trains—at the Fourth and King streets station to the massive new Salesforce Transit Center. Project costs have ballooned from $6.5 billion to a staggering $8.25 billion since October 2022, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
The cost increase is attributed to a mix of factors, including inflation, expanding project timelines and a risk assessment from the Federal Transit Administration that determined that the prior cost estimate was unrealistic, according to John Goodwin, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
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The authority is eyeing 2025 to begin heavy civil engineering and tunnel work for The Portal, she said.
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In 2022, the rail extension was rebranded as The Portal to “generate excitement” about the project, according to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority.
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tomj wrote: ↑Fri Jan 17, 2014 3:32 pm It wouldn't be smart for the state to use surplus money for the improvement. California's finances are shaky at best, shouldn't waste surplus money on it, but I will bet the money will get spent on something stupid if it hasn't been already.Pretty hilarious to read this a decade later.
Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Tue Oct 31, 2023 4:24 am New website: https://www.tjpa.org/Some math follows: 8.25 / 6.0 x 100 = 137.5%
Cost Swells: SFStandard.com
Cost of San Francisco Downtown Rail Extension Swells to $8.2B
A planned Downtown San Francisco rail extension called The Portal is about to get much more expensive, according to an estimate presented at a regional transit meeting Wednesday.
The proposed rail tunnel is intended to connect Caltrain—and future high-speed trains—at the Fourth and King streets station to the massive new Salesforce Transit Center. Project costs have ballooned from $6.5 billion to a staggering $8.25 billion since October 2022, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
The cost increase is attributed to a mix of factors, including inflation, expanding project timelines and a risk assessment from the Federal Transit Administration that determined that the prior cost estimate was unrealistic, according to John Goodwin, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
...
The authority is eyeing 2025 to begin heavy civil engineering and tunnel work for The Portal, she said.
...
In 2022, the rail extension was rebranded as The Portal to “generate excitement” about the project, according to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority.
...
Feds pledge $3.4B to bring Caltrain, high-speed rail to Salesforce center
The decadeslong quest to connect Caltrain and high-speed rail to the multimodal Salesforce Transit Center in downtown San Francisco has taken a giant leap forward with a federal pledge of $3.38 billion to the effort, according to the agency managing the project.
The new cash commitment from the Federal Transit Administration, which requires local matching funds, represents 41% of the current estimated cost of The Portal project.
The massive undertaking would extend the Caltrain commuter rail line by 1.8 miles, dig 1.3 miles of underground tunnel, and construct two underground stations to bring Caltrain service from Fourth and King Streets to a six-level underground endpoint. Agency officials anticipate the rail extension will be in service around 2032 or 2033.
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