Discussion related to commuter rail and transit operators in California past and present including Los Angeles Metrolink and Metro Subway and Light Rail, San Diego Coaster, Sprinter and MTS Trolley, Altamont Commuter Express (Stockton), Caltrain and MUNI (San Francisco), Sacramento RTD Light Rail, and others...

Moderator: lensovet

  by lensovet
 
west point wrote: Sun Apr 03, 2022 2:12 am What is the clearance over the UP tracks? Possible electrification clearance?
lol no. if you look at the pictures i posted in the previous post, the bridge just barely clears a car carrier.
  by Jeff Smith
 
Funding: NBCBayArea.com
BART extension into South Bay receives final $375M in regional funding

BART's extension into the South Bay received a significant funding boost this week.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to allocate $375 million to Valley Transportation Authority's Phase II of the project, which includes 5 miles of an underground tunnel and four additional stations, stretching the system into downtown San Jose and Santa Clara.

The allocation is regional funding provided by the state’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, according to the VTA.

VTA General Manager and CEO Carolyn Gonot said in a statement the latest funding "provides great momentum as we pursue the final segment of federal funding needed to bring BART through Silicon Valley."
...
  by lpetrich
 
I looked again at the transit villages on each side of the Warm Springs BART Station.

To the east is Metro Crossing. Its street names, from north to south, then west to east: Halogen Cmn., Velocity Cmn., Kinetic Cmn., Tom Blalock St., Navigation St., Ambient Cmn., Circuit Cmn., Volt Ter., Electric Ter., Network Cmn., Kilowatt Way, Silhouette Cmn., Reflection Cmn., Lumen Ter., Prism Ter., Radiance Cmn..

Cmn. = Common, Ter. = Terrace

It looks largely done and largely inhabited, with some buildings almost done, one half-done and one as a cleared lot.

The west side is also half-done. Its streets:
  • Broadcast Common: Dynamic Cmn., Router Cmn., Silicon Cmn., (unfinished streets), Broadcast Cmn., Wisdom Rd., Client Cmn., Inspiration Way, Flash Cmn.
  • Innovation Lawn: Explore Cmn., Invent Ter., Challenge Cmn., Success Cmn. Advancement Ter., Development Ter., Enrichment Ter., Improvement Ter., Impress Cmn., Engage Ter., Enlighten Cmn., Insight St.
  • (unfinished streets), Internet Cmn.
  • AYA Apartments: Accelerator Ave., Innovia Apartments: Synergy St.
  • Innovation Way, Breakthrough Cmn., Education Ter., Vanguard Cmn., Quantum Dr.
  • Ambition St., Intelligence Cmn., Academy Ter., Vision Cmn.
  by lpetrich
 
On the east side of Warm Springs Station: it looks all done except for a vacant lot that looks like some construction staging area.

On the west side of that station:
  • Between Silicon Cmn. and Broadcast Cmn. is a named street, Access Cmn.
  • The block with Internet Cmn. now has some more named streets: Virtual Cmn., Data Cmn., Pixel Ter., Binary Ter., Domain Ter., Bandwidth Cmn.
I decided to follow the route with Google Maps and OpenRailwayMap to see what I could learn. South of Niles Junction, the UP has kept the ex-SP line and abandoned the ex-WP line. I could follow the ex-WP line from that junction to Paseo Padre Parkway, where it ends. Might someone make a trail out of that line?

The bridge over Mission St. is still there, but that over PPP is gone, and I could find no scar south of it. Further south, BART has taken over the ex-WP ROW.

The ex-SP line diverges from the ex-WP line a little south of Jacklin Rd., and the UP has a yard a bit south of there. A track continues further south, then turns east over the BART line just before Montague Expwy., then north after a few blocks.

The Milpitas BART station is just south of Montague Expwy., going underneath some streets, and becoming elevated at Berryessa Rd. and ending at the BART station just south of there.

That station has a tailtrack that extends to Bayshore Fwy., where an ex-WP bridge is still present. I can follow the line further, because the track is still present on most of it. That track ends at E. William St. and it is then built over until S. 22nd St. and I-280. It then becomes the Five Wounds Trail, extending to Story Rd. and Senter Rd. South of Alma St. it turns westward and becomes what looks like a one-lane road.

Looking further west, it's built over with another bit surviving as a one-lane road.

California - Abandoned Rails
OpenRailwayMap
  by lpetrich
 
Will VTA change its tunnel design for the San Jose BART extension after completing a new cost estimate? - March 23, 2024 at 2:35 p.m. - "The transit agency is reexamining how much the twin-bore tunnel design would cost"

"... shallower, side-by-side tunnels. While that approach may be more standard in the transit world, it would require VTA to dig up swaths of the streets, disrupting businesses in downtown San Jose."
Santa Clara Councilmember Suds Jain, who sits on VTA’s Board of Directors, was among the first to sound the alarm — especially in light of ballooning costs. Since 2014, the cost of the megaproject has risen from $4.4 billion to more than $12 billion. The timeline also has been pushed back from a 2026 opening to 2037.
The tunnel was originally to be 43 feet wide with stacked tracks, and it's now to be 48 feet wide with side-by-side tracks.
The change led to the agency last year purchasing an even bigger custom-made tunnel boring machine that’s 54 feet in diameter. It came with a whopping $76 million price tag, and VTA estimates it will be one of the largest machines ever built at roughly five stories high.
This single-bore tunnel is to be some 75 feet beneath the surface. Is this to avoid building foundations?
“The inconvenience to passengers to get on elevators to go 8 or 12 stories is tremendous,” Jain said.
He is also worried about the ability to evacuate safely from such a depth.
  by lensovet
 
I’m a little lost on why twin-bore requires shutting down businesses. Couldn’t they use a TBM just the same?

Hilarious to hear concerns about stations that are 75 feet deep. Maybe they should look around other subway systems in the world to discover what “deep” actually means? St. Petersburg has stations that are in excess of 250 feet deep. Most are around 200 feet deep. Only 12/72 are shallower than 75 feet, and nearly half of those (5) are at ground level and are not underground at all.
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