BART pushes south as construction project makes progress
Tom Vacar
KTVU.com
March 23, 2015
MILPITAS, Calif. (KTVU) - BART took another big step in getting to the South Bay with a major construction project in Milpitas.
BART's push south beyond Fremont station is well underway from the north and from the south. The South Bay's Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) closed its Montague station Monday for five months.
"That closure is so that we can build the pedestrian over crossing which will connect riders transferring from the future BART system to the VTA light rail system," says Bernice Alaniz, VTA's Marketing Director.
When the connection is finalized, the little-used station will be transformed into to a major transportation hub. "That ridership growing at the Montague Station will be more than 50 times. On opening day of BART, we'll serve around 3,000 – 3,200 passengers a day at the station," says Alaiz.
More reconstruction work in Mountain View, plus the adding of a second rail line, will complete the project and a half century old dream - to put a rail necklace of BART, Caltrain and VTA around the entire Bay Area.
"We are past the midpoint in construction and we are just a short time away, with passenger service planned for late 2017," says Alaniz.
The Warm Springs Station will actually open at the end of this year, the Milpitas and Berryessa stations in late 2017, and the entire BART-VTA-Caltrain necklace circling the Bay in about 2023.