Quote:
Originally Posted by northbay
Aren’t there long terms plans to make improvements to the Capital Corridor? That gets you at least pretty close to the City....
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Getting a little off-topic here, but back when it was still at least a possibility, I thought the main HSR route via the Altamont Pass option, combined with an HSR-grade Capitol Corridor that had timed transfers in the Fremont/Union City area might have been a good way to have gone. (the upgrade of Cap Corr would have essentially replaced the Phase II alignment to Sac up the Central Valley)
the transfer for trips to San Jose seemed like the principal drawback, but if really timed well and was a simple cross-platform transfer, wouldn't have been too disruptive. and this would have given you much faster trip times to Sacramento from the entire Bay Area, and better East Bay connections (e.g., with BART that would have been much less expensive than the extension to SJ).
(also would have potentially annoyed the Atherton people less, since it literally doesn't go through their backyards)
I'm not sure Caltrain would have been able to get as much funding from HSR for its electrification with that alignment, though.