SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA: Transit/Transportation News

[homebucket]

@TWAK, here's a nice overview of SMART.

• Video Link

[homebucket]

The end of an era!

Had to go and pay respects and say good bye to a Bay Area icon (that turns 51 years old today) that’s been a big part of my life since the beginning. I was able to catch a glimpse of the last ever scheduled legacy BART train. It was a 10 car, Richmond bound train. Thank you for your service. Rest easy, old friend.

There will be an official retiring run ceremony in 2024, but this train was the last legacy train as part of the base schedule.

Here she is, riding off into the sunset:



Here was the second to last legacy train:



Starting today, BART will be exclusively running new Fleet of the Future trains for its base schedule. The legacy fleet will be available for extra event trains or for emergency contingencies but they will no longer be a regular part of BART's fleet.

[Busy Bee]

Thanks for posting. Are they keeping a full trainset of legacy cars for special events/preservation or just keeping a couple cab cars?

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Thanks for posting. Are they keeping a full trainset of legacy cars for special events/preservation or just keeping a couple cab cars?

I think they're keeping a few full trainsets to be kept in reserve and used if needed for special events. There is the rare chance an old train or two will venture out on the mainline if needed, but they will be steadily scrapped through the rest of 2023 and into 2024. It'd be nice if they fully restored a few for use as heritage/nostalgia rides or special anniversaries, similar to how Muni has the historic streetcars.

[Busy Bee]

Good to know. It drives me bonkers that NYCT is so eager to scrap everything but a couple cars from a series. If they would just have adequate indoor yard storage they could save an entire rake from each series for fan trips and special events, and considering the very recently retired R-32 is probably the best car they've every operated, put it randomly back in revenue service a few times a year just to thrill those that know.

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by homebucket

@TWAK, here's a nice overview of SMART.

• Video Link

Thank you sir! It's good to see that the horrendously NIMBY Sonoma & Marin counties are going ahead with plans for TOD. He talks about the train going to Ukiah and Napa, well he might not know that SMART already owns the tracks to Napa so there are plans from the state and SMART. There's also plans for service to Vallejo and Fairfield, but I don't think that would be part of the SMART system. Hopefully the train can go to Ukiah or even up to Willits, although I know that going past Ukiah (or even to it) might not be feasible due to such low population numbers.

Source

edit: The mall in Santa Rosa is so obnoxious and horrible, good thing Sac demolished most of the one there for the arena (go Kings, light the beam!).

[SFBruin]

Delete.

[SFBruin]

Delete.

[homebucket]

Double technicals on SFBruin and GOLDEN STATE.

Settle down, fellas.

• Video Link

[deanstirrat]

I am a smart train hater. The guy in that video is way too optimistic about the TOD "projects" he mentioned. I would guess that 0 of those break ground in the next decade. And I have never heard a good argument for expanding to Cloverdale... why don't they just spend a billion dollars on 50 miles of track directly into the pacific.

[Busy Bee]

Agreed. SMART is hype personified IMO. My dream would be to see Richmond BART cross a new San Rafael Bridge and run up to Novato. Anything north of there, something like SMART would probably be adequate.

[homebucket]

Caltrain Successfully Completes Three Major Milestones Towards Completion of Electrification Project
09/18/2023

Caltrain today announced that it has completed the installation of every pole for the Overhead Contact System (OCS), which provides power to the electric trains, upgraded the signal system that allow electric trains to operate along the Caltrain corridor and successfully tested the new electric trains at maximum track speed of 79 mph. These three major milestones bring the Caltrain Electrification Project closer to passenger service in fall 2024.

Caltrain and contractor Balfour Beatty have worked to install 2,569 pre-engineered poles and upgraded the existing signal system that will allow the electric trains to operate in an electrified corridor along the nearly 160-year-old right-of-way, which has continued to be active railroad during this process. The work in upgrading the existing signal system included upgrading every grade crossing on the electrified corridor. The steel poles were safely lifted and elevated into place and then mounted on concrete foundation, a process that involved ongoing collaboration and hours of work around the clock to complete. A video of the final pole installation can be found here.

With the final OCS pole installed, crews can now hang the last of the wire, as well as finish the final work on the OCS that will provide power to the electric trains, which will be tested along the full corridor from San Francisco to San Jose later this year.

Additionally, Caltrain and the vehicle manufacturer Stadler, have successfully run tests using the OCS and the upgraded signal system with the new electric trains operating at maximum track speed to ensure that all the individual systems are working together as intended. Cameras were placed atop the trains to ensure that the interface between the pantograph on the train and the OCS was fully integrated and operating as designed and constructed. The trains were first tested at walking speed and with each subsequent test the speed was increased until reaching the maximum authorized track speed of 79 miles per hour.

“These three milestones are a big step forward for the Caltrain Electrification Project and we’re now even closer to completing this transformative project,” said Caltrain’s Executive Director Michelle Bouchard. “I’m grateful to the tireless work of our staff and partners who have gotten us to this point, and I’m excited for the public to have another chance to see these world class trains this Saturday in San Francisco.”

The South San Francisco Traction Power Facility went live in August, making it possible to fully power the entire Caltrain electrified corridor once the testing and OCS is complete this fall. Trains are currently being tested on the southern end of the corridor and will be expanding to more parts of the system in the months to come.

The 51-mile Caltrain Electrification Project will be the first 25KV OCS system on the west coast and will provide power to the new state-of-the-art-electric trains.

...

https://www.caltrain.com/news/caltra...lectrification

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Agreed. SMART is hype personified IMO. My dream would be to see Richmond BART cross a new San Rafael Bridge and run up to Novato. Anything north of there, something like SMART would probably be adequate.

I'd do that with the Richmond-Millbrae line and have the other Richmond line follow 80 towards Vallejo, or at least follow the UP ROW for a bit.

[Busy Bee]

^ You read my mind. That's another one of my armchair planner wetdreams, though if funding was even more generous I'd like to see it run under San Pablo Ave and then along I-80 before crossing the bridge into Vallejo and even going the distance, ehmm, all the way to Napa. Yes i realize thats like a 30 mile extension and God knows how many billions something like that would cost but it would be epic.

[twinpeaks]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

^ You read my mind. That's another one of my armchair planner wetdreams, though if funding was even more generous I'd like to see it run under San Pablo Ave and then along I-80 before crossing the bridge into Vallejo and even going the distance, ehmm, all the way to Napa. Yes i realize thats like a 30 mile extension and God knows how many billions something like that would cost but it would be epic.

San Francisco BART extension along Geary and then turning north on the Golden Gate bridge to Marin and Sonoma is my armchair transit wet dream, lol. This almost happened if Marin did not drop from BART plans. The views from BART on the Golden Gate Bridge would be epic.

[Busy Bee]

I was once a Marin over GGB BART fan but I think a Richmond-San Rafael Bridge connection would be better for a number of reasons, number one being at this point absolutely no one would ever sign off at this point to altering the GGB. A close second is that once you figure in the distance of running through the Presidio, over the GGB and up the 101 through either no population or low population with no obvious spot for a station, a crossing from Richmond over the San Rafael is significantly shorter

Yes of course I want to see a Geary BART but I think it would be best if it turned sputh on Route 1.

[TWAK]

Probably would be better to have SMART continue to the Sausalito Ferry terminal and have BART terminate in Santa Rosa.

[homebucket]

A Geary/19th Ave Subway hooking up with Daly City would be a game changer for sure. That along with a second Transbay Tube has to be priority 1 and 2 for BART after the SJ extension. Ideally this would all be happening simultaneously. I wouldn’t mind it being an elevated line too if it means it gets built cheaper/faster.

[Busy Bee]

Yes all around... But I think a Geary-19th outer BART should be underground until it hits and turns at Junipero Serra, which is perfect because it descends south of there anyways.

[homebucket]

Caltrain expands service to South Santa Clara County as Gilroy commuting demand rises
New weekday train is the first to be added for the area in two decades

By LUIS MELECIO ZAMBRANO | lmeleciozambrano@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: September 25, 2023 at 2:32 p.m. | UPDATED: September 26, 2023 at 6:01 a.m.

Local transportation and elected officials gathered early Monday morning at the Gilroy Transit Center to celebrate the expansion from three to four weekday trains from San Jose to Gilroy. The expansion represents a shift to better transit access for residents of South Santa Clara County, officials said – the realization of a years-long effort to improve service for local commuters.

“While we’re not yet where we’d like to be, this fourth train is a significant, long-awaited step for our residents and others to better connect with the job growth of the wider Bay Area,” said Gilroy Mayor Marie Blankley at the event, noting that while Gilroy’s population has increased, its job growth has stagnated.

“Caltrain is a real lifeline to South County families that commute north for work, and adding a fourth train will make a world of difference,” said Santa Clara County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas in a written statement. “Four trains means more time at home for parents to spend time with their kids after work, it means more options to avoid stressful driving on clogged highways, and it opens up new job opportunities with different start times.”

Besides Blankley and Arenas, the event was also attended by Morgan Hill Mayor Mark Turner and Supervisor Cindy Chavez, as well as several representatives from Caltrain and Valley Transportation Authority, which administers public transportation throughout Santa Clara County. After the event, officials boarded the very first train on the expanded service schedule, riding from Gilroy to Morgan Hill.

Before 2004, Caltrain riders south of San Jose enjoyed four trains traveling north and back every weekday morning. But as ridership declined, service was cut to three trains – and briefly to two at the height of the CoVID-19 pandemic.

With the current expansion, the train service returns to its previous heights for riders south of San Jose’s Tamien Station. “Getting up to four trains at this point is sort of a historic thing for Caltrain, and we hope we can only go beyond four to five at some point in the future,” said Michelle Bouchard, Executive Director of Caltrain.

The move comes after years of advocacy for expanded transit in southern Santa Clara County by local residents and officials. “[Former Morgan Hill mayor Rich Constantine and Mayor Blankley] just did such a good job of never, ever letting this be on the back burner,” said Chavez, who also serves as a Caltrain board member representing the Valley Transportation Authority, at the event. “Because we can’t have South County on the back burner. It’s got to be just like every other part of the county.”

Until recently, calls to improve public transportation in the region had been met with concerns that there would not be enough ridership to merit the expansion. However several shifts in the last few years led to an increase in demand and available funds. When ridership went down during the CoVID-19 pandemic, Caltrain began to downsize trains, which saved money on maintenance and operations costs. This freed up space for a reshuffling of service.

At the same time, many workers with remote and hybrid options wanted to move to more affordable areas such as Gilroy, which saw a population jump of more than 5% over the last two years.

Additional funds will be provided by measure B, a tax measure meant to fund public transit and transportation infrastructure, which will provide nearly $1 million over the next two years to fund the increase in service.

While many officials lauded the expansion as a milestone, some also see it as a prelude for service to Salinas and Monterey. “I look forward to expanding Caltrain service even further south beyond Gilroy,” said Jeff Gee, member of the Caltrain board of directors. “This is just the beginning.”

https://www.siliconvalley.com/2023/0...-demand-rises/