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Milpitas BART Station to Open in December, VTA Says

eastbaytimes.com

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Re: Milpitas BART Station to Open in December, VTA Says

#31

Post by CaliforniaKarl »

temp246810 wrote: post #17

Trains to SF on the Fremont line are already crowded as hell before you even get to Oakland. If you live there and are trying to get to the city, good luck finding a seat, plan to stand for as long as 30 minutes in a crowded cart. I hope they thought this through and are adding more trains so that it doesn't make it even more unbearable.

There is a San Francisco Chronicle article which answers your point: http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/BART-extension-to...

tl;dr: They need 30-40 more cars. Testing on 10 new ones has found issues (which is the point of testing). Contract says 25 more should arrive by the end of 2017.

Re: Milpitas BART Station to Open in December, VTA Says

#32

Post by CaliforniaKarl »

ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #23
tarbism wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not Capitol Corridor rail direct to SJ?

Single tracked, UPRR has right of way, etc etc etc.

tarbism: To expand on what ZanyProgrammer said:

For most of the East-Bay-to-South-Bay segment (from Santa Clara to around Fremont), there is only one track. That's not unusual in freight rail, but what's missing here are passing points: Long sidings where one train can get out of the way of a passing train.

You can see the route around the bay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoyZC4LvKoI

Also, Union Pacific owns the tracks used by the Capitol Corridor, so priority becomes a question: Yes, passenger rail is supposed to be higher priority, but UP can (and does) charge Amtrak for using the rails. Railroads can (and have) demand that passenger railroads pay to build/upgrade infrastructure as a condition for running more passenger trains.

So yes, it would be doable, but it would be _expensive_.

Re: Milpitas BART Station to Open in December, VTA Says

#33

Post by ZanyProgrammer »

CaliforniaKarl wrote: post #32
ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Single tracked, UPRR has right of way, etc etc etc.

tarbism: To expand on what ZanyProgrammer said: For most of the East-Bay-to-South-Bay segment (from Santa Clara to around Fremont), there is only one track. That's not unusual in freight rail, but what's missing here are passing points: Long sidings where one train can get out of the way of a passing train. You can see the route around the bay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoyZC4LvKoI Also, Union Pacific owns…

If you've been to Oakland BART, you've probably seen that in an around that part of Oakland, there are two sets of freight tracks, one set very rarely used.

But its irrelevant till you double track Alviso.

Re: Milpitas BART Station to Open in December, VTA Says

#34

Post by killedbydeath »

temp246810 wrote: post #17

Trains to SF on the Fremont line are already crowded as hell before you even get to Oakland. If you live there and are trying to get to the city, good luck finding a seat, plan to stand for as long as 30 minutes in a crowded cart. I hope they thought this through and are adding more trains so that it doesn't make it even more unbearable.

Well in many big cities nobody expects to be able to sit on a subway train anytime during peak hours. Where I lived, seats were mostly for seniors, children, people with disabilities. That's just what mass transit looks like in a busy city. It is not unusual for cars to be packed so dense you can't move or even get on a train. And all that with trains coming every couple minutes.

Re: Milpitas BART Station to Open in December, VTA Says

#35

Post by sdenton4 »

ende wrote: post #27
niftich wrote: post #15

Funny that BART got to SJ via the East Bay first, but I hope they make the most of it. This does complete a missing (edit: rail ) link around the Bay -- though sadly across three different transit systems. Some time ago I wrote that the geography of the Bay is unfortunate for transit in many ways [1] but notably because there's no express way to get from one side to the other; instead you have to travel along the Rin…

When a large body of water is the primary geographical obstacle, investing in boats seems the logical choice.

Boats, as the saying goes, are holes in the water that you throw money into.

It's generally better to invest up front on a bridge or tunnel. You wind up with a much, much lower cost for daily operations...

Re: Milpitas BART Station to Open in December, VTA Says

#36

Post by kabdib »

I moved to the Bay Area in 1982. I'd heart about BART. "Oh boy, I get to use BART," I thought. And I flew in from the east coast, found an apartment in Cupertino, and . . . no BART. Quickly I found there was no chance in hell I'd get to use it in the south bay. So I drove everywhere. I think I was on BART maybe twice, the whole 20+ years I was in Silly Valley.

In the 90s, San Jose built light rail from useless point A to other useless point B. I couldn't use that, either. So I was still driving everywhere.

I live in the Seattle area now. Still no happy ending, though there was a huge push for a transit expansion (and a corresponding tax increase), and I hear we'll get light rail in our area in maybe ten years. That'll be nice.

Re: Milpitas BART Station to Open in December, VTA Says

#37

Post by tarbism »

CaliforniaKarl wrote: post #32
ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Single tracked, UPRR has right of way, etc etc etc.

tarbism: To expand on what ZanyProgrammer said: For most of the East-Bay-to-South-Bay segment (from Santa Clara to around Fremont), there is only one track. That's not unusual in freight rail, but what's missing here are passing points: Long sidings where one train can get out of the way of a passing train. You can see the route around the bay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoyZC4LvKoI Also, Union Pacific owns…

I ride CC every day and it is not that often delayed by freight. But I will switch to BART when it opens in Milpitas because that will be faster and cheaper and with much more frequent service.

Re: Milpitas BART Station to Open in December, VTA Says

#38

Post by Veratyr »

niftich wrote: post #15

Funny that BART got to SJ via the East Bay first, but I hope they make the most of it. This does complete a missing (edit: rail ) link around the Bay -- though sadly across three different transit systems. Some time ago I wrote that the geography of the Bay is unfortunate for transit in many ways [1] but notably because there's no express way to get from one side to the other; instead you have to travel along the Rin…

There's actually already what appears to be a complete but unused (unmaintained?) rail bridge running across the bay parallel to and slightly south of the Dumbarton bridge. I find it curious that it's never used considering how useful it could be.

Re: Milpitas BART Station to Open in December, VTA Says

#39

Post by niftich »

Veratyr wrote: post #38
niftich wrote: post #15

Funny that BART got to SJ via the East Bay first, but I hope they make the most of it. This does complete a missing (edit: rail ) link around the Bay -- though sadly across three different transit systems. Some time ago I wrote that the geography of the Bay is unfortunate for transit in many ways [1] but notably because there's no express way to get from one side to the other; instead you have to travel along the Rin…

There's actually already what appears to be a complete but unused (unmaintained?) rail bridge running across the bay parallel to and slightly south of the Dumbarton bridge. I find it curious that it's never used considering how useful it could be.

That's the Dumbarton Rail Bridge, built in 1910 and closed in 1982. The western trestle burned down in the 90s [1] and the swinging part of the span has been welded into a perma-open position. Several studies were done in the 90s and 2000s to restart rail service, including this 2004 one from the San Mateo County Transportation Authority [2]. The bridge itself would have to be significantly refurbished, replacing the movable span and various segments.

[1] http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Mysterious-Fire-On-Trestl... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20160318141356/http://www.smcta....

Re: Milpitas BART Station to Open in December, VTA Says

#40

Post by jrnichols »

kabdib wrote: post #36

I moved to the Bay Area in 1982. I'd heart about BART. "Oh boy, I get to use BART," I thought. And I flew in from the east coast, found an apartment in Cupertino, and . . . no BART. Quickly I found there was no chance in hell I'd get to use it in the south bay. So I drove everywhere. I think I was on BART maybe twice, the whole 20+ years I was in Silly Valley. In the 90s, San Jose built light rail from useless point…

"from useless point A to other useless point B."

I laughed at this, but you're right. VTA built the slowest, dumbest light rail system I've ever used. It was nice, and I used it on occasion, but very rarely.

I thought the same thing about DART in Dallas 10 years ago, but it's spread out quite a bit now, finally reaching to DFW Airport and Dallas Love Field.

https://www.dart.org/maps/printrailmap.asp

Maybe VTA will continue to grow like that. One day.

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