Major update on Bay Area's second Transbay Tube
By Jerold Chinn
The project to build a second Bay Area Transbay Tube, known as Link21, reached a significant milestone last week when its planners introduced a staff recommendation for the first time — that the new rail crossing between Oakland and San Francisco should use standard gauge rail.
A standard gauge system offers critical advantages, such as enabling interoperability with other regional rail systems — like Caltrain, Capitol Corridor and Amtrak — and improving connectivity across Northern California. Standard gauge is the global rail width standard used by most transit systems worldwide, but not by BART, which has a wider, broad gauge system that is unique to it.
Camille Tsao, who serves as the program lead for Link21, shared a conceptual design Wednesday of how a standard gauge would work with metro urban rail service and intercity or express rail that tends to offer less frequent service in the Bay Area. It showed that using a standard gauge in the new rail crossing could help transit reach a larger region. Tsao added that Link21 has been doing community outreach this year and received positive responses about the benefits of using a standard gauge.
The BART chapter of SEIU 1021 was against the use of standard gauge at the BART board meeting Thursday, voicing a preference for the second tube to use BART’s rail standard.
“It just makes no sense to lose this opportunity,” said John Arantes, the chapter’s president. “You’re not going to get another chance to create a third tunnel across the bay. This is it.”
He also reminded the BART board how passengers were riding trains “like sardines in a can.”
Rob Padgette, Capitol Corridor managing director, said the Link21 team will plan further development of the project now that a standard gauge has been recommended. He also said that the California State Transportation Agency and Caltrain plan to take a larger leadership role in the project.
“Important to remember is that this missing link will serve far more than Capitol Corridor,” Padgette said, pointing out that it would provide a connection between regions that will allow for frequent trips.
BART spokesperson Alicia Trost said that both the BART and Capitol Corridor boards will be asked to approve the staff recommendation to advance Link21 as a standard-gauge rail project. Trost gave no timeframe on when the boards will take up the staff recommendation.
Preliminary estimates from Link21 list the cost of the project at $29 billion, with a completion year of 2040.
By Jerold Chinn
The project to build a second Bay Area Transbay Tube, known as Link21, reached a significant milestone last week when its planners introduced a staff recommendation for the first time — that the new rail crossing between Oakland and San Francisco should use standard gauge rail.
A standard gauge system offers critical advantages, such as enabling interoperability with other regional rail systems — like Caltrain, Capitol Corridor and Amtrak — and improving connectivity across Northern California. Standard gauge is the global rail width standard used by most transit systems worldwide, but not by BART, which has a wider, broad gauge system that is unique to it.
Camille Tsao, who serves as the program lead for Link21, shared a conceptual design Wednesday of how a standard gauge would work with metro urban rail service and intercity or express rail that tends to offer less frequent service in the Bay Area. It showed that using a standard gauge in the new rail crossing could help transit reach a larger region. Tsao added that Link21 has been doing community outreach this year and received positive responses about the benefits of using a standard gauge.
The BART chapter of SEIU 1021 was against the use of standard gauge at the BART board meeting Thursday, voicing a preference for the second tube to use BART’s rail standard.
“It just makes no sense to lose this opportunity,” said John Arantes, the chapter’s president. “You’re not going to get another chance to create a third tunnel across the bay. This is it.”
He also reminded the BART board how passengers were riding trains “like sardines in a can.”
Rob Padgette, Capitol Corridor managing director, said the Link21 team will plan further development of the project now that a standard gauge has been recommended. He also said that the California State Transportation Agency and Caltrain plan to take a larger leadership role in the project.
“Important to remember is that this missing link will serve far more than Capitol Corridor,” Padgette said, pointing out that it would provide a connection between regions that will allow for frequent trips.
BART spokesperson Alicia Trost said that both the BART and Capitol Corridor boards will be asked to approve the staff recommendation to advance Link21 as a standard-gauge rail project. Trost gave no timeframe on when the boards will take up the staff recommendation.
Preliminary estimates from Link21 list the cost of the project at $29 billion, with a completion year of 2040.
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