Caltrain Construction and Maintenance: Feb. 25 - March 2, 2012

By

February 24, 2012

Construction

San Bruno Grade Separation Project

Pile driving, which is the first step in the construction of the foundation of the grade separation, began three weeks ago. The pile driving, which can be very noisy, will be limited to weekday daytime hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The work will involve excavation, drilling and machines that hammer or drive columns into the ground. A total of 361 piles will be driven into the ground over the course of six to eight weeks.

This work will require temporary lane closures and delays at the San Bruno and San Mateo avenues intersection. Traffic cones and flaggers will direct motorists and pedestrians around the affected areas.

Other work, which includes digging with a backhoe, mini-excavator, and jackhammer and the loading and unloading of gravel, will be done from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sewer lines and manholes will be installed, and signage will be installed at the temporary station. At times, noise levels could be as high as 75 decibels.

Night work, which will take place from Sun, Feb. 26 to Thursday Mar. 1 between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., outside of peak passenger service hours. Crews will use generators to power portable light towers and work will involve the loading and unloading of gravel. Work will be done in accordance with Caltrain and city agreements and ordinances.

The $147 million project will elevate the Caltrain tracks above three existing at-grade street crossings at San Bruno, San Mateo and Angus avenues. A new elevated Caltrain station between San Bruno and San Mateo avenues will replace the station at Sylvan Avenue.

For more information, please call the dedicated outreach line at 650.508.7726 or email sbgradesep@caltrain.com.

San Jose Diridon and Santa Clara Stations Improvement Project

Wednesday, Feb. 29 the public is invited to attend an event celebrating the completion of this project. The event will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the San Jose Diridon Caltrain Station and proceed by special train to the Santa Clara Caltrain Station.

At the San Jose Diridon station, two new fully-equipped board platforms on the west side of the station, along with tracks on each side of platform will improve operations in the busy station which is used by Caltrain, Altamont Commuter Express, Capitol Corridor and Amtrak Coast Starlight passenger trains. In addition, Union Pacific freight trains pass through the station.

The project also includes the reconstruction of signal control points at both ends of the station, which will allow trains to move more quickly in and out of the station.

The Santa Clara station had a regular platform for southbound passengers but had a narrow center boarding platform for northbound passengers. Three non-signalized at-grade pedestrian crossings connected the two platforms. Due to that configuration, Santa Clara was a “hold-out” station that allowed only one train in the station at a time, creating a bottle-neck in the Caltrain system.

The modernization project added a new outboard northbound platform and extended the southern platform 150 feet. A new pedestrian underpass now connects the two platforms, which allows two trains to pass through the station at the same time and improves safety for pedestrians.

At the same time, a track turnout at the southern end of the station was relocated to improve rail operations.

For additional information visit us online.

Maintenance

Caltrain will perform routine maintenance at several locations next week. To avoid delays to passengers, the work will take place Saturday through Friday from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. There will be some construction noise but crews will work as quietly as possible. For more information about this type of work, click here.

San Francisco to San Bruno
Sunday, Feb. 26, crews will weld and grind tracks between San Francisco and San Bruno stations.

South San Francisco to Millbrae
Saturday, Feb. 25 through Sunday, Feb. 26, crews will load and unload gravel in diesel trucks between South San Francisco and Millbrae stations. Monday, Feb. 27 through Friday, March 2, crews will excavate along the tracks, and load and unload gravel in diesel trucks between South San Francisco and Millbrae stations.

Santa Clara to San Jose
Sunday, Feb. 26 through Thursday, March 1, crews will be operating light on-track machinery in order to remove and replace ties between Santa Clara and San Jose Diridon stations.

San Francisco to San Jose
Thursday, Mar. 1, a train will operate between San Francisco and San Jose Diridon stations in order to test the alignment of the tracks.

San Francisco to San Mateo
Monday, Feb. 27 through Friday, March 2, crews will weld and grind tracks between Bayshore and Broadway stations.

Millbrae to Belmont
Monday, Feb. 27 through Thursday, March1, crews will surface and align the tracks between Millbrae and Belmont Stations.

San Jose
Monday, Feb. 27 through Thursday, March 1, crews will be operating light on-track machinery to remove and replace ties between San Jose Diridon and Tamien Stations.

###