Next Up for Caltrain Construction

Now that Baby Bullet express service is off and running, Caltrain’s engineering and construction team is turning its attention to other improvements such as, upgrading station amenities and making stations safer and more accessible.

Current construction projects include a new maintenance facility in San Jose, rehabilitation of the tunnels between San Francisco and Brisbane, a pilot project to install closed circuit cameras and Talking Signs© in several locations, and ongoing maintenance of the rail line.

Centralized Equipment Maintenance and Operations Facility

Caltrain recently kicked off the next phase of construction on the first maintenance facility in Caltrain’s 142-year history. During the coming year crews will complete the construction of the $140 million facility’s tunnel and will begin work on the repair shop, which will increase the speed of repair work, storage tracks with ground power and a new indoor train washer, which will replace the portable machine now in use. Currently routine maintenance is done at a small outdated train yard in San Jose and at the San Francisco station.

Construction crews are in the midst of digging a pedestrian tunnel, which will allow workers to move between the shop and a new operations building. The construction of the maintenance shop should begin this summer. The final phase of CEMOF is the construction of a new three-story operations building and one-story control facility, which will accommodate train dispatchers and other key staff.

The maintenance facility is being constructed in several phases: Phase A included site preparation, track and utility relocation, Phase B includes the construction of the tunnel, new tracks and the maintenance shop and Phase C will result in the operations building also planned for the site. CEMOF is expected to be operational by late 2006.

Tunnel Rehabilitation

The four tunnels between Caltrain’s San Francisco terminal and its Bayshore station have withstood some of the Bay Area’s most fierce quakes. Built in 1906, the tunnels now require reinforcement as the system changes and modernizes.

Each of Caltrain’s nearly 500 weekly trains must pass through all of these tunnels, making it critical that they be seismically sound. Caltrain construction crews are doing just that with this $8 million rehabilitation project by reinforcing the tunnels with 3,400 cubic yards of shotcrete, a mixture of cement, sand, and steel fiber. In addition, the ceiling of one of the four tunnels is being treated with grout, a mixture of sand and cement to be inserted into 1,200 newly drilled holes.

This critical project got underway in summer 2004 and has proceeded without any delay to passenger service. Work on the tunnels is expected to be completed in June.

CCTV and Talking Signs

As part of a pilot-security program, Caltrain is installing closed circuit cameras at the San Jose, Mountain View, San Mateo and San Francisco stations. In mid-December, Caltrain work crews began laying conduit, or protective tubing, on platforms at the Mountain View and San Mateo stations.

All of the cameras are expected to be operational in August.

In San Jose, Caltrain will be installing Talking Signs© to make it easier for customers with visual impairments to navigate the Diridon station. Caltrain is already using the audible sign technology at its San Francisco station. The main passenger areas will be equipped with this ‘wayfinding’ technology that will help customers identify such features as the correct platform, the coffee shop, the ticket office and the restrooms. Transmitters will be installed throughout the station to identify these and other features.

Customers will need a receiver to hear the messages sent by the transmitter. The lightweight receivers will be available for a refundable deposit of $25 at the San Jose station ticket office by September when the Talking Signs© are expected to be operational. The cost for this pilot project is projected to be $1.9 million. After an evaluation of the technology’s effectiveness and the identification of additional funds, the program may be expanded to other stations.

Maintenance

Critical to its safe and efficient operations, Caltrain must maintain the 77 miles of track between San Francisco and the Tamien station in San Jose and spent $5.7 million in fiscal year 2004 for this essential work. In order to keep the trains moving, Caltrain makes on-going repairs to specific segments of the rail line as needed in accordance with Federal Railroad Administration standards.

Once a year Caltrain uses a Trackstar© car, which is akin to a rolling laboratory that measures track strength and geometry. When the car locates a segment of track that doesn’t meet FRA standards, it sprays the area with red paint so maintenance crews can locate segments in need of repair. In addition, Caltrain runs a rail detector test three times per year, which uses ultrasonic technology and magnetic resonance imaging to check the tracks for cracks and other potential weaknesses.

Once problems are identified, maintenance crews use heavy machinery such as tampers, regulators and compactors to make repairs. A tamper picks up rail, tamps it in place and crushes the ballast or gravel beneath it. A regulator evens out the ballast, while a compactor compresses it, ensuring the track is locked in place.

Maintenance crews work weekdays from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Caltrain schedules its work for evening and overnight hours to provide its 31,000 weekday riders with reliable service, while allowing for the longest construction and maintenance window possible.

Future Caltrain Construction Projects

Future Caltrain construction projects include improvements to the Broadway and Burlingame stations, the addition of a reconfigured northbound platform at the Hillsdale station, closure of the Bay Meadows station, grade separations in San Bruno and South San Francisco and new stations in both cities. All of these projects are continuing in the design phase this year.

Caltrain is a tri-county partnership of San Francisco Municipal Railway, San Mateo County Transit District and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Caltrain operates 86 weekday trains between San Francisco and San Jose, with commute-hour service to Gilroy. A total of 62 trains offer service on weekends.

1/27/05