Focus on: San Carlos

San Carlos is about midway between San Francisco and San Jose. It is home to Caltrain headquarters, located just a block from the historic train depot. The depot was built in 1888 by Nathaniel Brittan, from the same stone and by the same masons as Stanford University. If the roof were made of tile rather than slate, you might think you were on The Farm.

Grade Separations

San Carlos is among the few peninsula communities where Caltrain is already fully grade-separated. The grade separations were built south to north, starting with Howard and Brittan Avenues (built 1993-95), followed by a bike / pedestrian tunnel at Arroyo Ave, a large concourse under the tracks at the San Carlos depot near San Carlos Ave, and ending with Holly St (built 1996-2000, in combination with Harbor and Ralston in Belmont). The two grade-separated tracks run on a raised berm which was opened to trains in October 1999. The Howard and Brittan overpasses sat unused for several years after they were finished, while the other projects to the north suffered delays. Due to poor construction phasing, Caltrain operated on temporary shoo-fly tracks (built on the west side of the right of way, alongside El Camino Real) for six years. Traffic and businesses were heavily disrupted by construction.

One might think that after all this pain and anguish, San Carlos would enjoy the prospect of breezing through the improvements required for high speed rail. Think again!

In another example of sheer incompetence, the 1990s Caltrain engineering department conceived all the San Carlos grade separations entirely without accommodation for future additional tracks, even as alarmed transit advocates tried to draw attention to this design flaw. Indeed, quite aside from HSR, the midpoint of the SF-SJ line is one of the most desirable spots to add passing tracks to allow Caltrain express trains to overtake local trains. Unfortunately, such forward-thinking transportation concepts as skip-stop express service were not yet ingrained in Caltrain's culture; the Baby Bullet had not been invented.

Throughout San Carlos, every rail overpass, including the pedestrian concourse at the station, was built for exactly two tracks. Every concrete structure that Caltrain built in San Carlos over the last 15 years will have to be reconfigured or rebuilt to make room for the two additional tracks required for high speed rail. Those concrete structures now constrain the possible placement of high speed tracks and may prevent shifting their alignment to the most optimal position. (Not that Caltrain has ever been known for shifting tracks to their optimal position: the signal in this tongue-in-cheek photo is just north of the San Carlos station.)

HSR Plans

The California High Speed Rail Authority indicates in its EIR/EIS peninsula maps that the tracks will run at "existing ground" level, with a reference to Volume 2, Appendix E, Figure CC-8, which shows four tracks running at grade. This configuration is not consistent with the existing embankment, which would more likely become a retained embankment with walls on each side.

Station

The San Carlos depot is considered a local landmark, so it will not be demolished. Built of sandstone masonry, it is not easily moved, unlike the even more historic wood frame depot in Menlo Park. The Caltrain grade separation project was built right up against it, in the manner of a thick lava flow frozen just short of the eaves. The photo to the right shows how little clearance remains, looking in the southbound direction. Note the textured concrete, strenuously trying (and failing) not to overpower the Richardson Romanesque style of the depot.

The CHSRA plans a four-track station with two center express tracks. This poses a thorny engineering question: how to squeeze four tracks plus two 15-foot platforms between the depot building (to the west) and Old County Road (to the east), while constraining two of the four tracks to use the existing overpass structure alignments. Something will have to give: the depot, the overpasses, or both. The figure at right illustrates the problem by overlaying an aerial photo of the San Carlos depot with a short section of 4-track right of way (red outline) drawn to scale, using the dimensions provided by the CHSRA.

Given the alternatives, perhaps moving the depot doesn't sound so bad after all.

Station Area Development

The city of San Carlos and Samtrans have plans to develop the land between El Camino Real and the tracks into a transit village. This 8.7 acre strip of land is owned by Samtrans, and was formerly occupied by the shoo-fly tracks during construction of the grade separations. The transit-oriented development was awarded to Legacy Partners after a drawn out "visioning" process that began in 2002. Samtrans will retain ownership of the land, and sign a 99-year lease with Legacy Partners. Construction is planned to begin within the next couple of years, well before HSR comes to town.

A Samtrans official has claimed that the development would leave enough room to add two tracks for high speed rail, although details remain unclear. There is enough uncertainty in how exactly the two tracks will be added, given all the existing constraints, that additional physical constrains from the TOD would be unwelcome.

NOTE: This post will be updated continuously, as warranted by additional information or new events relating to San Carlos. Full disclosure: the author lives in San Carlos

Focus on: Millbrae

Millbrae, by virtue of its proximity to SFO and its connection with BART, is planned as an intermediate HSR stop. The existing BART / Caltrain station is to be expanded, and is naturally the focus of the HSR project in Millbrae.

Millbrae Station

Plans for the Millbrae HSR station, described in the CHSRA's environmental impact documents, call for four tracks to pass through, with two outside platforms. This is shown as Option A in Figure 1 below.

Unfortunately, the incompetent design of the existing Millbrae station (opened in 2003 and billed as the largest multi-model station west of the Mississippi) has squandered much of the space available within the Caltrain right of way. Massive support columns for the expansive station mezzanine have been placed right where you'd want to run extra tracks, and a third platform track at the south end of the station (presumptuously built to terminate some Caltrain services, assuming everyone would want to ride BART into San Francisco) sits unused, with no possibility of continuing north through the station. The photo at right, taken in 2000 during construction, illustrates how a forest of concrete pillars now constrains the right of way.

The total lack of foresight in this design is breathtaking.

To make room for four tracks, the existing southbound platform and part of the mezzanine that it supports (including the ill-placed pillars) may have to be demolished and rebuilt a few dozen feet further to the west.


View Larger Map

Millbrae is an important stop for Caltrain, ranking 5th in ridership, and even higher when counting BART. As a measure of its importance, every Baby Bullet stops there. Assuming one wanted to make Millbrae an important interchange point with HSR, it would make sense to maximize the opportunities for cross-platform transfers. Cross-platform transfers require an island platform between two tracks, allowing passengers to quickly and easily change trains on the same platform. For example, a much-touted cross-platform transfer is already possible between Caltrain and BART in the northbound direction.

With four tracks through the station, a solution that maximizes cross-platform transfers would consist of two island platforms flanking the center pair of express tracks. The existing northbound island platform shared with BART would be preserved. Advantages:

• 4 trains can occupy the station at once (not counting BART)
• Cross-platform transfers between HSR and Caltrain
  
• Cross-platform transfers between Caltrain local and Caltrain express
• Flexible routing through station under perturbed schedule, which minimizes cascading delays

There are also some disadvantages. Non-stop HSR trains pass platforms at 125 mph, likely requiring a physical safety barrier. Other disadvantages depend on how this configuration is built. Two possibilities are labeled Option B and Option D, in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Millbrae station configuration options

Option B, to construct new island platforms and preserve the existing BART cross-platform access, increases the station footprint the most. The westernmost track is shifted ~60 feet to the west (vs. ~30 feet for thru configuration), with possible impact to private residences to the north and Millbrae Ave overpass to the south. As in the CHSRA's Option A, most of the station mezzanine and support columns must be reconfigured.

Option D (raised in the very thoughtful comments to this post) calls for converting the westernmost BART track to use by Caltrain / HSR. The way BART is operated, with half the trains terminating at SFO, the Millbrae station is underused. The eastern BART island platform is usually closed to service. With the expected HSR and Caltrain improvements, BART has no chance of being extended past Millbrae. All of these factors support the notion of cutting the BART portion of the Millbrae station from three platform tracks to a more reasonable two.

The biggest advantage of this approach is to preserve the existing mezzanine and platform configuration, without the need for large-scale demolition. The cross-platform transfer to BART (the cherry on the cake!) would be lost, in favor of better cross-platform options between HSR, Caltrain express and Caltrain local services. Option D also has the least encroachment on land to the west of the station, which may ultimately seal the deal.

Constructing Option D would require some reconfiguration of the existing station, such as removing the eastern Caltrain siding track, removing the western BART tail track, reworking the BART subway portal, and probably constructing a physical barrier to separate BART from Caltrain/HSR on the adjacent track.

Another possibility that preserves the existing mezzanine structure is Option C, although it only provides three platform faces for HSR and Caltrain. This option involves routing two new tracks to the west of the existing station, with some of the disadvantages mentioned above.

None of the options discussed here is perfect; all of them have drawbacks because of the suboptimal way the station was originally built. If the city of Millbrae, Caltrain, and the CHSRA are serious about making the Millbrae station live up to its intermodal billing, they should opt for the lesser of all evils (Figure 1 Option D), and not the design currently described in the EIS/EIR documents. While the BART cross-platform transfer (the station's political selling point) would be lost, other advantages far outweigh this loss.

Station Area Development

Whatever the final station configuration, adding two tracks to the Millbrae station will expand its footprint to the west, encroaching on an area locally known as 'Site One,' where the city of Millbrae and private developers desire to build a Transit Oriented Development. Ironically, the developers have claimed that HSR threatens to derail their TOD plans, quite shamelessly undermining their claim to be "Transit Oriented." The people who run Caltrain appear to have capitulated prematurely by promising the developers that HSR can be accommodated within the existing station footprint, an option that even the CHSRA doesn't try to pass off as feasible.

The CHSRA has also penciled in another parking structure for 230-400 cars to the west of the station on Site One, apparently without regard to the existing under-utilized 3,000 space BART parking structure, which has plenty of surrounding land for expansion.

Grade Separations

Most road crossings in Millbrae are already grade separated. A separation at Center St, at the entrance to Marina Vista, remains to be built. This is a constrained location where the BART tunnel box runs immediately to the east of the crossing, which prevents lowering the road.

BART Tracks

The BART to SFO project (which, as built, is much better described as BART to Millbrae) was brought to you by Quentin Kopp, who is now chairman of the High Speed Rail Authority. While Kopp has clearly established a track record in bringing large transportation projects to fruition, his BART extension shows all the signs of having satisfied not just a transportation need, but the raw urge to pour way more concrete than strictly necessary.

A lot of this concrete was poured on, under, and around the Caltrain right of way, constraining it in various unpleasant ways that will come back to bite us (the taxpayer) as HSR is built. The botched Millbrae station discussed above is only the tip of the iceberg. The construction companies won't mind: there's real money to be made in jackhammering old concrete to make room for new concrete.

According to the CHSRA's environmental impact report Appendix 2D for the Caltrain Corridor, the HSR tracks will run through Millbrae at grade, right next to the BART tracks. But after BART was built so expansively into the Caltrain right of way, there isn't a lot of room left to build another pair of tracks. For example, take a look here and here, and think about how to fit in the planned 100-foot, 4-track right of way as shown at left.

NOTE: This post will be updated continuously, as warranted by additional information or new events relating to Millbrae. Last updated 09 December 2008.

Focus on: San Bruno

San Bruno is the point of departure for the "Bayshore Cutoff" to San Francisco, built in the early 1900s by the Southern Pacific Railroad. The rail line to San Francisco originally went straight through San Bruno and detoured around the west side of San Bruno mountain, where BART runs today. The cutoff was built around the east side of the mountain, then through a series of tunnels, as a shortcut into San Francisco. This is the alignment used by Caltrain today and planned for HSR.

San Bruno Curve

One important consequence of this history is that San Bruno is left with one of the sharpest curves on the peninsula, where the cutoff formerly diverged from the old main line. The radius of the curve is 1800 feet (550 meters), giving it a maximum safe speed of about 70 mph (115 km/h). Caltrain has a speed limit of 60 mph at this location. Slowing down a high speed train from a peninsula cruise speed of 125 mph (200 km/h) to take the existing San Bruno curve would cost more than a minute, or over half a percent of the entire SF to LA running time. Considering how much investment is being made to shave seconds off run times for the entire system, a 1-minute penalty in San Bruno for a single curve should raise some red flags at the CHSRA.

Consider the "San Bruno Curve" a significant obstacle to HSR on the peninsula.

To run trains safely at 110 mph through the curve, it would have to be straightened to a radius of 1200 m. This is shown as a blue outline in the map to the right (see the Top Ten Worst Curves for more information on curves). Straightening the San Bruno curve for HSR is complicated by several factors:

• The houses along Montgomery Ave, on the inside of the curve, would likely have to be taken by eminent domain. According to zillow.com these houses are worth a combined $6 million, a relative drop in the bucket compared to the $4200 million to be spent on the peninsula alone. The tracks would also pass on the site of the former lumber yard on the inside of the curve, recently torn down.
  
• The viaduct for I-380 (named, irony of ironies, the Quentin L. Kopp freeway) crosses over the tracks at the north end of the curve, supported by a forest of beefy concrete pillars.
• Caltrain has planned a 4-track grade separation in this location (see below) that essentially preserves the existing sharp curve. (The radius was planned to increase slightly from 1800 ft to a still-tight 2000 ft, staying within the existing Caltrain right-of-way.) However ill-conceived, these planning errors have a sneaky way of perpetuating themselves, especially after the $10 million spent to date on engineering this project.

The next significant curve, 2.5 miles to the north, around the base of San Bruno mountain at Sierra Point, has a radius of about 2600 ft (800 m), giving it a maximum safe speed of about 85 mph (140 km/h). This curve cannot be straightened due to the local topography, but is sufficiently distant from San Bruno to allow trains to accelerate to 125 mph (200 km/h) by the time they reach San Bruno curve.

Grade Separations

San Bruno has grade crossings at Angus Ave, Scott St, and San Mateo and San Bruno Avenues. The latter is known as one of the most dangerous crossings on the peninsula, because San Mateo Ave crosses the tracks at an acute angle and the nearby curve limits visibility for trains, auto traffic and pedestrians.

Caltrain and the city of San Bruno have long-standing plans to grade-separate the crossings in San Bruno. These plans have been delayed several times due to funding issues, most recently until 2012. Caltrain has produced a detailed Grade Separation Study Report, from which the preliminary track layout is of particular interest. The city of San Bruno is developing a downtown and transit corridors plan that includes the Caltrain station area. The San Bruno Caltrain station would be rebuilt to the north of its current location with four tracks, elevated over the San Mateo Ave / San Bruno Ave crossings. The streets would be sunk to pass under the new station. The Scott St. crossing would be closed to auto traffic, with a pedestrian / bike underpass built instead. The proximity of the BART tunnel, which passes under the Caltrain tracks just south of San Mateo Ave, is a complicating factor discussed in the report.

With the passage of proposition 1A, Caltrain's plans for San Bruno should be thoroughly re-evaluated, regardless of the studies, $10 million of preliminary engineering, committees, public input and debate of the last several years. With high speed rail in the mix, the requirements have changed, and the biggest problem with the existing plans is the San Bruno curve.

HSR Plans

The California High Speed Rail Authority's Bay Area EIR / EIS, Appendix D, shows the alignment through San Bruno as a 15-foot tall retained fill embankment with split grade separations (exactly as planned by Caltrain, except with four tracks all the way through town). The rails dip down briefly to grade level as they pass under the I-380 viaduct.

The CHSRA gives no indication of an intention to straighten San Bruno curve; their plans show the tracks following the existing Caltrain right-of-way.

San Bruno Done Right

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, a 3D model may be worth a thousand pictures. Here is the future San Bruno station and grade separation done right: with the curve straightened out for 100 mph operation, and a central island platform for Caltrain.

Download Google Earth model, enable the Terrain checkbox, and click on Tour. Make sure to fully explore the details of the station area, including stairways and platform canopy. (The necessary viewer, Google Earth, is free and easy to install.)

For more details on this proposed design for the San Bruno station, see San Bruno Done Right.

NOTE: This post will be updated continuously, as warranted by additional information or new events relating to San Bruno.

Glossary and Acronyms

AAR - Association of American Railroads
CARRD - Californians Advocating Responsible Railroad Design
CBOSS - Communication-Based Overlay Signal System
CEQA - California Environmental Quality Act
CEMOF - Centralized Equipment Maintenance and Operations Facility
CHSRA - California High Speed Rail Authority
CPUC - California Public Utilities Commission
CSS - Context-Sensitive Solutions
CTC - Centralized Traffic Control
DTX - Downtown Extension
EIR - Environmental Impact Report (under CEQA)
EIS - Environmental Impact Statement (under NEPA)
EMU - Electric Multiple Unit
ERTMS - European Railway Traffic Management System
ETCS - European Train Control System
FRA - Federal Railroad Administration
FTA - Federal Transit Administration
GO - General Order (see CPUC)
HSR - High-Speed Rail
JPB - Joint Powers Board
NEPA - National Environmental Policy Act
NIMBY - Not In My Back Yard
NPRM - Notice of Proposed Rule Making
MOU - Memorandum Of Understanding
MTC - Metropolitan Transportation Commission
OCS - Overhead Contact System
PAMPA - Palo Alto - Menlo Park - Atherton
PCC - Peninsula Cities Consortium
PCJPB - Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board
PRP - Peninsula Rail Program
PTC - Positive Train Control
RFP - Request for Proposals
ROW - Right Of Way
STRACNET - Strategic Corridor Network
TTC - Transbay Transit Center
UPRR - Union Pacific Railroad

Focus on: Menlo Park

Menlo Park is the site of California's oldest passenger train depot, built in 1867. The town has a closely spaced series of four grade crossings near its center, at Ravenswood, Oak Grove, Glenwood and Encinal Avenues. Trains must blow their horn nearly continuously when they pass through the area.

Menlo Park, along with its affluent neighbor Atherton, is noted for its official opposition to HSR, despite most residents having voted for Proposition 1A. The city also joined a lawsuit to make Altamont Pass the preferred HSR entry to the Bay Area, instead of Pacheco Pass. While this would remove HSR from Menlo Park's downtown, many residents don't realize that the Altamont alternative would still pass through Menlo Park, impacting the Suburban Park and Lorelei Manor neighborhoods instead.

Right of Way Width

The existing railroad land through Menlo Park is narrower than 100 feet along most of its length. Along Stone Pine Lane, it is 75 feet wide. Between Oak Grove and Glenwood Avenues, it is just 60 feet wide, although abutting land is not residential and could be taken with only minor disruption. South of the station, the right of way is 80-100 feet wide. Maps of the existing ROW boundaries are available for mileposts 28-29 (north end of town) and 29-30 (south end of town).

Grade Separations

The existing vertical alignment of the Caltrain tracks is shown in the figure below, created from Caltrain track survey data.


Menlo Park has planned for grade-separating the four crossings since 2001. With the HSR project well underway, at least one design requirement is coming into better focus: the probable need for four tracks.  A grade separation study and presentation (developed in 2003 - 2004) consider the impact to adjacent properties, shows some renderings of a few concepts, and also feature some nice illustrations of construction staging. This study anticipated quadruple tracking, although Menlo Park's latest official position (as of 2015) is to oppose any more than two tracks.

The CHSRA's project-level environmental work on the San Francisco - San Jose HSR project in the 2009 - 2010 period resulted in preliminary design alternatives including elevated, at-grade and below-grade variations of the vertical alignment through Menlo Park.

Any changes to the vertical alignment of the tracks through Menlo Park must be coordinated with neighboring Atherton, which has two crossings just over the city line, too close to allow grade changes to a different elevation.

The figure below shows a split grade separation, with the rails raised by about 15 feet and the roads sunk by about 5 feet. Pedestrian sidewalks would remain at grade.


Alternately, the tracks could be sunk fully into a 30-foot deep trench, as shown in solid red line in the next figure. This would leave roads at grade, although it would likely result in greater construction impacts.


Train Station

The existing Menlo Park Caltrain station was rebuilt in 2000. Rebuilding it with four tracks would require demolishing the new platforms, removing heritage trees on the east side of the station, and considerably narrowing Alma St. The historic depot building (and the baggage building that houses the model railroad) would be relocated to make way for the new southbound track. The 2003 grade separation study presentation contains relevant diagrams.

Bike Tunnel

Menlo Park has long standing plans to install a pedestrian and bike tunnel under the tracks to link the Burgess recreation area with Safeway and the neighborhoods on the other side of El Camino Real. This tunnel would be located about here, under the raised berm that currently supports the two existing tracks. Before this project proceeds any further, it should take into account future quadruple tracking for HSR.

Local Opposition

A few vocal residents have vigorously opposed HSR on the grounds that it will degrade the quality of life in Menlo Park. In particular, vocal critics Martin Engel and Morris Brown, who live near the tracks, have advocated against Proposition 1A by founding Derail High Speed Rail, a group that opposes HSR on economic and geopolitical grounds... and, perhaps also, because of their back yards' proximity to the tracks. Another Menlo Park resident, Russell Peterson, has filed a lawsuit claiming that the HSR project usurps the Union Pacific Railroad's exclusive rights to operate intercity passenger trains on the peninsula.

NOTE: This post will be updated continuously, as warranted by additional information or new events relating to Menlo Park.