The Capitol Corridor JPA (CCJPA) has released further details on their ongoing South Bay Connect project, with a targeted completion around 2030. The bolded sections are, to the best of my knowledge, new details in the Draft EIR that were not included in earlier descriptions of the project:
- Reroute from the Niles Subdivision to the Coast Subdivision between Newark and East Oakland. The entirety of the newly-served line will be converted from single to double track.
- Discontinue service to Fremont-Centerville and Hayward stations
- Construct new Fremont-Ardenwood station at Highway 84
- Decreased travel time but no increase in frequency beyond the current 7 round-trips a day
- Freight improvements to the Oakland and Niles subdivisions, which were proposed earlier, are no longer part of the project
- This is the first time I have seen it definitely stated that the entire newly-served section of the Coast subdivision will be converted to double track, previous project descriptions only mentioned vague "improvements."
- I am pleased that earlier proposals to double-track portions of the Oakland and Niles subdivisions were removed, as these would have only benefited freight traffic
- The lack of frequency improvement is disappointing. This is explainable by the remaining single-track segment between Newark and Santa Clara. At least this is putting Capitol Corridor on the path towards a fully double-tracked route, if the final single-track segment is ever upgraded. I think it is the right choice to upgrade the northern segment before the southern segment - it is a simpler project, and also enables rerouting to a more direct line.
- CCJPA seems to envision the new Fremont-Ardenwood station as a major transfer hub connecting rail service to transbay buses serving the peninsula. I am somewhat skeptical of this vision. With 7 trains a day, you have at best two trains in each direction at reasonable commuting times. This doesn't sound like a major hub to me.
