Capitol Corridor rerouting in the Bay area (Planned for 2030)

[av84]

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

My thoughts:

• 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.

 

[NES28]

How would these improvements relate to the the extension of BART to San Jose which appears to be on track?

 

[av84]

The BART Silicon Valley II project is completely separate. The only relation is that they are both in the Oakland to Santa Clara/San Jose corridor.

Ironically, the Capitol Corridor project is overseen by BART employees, which manages Capitol Corridor under contract. But BART Silicon Valley is overseen by VTA.

 

[NES28]

That does seem kind of ironic!

 

[turtlypo]

• 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.

I'm also skeptical about Ardenwood becoming a major transfer hub, and am more disappointed that Newark junction wasn't selected as the station. That could allow a future Dumbarton Rail Corridor (when it gets funded in the next century) to connect Caltrain, CC, and ACE services up to Fremont-Centerville again.

Maybe that is the grand plan and they're just being pragmatic on cost, bird in hand vs two in bush and all. Newark junction would require property acquisition. Just seems like a lot more cost in the long-term to make it an infill.