Article from Moving People, Nov., 1996. Index.
On March 31, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) held a community workshop on the Vasona light rail extension. Phase I of this planned line will link downtown San Jose and Campbell (5.5 miles). Eventually, the line will be extended to Vasona Junction (near Los Gatos, 1.6 miles) in Phase II. Further extensions along the 1-280 corridor to Los Altos and Palo Alto along the Permanente Branch right-of-way, or through to Santa Cruz via the South Pacific Coast right-of-way are possible in a far-distant, transit-friendlier future.
The ex-Southern Pacific Permanente Branch right-of-way will be used from Vasona Jct. to a station at West San Carlos St. From there, the prior route of choice, the San Carlos Alternative, had the Vasona Line proceed directly down West San Carlos St. to tie in with the existing light rail line near the Tech-Center station. A portion of the wye for this junction was built with the original line.
The laudable desire to route the Vasona Line into Diridon Station (serving Amtrak and CalTrain) and provide access to Shark Stadium has resulted in revised plans to run northward to these hubs before turning east toward Downtown.
A review process by the VTA taking into account cost, traffic impact, and concerns of residential and business districts has narrowed the proposed routings to two. These were presented at the March 31 meeting as the 'Delmas Alternative' and the 'San Fernando Alternative,' both of which share a common right-of-way from San Carlos St. to the corner of Delmas and San Fernando. Unfortunately, despite all the meetings and hard work, the public may end up with a flawed choice: a pair of slow, twisting lines which try to satisfy everyone and end up pleasing few. Worst of all, neither proposed rail line competes effectively with Highway 17, which although clogged with traffic, directly connects the suburbs with the prime employment areas of Silicon Valley.
Perhaps it is time to consider an alternative which has fewer impacts on the community, provides better access to the stations the line is to serve, will allow the service to start sooner, and will allow maximum flexibility of service. After describing the other routes, this article will examinethe advantages of running the Vasona line along the SP Milpitas Line. We call this alternative Fast Track, for reasons that will become obvious.
The originally proposed route down San Carlos Street to tie in with the existing line is the most cost-effective and direct route. San Carlos Street from the Vasona Branch to Tech-Center Station is significantly wide enough to accommodate light rail. There are only a few residences tucked in among some rather grungy businesses, most notably a few small used-car dealerships. The area appears ripe for redevelopment which light rail could help spur. Although this alternative is the most direct, it would leave both CalTrain and Sharks Stadium unserved.
Both proposed lines use the same initial routing from West San Carlos Street Station to the corner of Delmas and West San Fernando. The route continues north from San Carlos Street along the west side of the SP (UP) tracks along the outside of the coach yards at Diridon Station. From Diridon the line requires a subway under the SP tracks south of The Alameda, then proceeds across the street from Sharks' Stadium and right on Montgomery. The line continues left on a sort of extension of San Fernando Street and over Los Gatos Creek where a 'Stadium' station is proposed.
Land will have to be acquired for the extension of San Fernando Street over Los Gatos Creek. This will involve the removal of at least one or two small businesses (auto repair shops, etc. are present here) along the west bank of the creek. On the east side of the creek to the corner of Delmas and San Fernando is a large open parking lot with just one building adjacent to the corner itself.
At Delmas and San Fernando Streets, the rails would turn south on Delmas. The rails run about three blocks before turning left on San Carlos St., rejoining the existing route via the wye near the Tech-Center Station. This route is over twice as long as the direct route down San Carlos (about 1.5 miles versus about 0.7 miles from San Carlos at the SP Vasona Branch to San Carlos wye near Tech-Center). It also contains five additional 90 degree curves and a subway.
Delmas is a narrow, one-way residential street lined by condominiums along the west side of the street. Along the north end of the east side of the street are several well-kept Victorian homes. What is attractive to planners about using Delmas Street is the vacant land on the east-side of the street south of the Victorians. This lot exists courtesy of adjacent Highway 87 which removed the rest of the neighborhood via eminent domain several years ago. The Park St.off-ramp is located here and would require extensive relocation and timed lights to accommodate light rail tracks. The Victorian houses are unlikely to survive this alternative as the street-width appears insufficient to allow them to remain. Light rail would complete the neighborhood desecration begun by Highway 87.
Many Delmas St. residents and building owners have expressed opposition to the plan. They are concerned about construction noise, future land use impacts, and noise from rail operations. One resident complained that he can already hear trains squealing around corners two blocks away at Tech-Center and questioned how loud the trains would be directly adjacent to their residence. Another resident expressed concern about the vibration caused by trains at all hours.
From the corner of San Fernando and Delmas the line would run into downtown via San Fernando Street. After passing under Highway 87, San Fernando St. is mostly commercial, hosting some large employment buildings as the street narrows near the Transit Mall at First and Second Streets.
This option would not provide Vasona Line passengers with direct rail connections to the current system. The line would cross the current system at 90° diamonds at both First and Second Streets, with a station between the two streets for required transfers. Cars need to transfer between the lines to reach the storage yard, so a connecting track would be constructed at San Fernando and Second. The line would continue down San Fernando to Fourth St. so as to serve the northwest corner of San Jose State University.
This routing is said to cost $13 million more than the Delmas Alternative. San Fernando St. would require extensive utility relocation and a longer portion of new rail since Delmas uses existing rail access to downtown. Operating in the narrow portion of the street would affect traffic, and construction could block the street completely. The construction phase time is estimated to be double that of the Delmas Alternative: 24 months versus 12 months. Downtown business owners, having already suffered customer losses during construction of the Transit Mall, balked at these estimates as unrealistically short.
From San Carlos Street, the line would continue north to Diridon Station. From here it would depart from the other proposals, continuing north along the east side of the CalTrain tracks west of Shark's Stadium. The line would then curve east along the south side of the former SP Milpitas Line right-of-way. The Vasona Line would continue east along this line and tie into the existing light rail line near where the SP Milpitas Line crosses the light rail line near First and Bassett Streets (We will call this location 'The Junction' for simplicity). Union Pacific, which acquired SP in September 1996, recently embargoed the line to through freight traffic in anticipation of selling the right-of-way for future rail transit.
From Stadium Station to the junction with the existing line just north of the Transit Mall, the line would have a dedicated right-of-way. Only two street crossings exist in this stretch, lightly-used Montgomery and Autumn Streets, which serve a few industries located north of the south leg of the Milpitas Line wye. From here to The Junction, the right-of-way is very wide and there would be minimal impact on business or residential properties.
Going north to reach the Transit Mall may seem the long way, but is the fastest way. As shown in Table 1, rail distance from San Carlos Station via Fast Track is a fraction of a mile longer than the San Fernando or Delmas Alternatives. The VTA alternatives, with up to five 90-degree curves, traffic interference, and additional stops will average about 12 mph and will take at least as long to reach the center of the Transit Mall. Trains on Fast Track's dedicated right-of-way could reach a top speed of 55 mph from Stadium Station to The Junction with no intermediate stops. Fast Track is the fastest way to the center of the Mall, as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Distance and Time to Downtown |
||
ALTERNATIVE |
DISTANCE FROM SAN |
TOTAL |
San Carlos |
1.5 miles |
10 min. |
Delmas |
1.9 miles |
14 min. |
San Fernando |
1.7 miles |
14 min.* |
Fast Track |
2.2 miles |
9 min. |
Table 2. Distance and Time to N. First St. |
||
ALTERNATIVE |
DISTANCE FROM SAN |
TOTAL |
San Carlos |
2.0 miles |
13 min. |
Delmas |
2.4 miles |
17 min. |
San Fernando |
2.2 miles |
20 min.* |
Fast Track |
1.6 miles |
5 min. |
Speed assumptions used in this analysis: 30 mph average on dedicated right of way with grade protection, 12 mph average on streets with mixed traffic and Mall, 1 minute per station delay to account for acceleration/deceleration and dwell. |
||
* Includes walk or transfer. |
There are even bigger time savings for commuters. Table 2 shows
that for trips to points north of the Mall (where most worksites are
located), Fast Track is only transit route that is at all competitive
with auto travel times. The time penalty created by other
alternatives' on-street running, the numerous curves and the Mall
would make the Vasona line nearly irrelevant for commuters. What's
the point of rail if it's going to get stuck in traffic?
Peak hour expresses could run directly from the Vasona Line to
employment centers along First Street (and eventually Lockheed and
Sunnyvale), bypassing slow running on the Mall. Fast Track is
significantly shorter than even the San Carlos routing to The
Junction, and beats the Delmas Alternative by 0.8 miles.
Considering the massive speed advantages of Fast Track, time savings
for commuters would be as much as a half-hour daily. Fast Track would
actually reduce peak fleet requirements. Expresses could run during
morning and evening commute hours, while other Vasona Line trains
would run into the Transit Mall throughout the day.
Another major reason that Santa Clara County should choose Fast
Track is that it ties into the best route for San Jose's line to
BART. On the way to BART, an extension of Fast Track using the SP
Milpitas Line would run via Japantown and a dense corridor of
high-tech employment. Fast Track makes even more sense once there is
San Jose to BART service. The same time savings shown in Table 2
would also benefit BART-bound commuters.
Running via Fast Track to The Junction will allow maximum flexibility
in a future system which connects to Milpitas and BART. The Junction
could eventually become the primary transfer point for passengers
transferring from north-south to east-west trains, and trains could
transfer from line to line in any number of combinations here.
Although VTA's claims that the Transit Mall will reach capacity with
5-minute headways are doubtful, the Vasona Line trains could
eventually continue across the current line directly to BART,
allowing more capacity in the Transit Mall. Regardless, the
flexibility at The Junction will be great.
The Junction between the Vasona Line and the existing line near
Bassett and First Streets will be the most complex aspect of Fast
Track. Currently, the SP Milpitas freight line (crossing gate at left
in photo) crosses First Street at grade while the light rail line
uses an underpass (red, white, and blue tile graphics visible in
median at right in photo) beneath the freight line in the median of
First Street. Thankfully, the land adjacent to northwest and
southwest quadrants of The Junction is still undeveloped. Otherwise,
connecting the two routes would be considerably more expensive. The
parcel in the northwest quadrant (left in photo behind crossing gate)
is owned by Union Pacific and is currently for sale. The southwest
quadrant (foreground) is owned by the San Jose Redevelopment Agency.
[Webmaster's note: the photo for The Junction did not work. See
original newsletter for the photo.]
Several options exist for track connections between Vasona and the
Transit Mall. The cheapest would be to make all connections at grade.
Inbound Vasona Line trains would cross over the subway on the
existing Bassett St bridge and turn right onto Second St (this corner
is currently a bus staging area) and proceed south one block to tie
in with the Transit Mall at Julian and Second St. Outbound trains
would be a little more difficult to tie in. One alternative would be
to jog a line into the northbound lane on First Street (with traffic)
and extend the Bassett Street bridge south to cover the subway to
allow the trains to curve onto Bassett Street.
To accommodate the connecting track for expresses, Union Pacific may
consider abandoning the freight line south of Taylor Street and serve
the industries north of there from switch engines out of Warm
Springs, because all through trains now operate via the Newark Line.
If the freight line stays, an underpass could be built to
connect.
VTA's proposed site for a Diridon transfer platform is west of the
coach yards. A major extension of the Diridon Station platform subway
would be built west under the coach yards. This would make transfers
to CalTrain about as unpleasant as those at Tamien Station, where
passengers have to climb down a set of stairs and under several
freeway lanes in a sort of concrete maze inhospitably placed in the
middle of a freeway.
There is certainly a better way to provide transfers at Diridon.
Under the Fast Track proposal, a flyover would be built over the
south throat of the coach yards at Diridon Station, bringing light
rail tracks along former Track One between CalTrain platforms and
Diridon Station. This allows easier transfers between rail systems
and easier access to Diridon Station. If necessary, CalTrain
facilities could be shifted one platform west, and an additional
platform built.
Another advantage of running the light rail east of CalTrain tracks
is the simplicity of the structure for crossing The Alameda / West
Santa Clara Street. Rather than a complex, curved flyover or a
subway, the line would pass over The Alameda on a simple bridge
parallel to and just east of the CalTrain Bridge.
Stadium management doesn't want passengers 'bunching up' along The
Alameda after events while waiting for light rail vehicles, according
to VTA officials. Therefore the 'Stadium' Station is proposed to be
located a few blocks southeast of the Stadium across Los Gatos Creek,
even though the tracks pass just across The Alameda from the
Stadium.
Event goers who choose to use this inconvenient station will have to
follow the tracks two blocks to catch a train, and, if travelling
outbound, will pass in front of the Stadium again. One can certainly
imagine event-goers watching as an outbound train comes at them
during the long walk. Would it be a stretch to imagine that the
occasional, half-inebriated Sharks fan will try to flag down one of
these trains by blocking its path?
Fast Track allows for a convenient station along the west side of the
west parking lot of the Stadium which won't interfere with auto
traffic. Trains will be in their own right-of-way separate from any
city streets. Patrons can access light rail by simply crossing the
parking lot. As the Stadium Station will be only a block from Diridon
and serve no other facilities, trains would only stop during Stadium
events. At all other times, trains would run nonstop from Diridon to
The Junction. Fast.
Fast Track has major objective advantages over all other currently
proposed alternatives. In this case, MTS finds itself in complete
agreement with residential groups who do not want light rail in their
neighborhoods, and with business owners who do not want downtown San
Jose streets torn up yet again for a protracted construction period.
There is a better answer. The Fast Track route satisfies the needs of
each of these groups.
Fast Track allows an earlier start to service to the Vasona Line and
allows construction and operation outside of residential
neighborhoods. Downtown interests can appreciate Fast Track because
it will bring in customers and employees via the existing Transit
Mall, without losing customers during years of torn-up streets. Less
utility relocation and construction on city streets also means much
less cost.
Planners at the VTA have worked hard to get the alternatives narrowed
down to the current proposals. Opposition from residential or
business groups to both current proposals is inevitable, however, due
to the various problems noted above.
On the other hand, Fast Track offers a solution to all known business
and residential group objections. It provides answers to almost all
objections to the line voiced at the Community Workshop, including
the location of the planned 'Stadium' station and the slow, winding
routes into downtown.
VTA officials will have to be convinced soon to step back from
current proposals and give serious consideration to this alternative.
A united front of transit advocate, business, and residential groups
supporting Fast Track would go a long way towards ensuring its
implementation. Instead of each group telling county officials what
each does not want, a united front backing Fast Track presents a
positive proposal which nullifies many objections, gets the project
moving, and provides better and faster service.