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(rshsdepot) Transbay Terminal - San Francisco, CA

From the San Francisco Chronicle.
 
Original article and picture at:
_http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/02/BA1J166LH6.DTL_ 
(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/02/BA1J166LH6.DTL)  
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Unbuilt Transbay station could soon be obsolete
Rachel Gordon,Michael  Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writers
 
Monday, March 2, 2009

San Francisco's planned high-speed rail station in the new Transbay  Terminal 
would be obsolete within two decades, state transportation officials  warn, 
forcing them to rethink the design.
 
The proposed station would not be large enough to accommodate half the  
passengers expected to be using the system by 2030. In addition, the current  
scheme poses engineering challenges for a Caltrain extension to the Transbay  
Terminal downtown, officials said. 
 
"Three sets of engineers met and they concurred that the design for the  
station was inadequate and useless for high-speed rail," said Quentin Kopp,  
chairman of the High Speed Rail Authority.
 
The problems have transportation officials scrambling to find fixes to  
assure that the rail projects don't miss out on federal stimulus funds. 
 
The emergency funding bill contains an unprecedented $8 billion for  
high-speed and intercity rail projects. President Obama indicated in his  proposed 
budget last week that he would like to pump a further $1 billion  annually over 
the next five years into such projects. The windfall provides  opportunities 
that even the most optimistic rail supporters didn't  envision.
 
Interested parties will have to make a case for their projects and compete  
for the money.
 
"I think we are well positioned to get these funds - unless we get in our  
own way," said Steve Heminger, executive director of the Metropolitan  Trans
portation Commission, a regional planning and funding agency.
 
California is the only state with a high-speed rail plan and funding.
 
Heminger has been tapped to mediate the dispute that involves the  
potentially competing interests of Caltrain, the California High Speed Rail  Authority 
and the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, the agency overseeing  construction of 
the new Transbay Terminal at First and Mission streets. 
 
The building - described by project sponsors as the Grand Central station  of 
the West Coast, with bus and train service - is envisioned to be the San  
Francisco home of high-speed rail and the new Caltrain station, extending its  
service closer to the downtown job center than does the current terminus at  
Fourth and King streets 1.3 miles away.
 
As it stands, the first phase of the project would be built without a  "train 
box," the skeleton of the underground train station. The idea is to build  it 
later, when funding becomes available. But building the train box in the  
first phase could shave an estimated $100 million off the $490 million cost. 
 
The Transbay Joint Powers Authority board must decide by summer whether to  
move up building the train box in order to keep on schedule, said Adam Alberti, 
 spokesman for the Transbay Authority. Construction on the new terminal is  
expected to start in early 2010.
 
But even if Transbay officials put the train box on the fast track, there's  
still debate over whether the current design - one platform and two tracks for 
 Caltrain and two platforms and four tracks for high-speed rail - would be  
sufficient.
 
Mehdi Morshed, executive director of the California High Speed Rail  
Authority, testified before the Metropolitan Transportation Commission governing  
board last week that it would not withstand the test of time.
 
"We have found out that the current design that was environmentally cleared  
gives us less than one-half of the capacity we'll need by 2030 to carry all 
the  passengers," Morshed said.
 
The High Speed Rail Authority now believes that the station would have to  be 
able to handle 12 trains an hour, or one every five minutes. Under that  
scenario, eight to 10 tracks would be required, Alberti said. He said the  
Transbay team only learned of that three weeks ago.
 
One idea being studied is whether a two-story underground train station  
would be feasible from engineering and funding standpoints.
 
Separately, Caltrain officials have raised concerns about the design  
pertaining to, in part, track alignment and slope.
 
The problems aren't insurmountable, said Michael Scanlon, executive  director 
of the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, which operates Caltrain.  But, 
he said, they require additional engineering work.
 
"The current alignment and design is fatally flawed," Scanlon told the  
Metropolitan Transportation Commission governing board last week. 
 
Kopp said engineers from his agency and Parsons Brinckerhoff - the main  
consultant on the high-speed rail project - concur with Caltrain  officials.
 
Alberti said the Transbay Authority has been working closely with Caltrain  
officials on preliminary design and engineering work. Until recently, he said,  
"at no time has Caltrain indicated that the rail design does not work for  
them."
 
Scanlon said in an interview that the worst thing to do would to be to  
construct a train box that wouldn't work. "I think we ought to slow down and get  
it right," he said.
 
Increasing the size or design of the train box could double the cost, but  
officials have yet to attach a final price tag.
 
Heminger said it's essential that a deal be brokered among the Transbay,  
Caltrain and high-speed agencies, which would require clearing funding and  
engineering hurdles. The goal, he said, is to apply for federal stimulus money  
with a unified voice. "It's critical," he said. "Even though we have a leg up,  
these funds are going to be competitive."
 
The U.S. Department of Transportation is expected to release the rules for  
the funding competition in about four months, which gives Bay Area and  
high-speed rail officials some breathing room. Heminger plans to convene another  
meeting with the Transbay, Caltrain and high-speed rail representatives this  
week.
 
E-mail the writers at _rgordon_@_sfchronicle.com_ 
(mailto:rgordon_@_sfchronicle.com)  and _mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com_ (mailto:mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com) .
 
_http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/02/BA1J166LH6.DTL_ 
(http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/02/BA1J166LH6.DTL) 
 
This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco  Chronicle.
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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1853
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