San Francisco County Transportation Authority
Moving the City

The California High-Speed Rail Project will provide intercity high-speed rail service along more than 800 miles of track, connecting the major population centers of Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Central Valley, Los Angeles, the Inland Empire (Riverside County), Orange County, and San Diego. The system is envisioned as a state-of-the-art, electrically powered, high-speed, steel-wheel-on-steel-rail technology with contempo­rary systems. The trains will be capable of operating at speeds of up to 220 miles per hour over a fully grade-separated alignment, with an expected express trip time between Los Angeles and San Francisco of approximately two hours and 40 minutes.

This project will be planned, designed, built, operated, and maintained under the direction of the CHSRA. Based on the recently published business plan, dated November 1, 2011, the estimated project cost is now up to $100 billion and a full operational system will now be delivered by 2030 for the first phase of the project (operating a blended service from down town San Francisco todown town Los Angeles).

In response to the environmental review phase of the project that began in April 2010 the CHSRA released the Preliminary Alternatives Analysis Report for the San Francisco to San Jose (Peninsula) corridor,the Authority has taken on the role of coordinating with all the San Francisco stakeholders to facilitate dialogue on issues that affect the city. The goal of the coordination efforts with City agencies such as the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the San Francisco Public Utility Commission, the Planning Department, Mission Bay Development, the Transbay Joint Powers Authority and several other organizations is to proactively achieve a citywide consensus that can be communicated as a unified City position to the CHSRA and Caltrain's projected infrastructure and operational improvements.

As part of the inter-agency coordination between CalTrain and CHSRA, FRA has approved a blended operation along the Peninsula corridor which will facilitate operation of freight, commuter and regional rail on the same tracks, using the same infrastructure. Caltrain is now amidst of performing a capacity study, analyzing the impact of such blended operations on the frequency of service in this corridor.  The current assumptions in this study include full electrification of the corridor starting from the Tamien Station in San Jose with a terminus at the 4th and King.

Therefore, the Authority in close cooperation with City departments and the Mayor's Office, have developed and analyzed various alternatives to the 16th Street crossing as well as the Down town Extension of the Caltrain and CHSRA service to the Transbay Terminal and will lead the coordination effort with CalTrain for additional analyses based on supporting alternative scenarios. These alterna­tives are more apt to meet the City's objectives and plans than those original alternatives proposed by the CHSRA and CalTrain. In addition, the Authority has also drafted various letters addressing the City stakeholders' concerns about various features of the project. The Authority continues to coordinate with the local agencies and CHSRA on issues that affect the city.

Furthermore, the Authority and its consultants, are leading a feasibility study of alternative alignments and project delivery options to the down town extension to improve the geometry, implementation and operations of both the high speed rail and the Caltrain commuter trains to the Transbay terminal while balancing other opportunities for development along the alignment.  The goal of the study is to identify more cost-effective solutions for project implementation and operations.

The Caltrain Electrification project was delayed in 2010 as the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, which owns and operates Caltrain, entered into a Memorandum of Agreement in 2009 with the CHSRA for the joint development of both the Caltrain electrification project and the high-speed rail project in the peninsula corridor. This agreement has resulted in a substantial schedule delay to the Caltrain Electrification project until alignment and operational aspects of the state high-speed train are resolved.

It is important to note that due to several oppositions to the CHSRA's proposed Alternatives Analysis along the Peninsula corridor, the environmental documentation activities in this corridor have be placed on hold, while such efforts are moving ahead in other corridors along the CHSRA alignment. The Authority will be working closely with CHSRA and Caltrain to re-establish the priority of the Peninsula corridor and delivering a reliable local and regional rail service to San Francisco.