Caltrain weighs grade crossing costs

At a meeting May 2, Caltrain’s board of directors will likely chart a path forward for improving those 42 at-grade crossings.

Grade separations are only legally required on four-track segments — Caltrain is currently a two-segment corridor — or when maximum train speeds exceed 125 mph, but interest in grade separation goes “significantly” beyond current requirements, according to a staff report.

The board will be asked to choose from three investment plans for improving the 42 at-grade crossings, including low, medium and high intensity investment options.

The price tag for each option varies based on the degree to which Caltrain grows in the coming decades. Assuming the railroad sees what’s referred to as “baseline growth” — changes that are already in the works, including electrification — then it would cost $8.5 billion to improve the 42 at-grade crossings. That money would cover the cost of 24 grade separations, 14 four-quadrant gates, which are the barriers that keep motorists in place when trains pass, and three mitigated closures, which are road closures with separated bike and pedestrian access, according to the report.

Grade separations typically cost between $255 million and $355 million a pop, mitigated closures are in the range of $35 million while quad gates and other safety improvements cost about $1 million, according to the report.

If the board members chooses the high intensity funding option, then it would cost $9 billion to improve at-grade crossings corridorwide assuming “baseline growth.”

But board members could decide that Caltrain needs to grow much more than the baseline scenario, which entails 10 trains per hour. In August, board members will decide if Caltrain should grow to 12 trains per hour or as many as 16 trains per hour in the coming decades and, if those scenarios are selected, then the cost of improving the 42 at-grade crossings could be as high as $11.1 billion, according to the report. 

On a typical weekday, 400,000 motorists drive through Caltrain’s grade crossings, equivalent to the combined traffic volumes of the Bay and San Mateo bridges, according to the report. And between 2008 and 2018, more than 80 collisions have occurred at Caltrain’s grade crossings, 30 of which involved a fatality. 

Today, 71 of 113 crossings along the Caltrain corridor have been separated and an additional grade crossing in San Mateo is being constructed. Expected to cost $180 million, that project is aimed for completion by 2021.

Redwood City is currently studying each of its at-grade crossings. Officials are especially interested in a grade separation at Whipple Avenue and have said in the past that such a project would cost between $300 million and $1 billion depending on its scope.

In Burlingame, environmental and design work is underway for a grade separation on Broadway, but funding has yet to be identified for the project estimated to cost $250 million in 2017.

Of the 42 remaining at-grade crossings, 30 are located in San Mateo County, 10 are in Santa Clara County and two are in San Francisco. There are an additional 28 at-grade crossings on the Union Pacific-owned corridor south of Tamien. 

Grade separation projects are typically funded through a variety of sources, including contributions from the city in which the crossing is located. The San Mateo County Transportation Authority, which oversees the county’s sales tax revenue earmarked for transportation improvements, has a lockbox for grade separation projects and state and federal grants are also often relied upon.

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

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