As the planning process for a potential Dumbarton rail corridor linking the East Bay to the Peninsula moves forward, engineers are narrowing down possible station locations.
The multi-billion-dollar project represents a missing link in the region’s transportation network that could go a long way to relieving increasingly miserable traffic congestion, officials say.
The plan is to have the commuter rail line travel from Redwood Junction in Redwood City through Menlo Park and East Palo Alto to Newark and ultimately Union City, crossing the Bay on a new rail bridge where the defunct one currently stands or through a tunnel.
On the Peninsula, engineers are exploring four potential stations, including one around the Fair Oaks Health Center where the railroad intersects with Middlefield Road, another at the intersection of Marsh Road and another at Willow Road in addition to Redwood Junction.
The North Fair Oaks neighborhood has been calling for a station there and specific locations for it will be announced at community meetings early next year, Winsome Bowen, head of regional transportation strategy at Facebook, said during a community meeting in that neighborhood Wednesday. Engineers are also looking at two potential sites for the Marsh Road station as well as the possibility of an East Palo Alto station in the vicinity of University Avenue based on requests from that community, Bowen added.
Last year, Facebook and Plenary Group, a developer of large-scale infrastructure projects, entered into an exclusive negotiating agreement with the San Mateo County Transit District, which owns the rail corridor between Redwood City and Newark, to explore the feasibility of reviving the Dumbarton rail line. The group calls itself the Cross Bay Transit Partners.
Locations for both a station and maintenance facility have been identified in Newark, but planning between Newark and Union City has been a challenge, Bowen said. Union Pacific freight railroad owns that segment of the corridor and has very demanding and also costly rules for agencies seeking to operate on it. In the event that negotiations with Union Pacific fall through and the existing tracks between Newark and Union City cannot be used for the Dumbarton rail line, the partners are exploring the possibility of running some sort of “alternative mass transit technology” on local streets or state freeways between those cities, Bowen said.
It has not been determined what type of transportation technology will be used on the Dumbarton corridor, but Bowen said service will definitely be electric, adding that impacts to residents near the corridor will also be carefully considered.
“We will have electric service,” she said. “We are committed to clean energy, green technology and noise and vibration will be a critical consideration.”
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Bowen went on to summarize community feedback, which appears to be split on what type of transportation is most appropriate while unanimous on whether to share the corridor with freight.
“Some people want us to look at alternative bus options, some people don’t want any buses and say don’t you dare bring us a rubber tire vehicle. Some people say don’t you dare bring us a train,” she said, adding that one common theme throughout the outreach process is residents don’t want freight on the corridor. “People said do not introduce or make it possible for the freight railroad to operate here, with the noise, vibration and what they perceive to be a noxious operation.”
The project is estimated to cost $3.8 billion. The partners would pursue both public and private funding sources while Facebook, which already kicked in $1 million for a study of the corridor in 2017, has not yet determined its overall contribution.
San Mateo County currently sees some 100,000 daily car trips from the East Bay and Central Valley. The most optimistic ridership projection for the Dumbarton rail line is 18,000 daily riders.
A project of this size will move slowly. During the meeting, Bowen recited a long list of regulatory agencies that must sign off on the project and noted that if a bridge were to be constructed, demolition of the existing bridge and construction of a new one would each span three years.
The environmental review phase is winding its way through an 18-month process, with a final project alternative expected to be determined in the first quarter of 2021. The final environmental document will be complete by the end of 2021 or beginning of 2022.
Note to readers: The story has been updated to remove inaccurate cost estimates for daily operations and maintenance.
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