VTA Light Rail

VTA Light Rail
Santa Clara Station in downtown San José
Legend ← Caltrain Mountain View Evelyn (Eastridge) Whisman (Ocala) Middlefield (Story) Bayshore / NASA Alum rock Moffett Park (Gay Av.) Lockheed Martin McKee Borregas Penitencia Creek Crossman Berryessa Fair Oaks Hostetter Vienna Cropley Reamwood Montague Old Ironsides Great Mall / Main Great America I-880 / Milpitas Lick Mill Cisco Way champion Baypointe Tasman River Oaks Orchard Bonaventure Component Karina Metro / Airport ← Depot Gish Civic Center Japantown / Ayer St. James St. James Santa Clara Paseo de San Antonio Paseo de San Antonio Convention Center San Fernando Children's Discovery .. ← Caltrain / ACE ..Museum San Jose Diridon Virginia (West San Carlos) Tamien Race Curtner Fruitdale Capitol Bascom Branham Hamilton Ohlone / Chynoweth Downtown Campell Blossom Hill Winchester Snell (Hacienda) Cottle (Vasona) Santa Teresa Oakridge Almaden

VTA Light Rail - short for Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Light Rail - is a light rail system that connects San José, California with its suburbs in Silicon Valley . The standard-gauge route network now covers 68 km with 62 stations on 3 lines and is operated by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority with low-floor trams.

history

The public transport in San Jose had been gradually reduced until the 1980s, even some bus routes were switched to an on-demand system with sporadic traffic. In 1982, the city received federal funding of $ 2 million to advance initial plans for a more modern public transport system. This ultimately led to the construction of a 1.5 mile (2 km) long test track in 1985 and a rail depot in 1986 for railways to be tested.

An Urban Transportation Development Corporation built cart in the city center, 1993

The VTA light rail ran for the first time in December 1987, the first section with 9 miles (15 km) was completed in June 1988 and reached from northern Santa Clara (in the center of Silicon Valley) through downtown San Jose. This was followed by the expansion south of the city center to Tamien Station (Almaden Avenue), which went into operation in August 1990. The then planned route network with 20.8 miles (34 km) was completed in April 1991.

At the northern end, the lines to develop Silicon Valley were further expanded - many stations there bear the names of the companies whose premises are connected (e.g. Cisco, Lockheed, Nasa). In December 1999, a 7.6 mile (13 km) extension west to Mountain View was opened. The expansion to the east opened in two stages, first in May 2001 the section to the transfer point I-880 / Milpitas Station, followed by the section to Hostetter Station in June 2004, where the "Capitol Light Rail Extension" opens at the same time to the Alumn Rock Station has been.

At the southern end, the further expansion took place on a new western branch from downtown San Jose to the Winchester transfer point, opened on October 1, 2005. The route network with 42.2 miles (68 km) is one of the longest new trams of modern times (after the Closures in the 1950s).

When it opened in the 1980s to the 1990s, the route network was operated with widespread UTDC ALRV light rail cars (similar to the models in Boston). During the expansion at the northern end of the crossing point at Tasman Station to the east, lower platform heights were tested for the first time, and the Baypoint Station was built as a switch between the old and the new part - it is still three-track with two platforms (originally as a change between the trains one Direction at the same platform, now used as the end point for amplifier trips). After successful tests on this section (up to Milpitas) in 2002 it was decided to dismantle the remaining platforms and to operate the entire route network with Kinki Sharyo low-floor trams from September 2003 . The new platforms are 14 inches (355 mm) high for level access, while previously some stations in the city center had no platform at all and the steps in the cars led to a height of 1250 mm.

The old high-floor vehicle fleet was sold - 29 cars went to the Utah Transit Authority and 20 to the Sacramento Regional Transit , the last of the original 50 cars being dismantled and sold as spare parts. The 100 low-floor trams built between 2001 and 2005 are usually operated with two cars each, but can also run as single cars or serve the stops in traction with 3 cars. In the pedestrian zone of San Jose at the Downtown Plaza, the trains roll through with only 10 mph (15 km / h), on the fenced routes in the middle of the expressways (especially in Silicon Valley) they also reach 55 mph (90 km / h) ).

Tariff structure

A single ticket costs about $ 2 and entitles you to use all lines for over 120 minutes. This includes both the VTA Stadtbahn and all bus routes in the region operated by the VTA. Monthly tickets can be used with the Clipper Card .

Lines

There are currently three lines:

• 900 Almaden to Ohlone / Chynoweth (branching off from the southern part of the 901)
• 901 Santa Teresa to Alum Rock (through downtown San José)
• 902 Mountain View to Winchester (through downtown San Jose)

Line 902 allows a transition to the Caltrain to San Francisco at the northern endpoint Mountain View and at Diridon Station near downtown San José . In San José, there is also a transition to the Amtrak Capitol Service and the Altamont Commuter Express to Stockton .

Line 901 allows a transition to the bus routes to the East Bay , the suburbs east of the Bay of San Francisco , at the Great Mall / Main Transit Center stop in Milpitas . From 2018 there will also be a transition to the BART S-Bahn via Fremont .

Both main routes are to be extended: Line 901 beyond Alumn Rock east to East Rich , line 902 beyond Winchester west to Vasona . When the BART stations at Milpitas and Beryssa are opened, probably in 2017, an express line from Old Ironsides on the other branch of the city center is to connect them more directly - behind Old Ironsides a branching triple stump end point has already been built for turning the trains, which is currently only at Major events is used.

In contrast, the single-track Stub line 900, which only had 3 stations, was threatened with closure at the end of the dot-com bubble - it is currently served by a single wagon that commutes between the endpoints.

During the main time the lines run every 15 minutes, during the off-peak times every 30 minutes, so that the main route between the city center and Milpitas has a 7.5-minute cycle. There are also commuter trains on the 901, which run three times in the morning from southern Santa Teresa to northern Baypointe and back again in the evening - this also stops on the main line at all stations, but runs on the southern stretch between Ohlone / Chynoweth (transition to 900) and Convention Center (at the beginning of the city center) without stopping. On the northern sections with the large distance between stations along the extensive factory premises, consideration is being given to accelerating the trains by blocking the track system on the median.

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  Passing under a railway line along the North 1st Street trunk line

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  Elevated train at the Great Mall / Main Transit Center - transfer point to intercity buses

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  Baypointe with three tracks, was a temporary switch between high-floor and low-floor routes

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  Triangle at Tasman Station at the north end of the North 1st Street trunk line

Web links

Commons : Santa Clara VTA Light Rail  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• VTA Roster ( Memento from July 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Santa Clara VTA light rail celebrates 25 years of service . Simmons-Boardman Publishing. December 12, 2012.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} VTA Facts - Light Rail System Overview . Santa Clara Valley Transporation Authority. November 14, 2012.

1. ↑ en: Canadian Light Rail Vehicle