Caltrain construction, maintenance update, Dec. 18 – 24

In the Bay Area, work on the San Bruno Grade Separation Project is under way. Work will take place Monday, December 20 through Thursday, December 23 between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. This work includes continuation of the storm pipe installation along 1st Avenue, grading adjacent to the tracks between South Linden Avenue and Scott Street, drainage improvements near the I-380 overpass and preparation work for the construction of the future temporary station. The $147-million project will elevate the Caltrain tracks above three existing at-grade street crossings at San Bruno, San Mateo and Angus avenues. A new, elevated Caltrain station will be constructed between San Bruno and San Mateo avenues, replacing the existing station at Sylvan Avenue. Work will continue on the new pedestrian underpass at the Santa Clara station. The underpass will connect the north and southbound platforms, allowing two trains to pass through the station at the same time and improving safety for pedestrians in the station. The current temporary platform will be in use until approximately March 2011. The work is part of an 18-month station improvement project that will add a new wider, longer center-boarding platform and extend the southern platform 150 feet. Construction on a VTA project that will improve safety at eight grade crossings in Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto continues. December 19-23, between the hours of 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., crews will work at the Rengstorff Avenue crossing in Mountain View and the Charleston Avenue crossing in Palo Alto. December 20-23, crews will replace switch timbers in the San Francisco train yard while other crews will resurface the tracks between the Bayshore and South San Francisco stations and replace rail in the South San Francisco train yard and will weld, resurface the tracks and replace crossties between the Lawrence and Santa Clara stations. December 18-19, crews tested radio communications and performed maintenance on switches near the San Jose Diridon station.