BART opens Contra Costa Crossover

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor

In northern California, a new set of crossover tracks is now in use on the busy Pittsburg/Bay Point Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) line, bringing capacity relief to riders and greater ability to get around delays.

 

The two new sections of track crossovers are located in between Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill stations and will allow trains to cross over at high speed to the opposite track to reroute service around a disabled train, trackside problem, or maintenance crew. BART has other crossover tracks systemwide, but this line had a five mile gap with no track crossover, causing delays to quickly escalate when incidents occur.

“The Central Contra Costa Crossover Project is the biggest track project in more than a decade and I am thrilled to see it open and in service,” said BART Director Gail Murray, who represents riders in the area. “It was the first time BART cut into the middle of its original tracks and inserted new track crossovers and the systems to make it work. Perhaps the best benefit is that it increases capacity on our most used line without requiring additional rail cars, which BART presently does not have. Passengers will soon see longer trains on this line because we can operate more efficiently.”

The crossover nearest to the Walnut Creek Station opened earlier this year and BART has already seen great improvements to delay mitigation from its use. Trains have been able to move around planned maintenance occurring on the weekend, turning what was a 40 minute delay into a five minute delay.

The other crossover, nearest to the Pleasant Hill Station, opened April 1 and it will soon allow BART to run more efficient train service during peak commute times. A near empty train coming from San Francisco in the morning in the reverse commute direction will arrive at Pleasant Hill and be routed onto the opposite platform. Instead of continuing to Concord, the train will be “turned back” and pick up commute direction riders. The train will essentially be empty, providing seats for riders that are used to boarding trains with no seat availability left. The train will then head to Walnut Creek, continuing to make all the regular stops until Montgomery Street and will then turn back to make another loop. During the evening commute select trains will run Pleasant Hill-24th Street Mission loops.

These new Pleasant Hill to Montgomery St./24th Street Mission turn back runs, made possible with the new crossover tracks, will also let us have longer trains serving the Pittsburg/Bay Point-SFO route all day.

The $43-million project was funded with Regional Measure 2 funds ($25 million), federal stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) funds ($13 million) and BART capital funds.

Northern Crossover is located 2,200 feet south from the Pleasant Hill Station and is 500 feet long. The Southern Crossover is located 5,500 feet south from the Pleasant Hill Station and is 200 feet long.

Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill Stations are the two busiest stations on the line. They each average 6,600 exits per day or a combined 26,000 entries and exits.

 

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