First tracks installed for SCVTA BART extension

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
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Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (SCVTA) celebrated another milestone for the Bay Area Rapid Transportation's Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension as joint venturecontractor Skanska, Shimmick, Herzog (SSH) recently installed the first set of tracks.

 

Approximately 7,100 feet of rail is in the ground north of Kato Road in the city of Fremont, Calif. In the city of Milpitas, 3,500 feet was placed south of Dixon Landing Road for a combined total of two miles of trackway. All of the materials used for the track installation were sourced in the United States. The 420 tons of rail was fabricated in one of America’s oldest steel mills and is made of 99 percent recycled materials. The 3,240 tons of track bed consisting of ballast was provided by Vulcan Materials, a Los Gatos-based company.

Now that the initial trackway has been laid, SSH will continue north building the track system until the new Warm Springs BART Station in South Fremont is reached. BART service to Warm Spring is scheduled to open later this year. This will provide the connection between SCVTA’s BART Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension to BART’s infrastructure, enabling the beginning of system testing.

The 10-mile Berryessa Extension will serve San Francisco and other east bay cities in less than an hour. It is expected to operate every 15 minutes. Passenger service on the Berryessa Extension is anticipated to start by late 2017.

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