BART: Major track rebuild coming between South Hayward and Union City stations
Written by David C. Lester, Editor-in-Chief
A large construction project is poised to begin soon in southern Alameda County. Crews will replace critical track components between the South Hayward and Union City BART stations as well as build a new storage facility at the Hayward Maintenance Complex for hundreds of new Fleet of the Future cars.
BART is targeting stretches of trackway in the system that are in the greatest need of replacement and prioritizing work on those sections. This critical work will replace nearly 50-year-old track infrastructure. Many of these aging track components have been in operation since the beginning of BART service in 1972 and have outlived their design lives. Funding for the track replacement work is coming from voter-approved Measure RR. Support for the new rail car storage facility is supported in part by a $1.17 billion grant from the Federal Transit Administration. The storage facility is part of the Transbay Corridor Core Capacity Program, which will dramatically increase the number of trains BART can run through the Transbay Tube.
Neighbors can expect construction on or near our trackway and the operation of construction equipment with lights on nights throughout the duration of the work. Part of the project will involve the construction of a retaining wall. The equipment used for this part of the project installs the piles for the wall by vibrating the piles into the ground. This has the potential to create significant noise at the work site.
Once complete, you can expect a decrease in the noise level from trains. BART passengers should experience a smoother, safer, and more reliable ride. The new rail car facility will bolster BART’s service to San Jose as well as help to ensure BART is maximizing the number of Fleet of the Future trains in operation.
The project will require a series of weekend track shutdowns between South Hayward and Union City. On those weekends, free buses instead of trains will carry passengers between those stations. Fourteen weekends have been scheduled for track shutdowns in South Hayward in 2021. There will be no train service between South Hayward and Union City on the following weekends: May 1-2, May 15-16, May 29-31 (Memorial Day weekend), June 5-6, June 19-20, July 3-4 (Independence Day weekend), July 17-18, July 31-August 1, August 14-15, September 4-6 (Labor Day weekend), September 18-19, October 2-3, October 16-17, October 30-31. On all these weekends free buses will replace trains and riders should plan to add 20-25 minutes to their trips. Additional shutdown weekends are expected spring through fall in 2022 but specific dates have not yet been selected.
Read about another recently-announced BART track project.
