BART continues cable work and single tracking

Written by David C. Lester, Editor-in-Chief
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Original plans for a light rail extension running through San Jose might be scratched.
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BART continues its work on replacing old power cables throughout its system. The latest news is that there will be single-tracking in Orinda for two weekends in April so this work can continue.

The first weekend will be the upcoming one, 4/9 – 4/10. The second weekend was not included in the BART press release, reproduced below, but RT&S has reached out to BART to find out when the second weekend of work will occur. As soon as we have the second weekend, we will update this story.

“BART crews are doing work in the BART Berkeley Hills Tunnel to ensure trains have a reliable source of power. This includes installing new troughs to safely hold the 34.5kV (kilovolt) cables as well as replacing cables that have been in use for decades and have outlived their design life. This work will impact riders on the following two weekends:

“*On Saturday 4/9 service will be reduced to one track around the Orinda Station starting at 9pm until 7pm Sunday 4/10.

Riders traveling in that area can expect delays of 15-20 minutes during those work windows. Contra Costa County riders traveling westbound and looking to avoid the delay entirely should go directly to the Rockridge Station.

“The traction power work happening near Orinda is not taking BART resources away from the emergency cable repairs underway on the BART track section between Richmond and MacArthur. The work near Orinda Station is to install troughs for the future installation of new 34.5 kV cables. The work is being done by a team from BART’s construction structures department, which is separate from the electrical crews who are continuing to focus on the Richmond-MacArthur section.  

“This cable replacement work is made possible by Measure RR, which was approved by BART District voters in 2016 and provides $3.5 billion to rebuild the backbone of the system.”

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