| VTA Light Rail | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Info | |||
| Locale | Santa Clara County, California | ||
| Transit type | Light rail | ||
| Number of lines | 3 | ||
| Number of stations | 62 | ||
| Daily ridership | 34,340 (as of Q3 2011) | ||
| Operation | |||
| Began operation | December 11, 1987[1] | ||
| Operator(s) | Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority | ||
| Headway | 15-30 minutes | ||
| Technical | |||
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge) | ||
| Electrification | Catenary | ||
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VTA Light Rail is a light rail system serving San Jose, California and its suburbs in Silicon Valley. It is operated by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, or VTA, and consists of 42.2 mi (67.9 km) of standard-gauge track on two main lines and a spur line. Originally opened in 1987, the light rail system has gradually expanded since then, and currently has 62 light rail stations in operation on the three lines. VTA operates a fleet of 100 Kinki Sharyo Low Floor Light Rail Vehicles (LFLRV) to service its passengers.[2] The system's average daily ridership as of Q3 2011 is 34,430 passengers[3], peaking at 37,536 in August 2008.[4]
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VTA operates 42.2 miles of light rail on 3 lines. There are 4 major corridors of light rail which the lines run on. The first and most important is the Guadalupe Corridor in South San Jose along CA-87 north to Tasman Station, which runs through Downtown San Jose and the business areas of central and North San Jose. It is serviced by two lines, making frequency along this corridor around 7.5 minutes. Other corridors include the Tasman East/Capitol Corridor in East San Jose, the Mountain View/Tasman West corridor in Northwest Silicon Valley, and the Winchester corridor, which services communities in Campbell and West San Jose. Frequency along these corridors are around 15-30 minutes.
All the lines and the corridors they run through are designed to move commuters from the suburbs and suburban areas of San Jose into the major business areas in Downtown San Jose, Santa Clara County Civic Center, and the high-tech and office areas of Northern Silicon Valley (especially along North First Street). It also serves to connect commuters to Caltrain, ACE, and eventually BART, which move transit riders to and from Silicon Valley and the Greater Bay Area.
Designated as 901, this line runs from the Alum Rock Transit Center in East San Jose (or Alum Rock) to Santa Teresa station in the Santa Teresa neighborhood of San Jose, via Milpitas and downtown San Jose. There are 36 stops on this line. In South San Jose, the line operates in the median of State Route 87 and 85. A proposed future development is an extension past Alum Rock along Capitol Ave. and Capitol Expressway to the Eastridge Transit Center, which would effectively duplicate (and possibly replace) the current service by the 522 bus line along this corridor.[5]
Introduced in October 2010 as a complementary service to the Alum Rock–Santa Teresa light rail line, the weekday, peak-period only Commuter Express light rail service currently operates between Baypointe and Santa Teresa stations. This service, with three trips each in the morning (to Baypointe) and in the afternoon (to Santa Teresa) stops at every station, with nonstop service between Convention Center and Ohlone/Chynoweth stations. This service offers free WiFi on board, and fares are the same as other local light rail services.[6][7]
Designated as 902, this line runs from Downtown Mountain View station in Mountain View through Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, North San Jose along Tasman Drive, North First Street, Downtown San Jose, and the Southwest Expressway on its way to its terminus at the Winchester station in western Campbell. It has 32 stops, 14 of which are shared with the Alum Rock–Santa Teresa Line. To reach San Jose Diridon Station (interchange to Amtrak and commuter rail services) the line tunnels under the station and rail yard; en route to Winchester the line shares the route with Union Pacific Railroad freight tracks.
Designated as 900, this is a 3-stop spur from the Ohlone/Chyoweth station to Almaden station at the Almaden Expressway in the Almaden Valley. The Ohlone/Chynoweth station provides connection to the Alum Rock–Santa Teresa Line, and the Almaden station connects to VTA bus service. It receives little traffic, even though there is an intermediate stop at the Westfield Oakridge mall. These shuttles take about 4 minutes form Ohlone/Chynoweth to Almaden. This line only runs 1 car trains, as they can only fit on the platforms. This line has one track, with sidings at Almaden and Ohlone Chynoweth
From 1987 until September 2003, the system was served by a fleet of high-floor light rail vehicles built by Urban Transportation Development Corporation. In 2002, VTA introduced new low floor light rail vehicles by Kinki Sharyo into the fleet. The low floor vehicles initially operated only on the Tasman West line (Downtown Mountain View to I-880/Milpitas) because the vehicles' floor height matched the platform height only at that line's stations and was only able to provide level-boarding there. In 2003, after VTA reconstructed platforms along North First Street from the Japantown/Ayer stop northward (with wooden ramps provided for the leading car's front door at all other stations), VTA replaced the entire fleet with low floor light rail vehicles. The 29 (802-830) high floor vehicles were sold to Utah Transit Authority and 20 (831-850) sold to Sacramento Regional Transit. Only one car was retained as a wrecker. Currently, all stations provide level boarding at all doors.
| Designation | Car numbers | Manufacturer | Year of Manufacture | First used | Retired | No. of Seats/ Overall Capacity |
Quantity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low-Floor LRV | 900-999 | Kinki Sharyo | 2001-2005 | 2002 | In Service | 64/170 | 100 |
| High-Floor LRV | 800-850 | Urban Transportation Development Corporation | 1987 | 1987 | 2003 | 67/155 | 50 |
On March 21, 2008, at approximately 7:10 p.m., a southbound 2-car light rail train derailed just north of the Virginia station. Four people, including the train operator, were injured, and the train was heavily damaged. At the time of the accident, trains were operating on a single track through the area because of construction at three nearby light rail stations. The train involved was attempting to switch between tracks when it derailed. The investigation into the accident is ongoing, but the VTA has ruled out mechanical or equipment failure as a cause for the accident.[8]
In 2009, VTA included plans for new light rail line configuration as part of its Short Range Transit Plan. The plan calls for the Almaden spur line to be integrated into the entire light rail system, with trains from Mountain View terminating at Almaden instead of Winchester. Trains from Winchester would instead be rerouted to terminate in a loop around the Downtown San Jose transit mall. Additionally, the Santa Teresa-Alum Rock line would be elevated to an express line, skipping stops between Ohlone/Chynoweth and Convention Center. VTA is currently testing the feasibility of running full-time express trains in between these stations with its current Commuter Express service. This plan would improve on-time reliability for riders on both the corridors between Tasman and Mountain View, and Convention Center to Winchester. In the long term, VTA plans to also add a new line from Old Ironsides to Alum Rock to shuttle future BART riders, which would skip unpopular stops west of Tasman Station, and run to Mountain View at peak hours. [9]
VTA has also proposed to fully name light rail lines by line color. Currently, VTA only refers to lines by their route number, or by their destination.
VTA has considered plans to increase the overall speed of its light rail system. These include adding fences along track on North First Street, which would increase speed along this corridor to 45 mph, and a new Great America station to better facilitate transfers to commuter rail. [10]
In 2000, voters approved Measure A, which was to provide funding for two new light rail corridors.[11] Some of the proposed corridors were through office parks in Sunnyvale and Cupertino, an extension further into Santa Teresa and to Coyote Valley, Stevens Creek Boulevard, El Camino Real, and routes in North County and Palo Alto. However, VTA ultimately opted to build line going through Campbell to Winchester and the Vasona Junction, a route along Alum Rock Avenue to Downtown San Jose, and an extension along Capitol Expressway.
VTA completed most of the Vasona extension in 2005, and plans to begin construction on the light rail extension along Capitol Expressway in 2012. However, VTA lacked sufficient funds to build light rail along Alum Rock Avenue. The originally planned light rail route in Alum Rock, as well as one on El Camino Real, will instead be built as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). [5]
In 2005, VTA extended light rail service to Winchester station, completing most of a light rail extension to Los Gatos, California[12] The extension is 1.57 miles long and will run alongside Union Pacific Railroad lines. Construction will include lengthening of platforms at the Winchester, Campbell, Hamilton, Bascom, Fruitdale and Race stations. Two new stations (Hacienda and Vasona) will be constructed with the entire project costs projected to be $157 million.[13]
This extension will run on an elevated median on Capitol Expressway. It will be designed to provide a competitive commute time to driving on the expressway, which is generally considered one of the most congested traffic corridors in Silicon Valley. VTA will first improve pedestrian and bus conditions on Capitol Expressway, which is currently taking place, and will complete in late 2011. When finished, it will include new sidewalks, bus shelters and improved landscaping.[14] VTA will then commence the first phase of the light rail extension, which will continue south of the Alum Rock Station to the Eastridge Mall's Transit Center. This construction is planned to begin sometime in 2012. There will be two stations: Story Road and Eastridge, with an optional intermediate station at Ocala Avenue. The pedestrian improvements and first phase of construction is expected to cost $60 million. The second phase of extension will travel south of Eastridge into South San Jose, and will connect with VTA's Capitol station. [15]
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