Dumbarton

mental analysis looking at restoring rail service was partially completed in 2011, she said. But, with the economy still reeling from the Great Recession, the idea was shelved.

Then, Facebook expanded its campus abutting the bridge, and a conversation in 2015 ultimately led to the company contributing $1.2 million to fund the new study, said Dan Lieberman, a spokesman for SamTrans. Representatives from Facebook declined to comment on recommendations from the study.

Ultimately, Reggiardo said the transit agency envisions a multimodal corridor for the Dumbarton that includes not only a new railroad crossing but also improvements to the highway bridge. If approved, interchange improvement and expanded express bus service, along with two new express routes would come first, she said, with the latter connecting Union City with Menlo Park, Redwood City, Mountain View and Sunnyvale by 2020. HOV lanes could follow as an intermediary step to speed up bus service, she said.

Ultimately, the agency would embark on rebuilding the railroad connection along the Dumbarton rail bridge that would be phased in over time, first connecting Newark to Redwood City with diesel trains, followed by an extension to Union City by around 2030, with a combined estimated cost of nearly $1.3 billion.

The rail bridge would be electrified to allow Caltrain’s new electric trains to cross the bridge and connect to the Altamont Corridor Express and Capitol Corridor by 2035, for an additional $327 million.

More details will be available when the study is published on Tuesday, but both Cunningham and Slocum said the project is an ideal one to serve as a test case for a private investment, making it one of roughly a dozen transportation projects in the state to take that approach.

Even without private investment, Slocum said funds from the recently-approved gas tax hike and transportation funding bill, SB1, and the proposed $3 bridge toll hike, along with a proposed transportation sales tax ballot initiative in San Mateo County, could be combined to fund the project.

“The Dumbarton rail bridge is the missing link in our mega-regional transportation network,” Slocum said. “And this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity.”

SamTrans is soliciting comments from the public about the proposed new services before the transit agency’s governing board accepts the final report and its recommendations later this year.