San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
New trouble may arrive soon at transit center
San Francisco’s Transbay Transit Center may have a new problem on its hands — not enough room in its $700 million underground train station to handle the projected Caltrain rail service when, or if, it arrives.
“That’s what we are looking into now: what level of projected future service we will have and how much the station will accommodate,” said Caltrain spokesman Seamus Murphy.
At issue is the two-story-high, three-blocklong train “box” that sits under the terminal. It was built as part of a plan to bring both Caltrain’s Peninsula rail service and California high-speed trains directly into the terminal via a 1.3-mile tunnel to the Caltrain station
at Fourth and King streets.
High-speed rail appears to be on life support after Gov. Gavin Newsom seemed to say in his State of the State address that California would concentrate on the Central Valley portion, leaving the connections to San Francisco and Los Angeles. And because the Trump administration has cut funding and even asked for the return of money already spent, it may never arrive in San Francisco.
That isn’t stopping San Francisco officials from moving ahead on building the tunnel. Their argument: Even without high-speed rail, Caltrain ridership alone justifies the $6 billion tunnel.
And indeed, Caltrain expects to see its ridership more than quadruple over the next 20 years to 250,000 riders a day, once it converts from diesel to electric trains.
But now there are questions over whether there is enough room in the underground station to handle the 12 to 16 trains per hour Caltrain may need to run into the city to handle all those new passengers.
“Our initial analysis shows that at least 10 trains per hour can be accommodated in the terminal,” Murphy said. Meaning that Caltrain could be two to six trains short on platform space.
And that’s without highspeed rail, if it ever comes.
“There is still optimism that the final analysis will show opportunity for additional capacity, but it’s too early to say for sure,” Murphy said.
But the goal remains on track.
“Bringing rail to the transit center will realize the center’s full potential as a multi-modal, 21st century transit hub and connect the Bay Area,” Transbay spokeswoman Christine Falvey said.
Whatever the case, Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who is also chairman of the County Transportation Authority, said San Francisco is committed to getting the tunnel built, even as federal and state funds are evaporating.
“We’ll find the money somewhere,” Peskin said. Falvey offered a timeline. “If funds are available, we can start construction three years from now and finish 10 years from now,” she said.
The question of adequate space for trains is the latest challenge facing the terminal.
Bay Area planners’ dream of the $2.2 billion terminal becoming the Grand Central Terminal of the West has taken a serious hit now that the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco high-speed rail plan has been scaled down, making the transit center pretty much a local bus station — although one with a very nice park on top.
And that bus station isn’t even open. Just six weeks after it opened, workers discovered cracks in two key beams, causing officials to close the terminal until repairs are made. There’s still no date set to have it up and running again.
Seems like the fun never ends.
Party favors: Friends of Gov. Gavin Newsom raised a party-hearty $2.5 million for his inauguration festivities.
The biggest donor to the inaugural and the two days of parties was organized labor, which ponied up $775,000 to help stage the events, with $150,000 coming from the state’s prison guards union and $100,000 from the California Teachers Association Political Action Committee.
The state’s Indian casinos chipped in $525,0000, including $200,000 from the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, owners of the Graton Resort and Casino in Rohnert Park.
The biggest individual donor was former San Diego Padres owner Jennifer Moores, who gave $200,000. Netflix founder and charter school advocate Reed Hastings gave $50,000.
Other big-dollar contributors included AT&T ($100,000), the State Democratic Party ($100,000) and the California Association of Hospitals ($100,000). In other words, pretty much your usual collection of organizations, businesses and trade associations that do business with the state.
Donors to the California Rises charity concert held the night before the inauguration included the Silicon Valley Community Foundation at $250,000 and $50,000 from the San Francisco Giants.
The concert, which featured Pitbull and Common, along with the X Ambassadors and Betty Who, raised $5 million for the California Fire Foundation.
So for all the fun, some good came out of the festivities. Special of the day: Its official name is the Wildlife Highway Interface Act, but it has quickly been dubbed the “you-kill-it, you-grill-it bill.”
SB395 is a bill proposed by state Sen. Bob Archuleta of Cerritos that would allow motorists who hit large game animals to take the kill, have it cleaned, butchered and ready for the diner table. They would also have to record the site of the kill.
Not only would highways be cleaner, recording the kill would also help the state assess where wildlife highway crossings are needed most, Archuleta said.
And while the idea of roasted roadkill may seem a bit off-the-wall to many people, similar laws or policies are in place in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.
Too early to say if the bill is going to make it out of the kitchen — until then, bon appetit!
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Phillip Matier appears Sundays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX-TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call 415-777-8815, or email pmatier@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @philmatier