BART earmarks $2.5 million for eBART station in Pittsburg

Bay Area Rapid Transit's (BART) board conditionally approved a plan to earmark $2.5 million toward construction of an eBART rail station in Pittsburg, Calif., at the intersection of Highway and Railroad avenues.

The dollar amount was approved as a revision to BART's fiscal-year 2014 budget, and is contingent on a funding agreement with other area transit agencies and city officials, according to a BART press release.

Expected to be completed in 2018, the $525 million eBART project is a 10-mile extension of BART service from the existing Pittsburg/Bay Point Station to Hillcrest Avenue in Antioch, Calif. eBART is being built in coordination with California Department of Transportation’s Highway 4 widening project, and will use diesel multiple-unit trains, which cost about 60 percent less than conventional BART service.

The total cost for the Pittsburg Center Station is $11.9 million. The city has agreed to provide $3.5 million, and similar financial commitments are expected from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Contra Costa Transit Authority, BART officials said.