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4/29/2020
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority's (VTA) board earlier this month announced it will evaluate a new rail tunnel design for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Silicon Valley Phase II Project that will extend rail 6 miles into downtown San Jose and Santa Clara, California.
VTA will no longer pursue its original single-bore tunnel design with side-by-side tracks because the engineering team — which reached a 10 percent design level — indicated higher projected risks and costs beyond the funding available, agency officials said in a press release.
Tunneling contractors also told VTA that the higher risks made them less inclined to bid on the project, officials said.
Now, VTA will evaluate a single-bore tunnel with a stacked platform configuration.
The agency is also evaluating design enhancements for this configuration to address BART’s previously expressed operational concerns with the option. Concerns included emergency egress access, train operation challenges and ventilation designs that differ compared to the rest of BART’s underground system.
The VTA board will consider the new recommended design later this year.
The BART Silicon Valley Phase II project is part of a larger effort to build a 16-mile extension of the BART system. The first 10 miles of the project from Alameda County to Santa Clara County has transitioned from a VTA construction project to pre-passenger testing and operations being conducted by BART. Passenger service is scheduled to begin later this year.