Per Homebucket (ssp):
Some recent shots from KQED.
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This Thursday, the Metro board is expected to greenlight an initial preconstruction phase for the Union Station’s run-through tracks. The long-anticipated, much-needed project, called “Link US,” will upgrade Union Station to create efficiencies for Metrolink and Amtrak, and to prepare for future high-speed rail.
Since its opening in 1939, Union Station has operated with inefficient stub-end tracks, where trains nose in to the station and then have to reverse to get out. Metro estimates that fixing this issue via Link US will increase Union Station capacity (from 180 to 278 trains daily) and reduce train dwell times (from twenty to five minutes).
The Link US improvements are a costly mega-project: they include new bridge structures over and along the 101 Freeway and new rail tracks in and along a historic structure (which is atop sensitive archeological resources), all of it needing to be built while keeping current trains operating.
The Metro board approved Link US environmental studies (under CEQA – California Environmental Quality Act) in 2019, opting for a somewhat trimmed project scope that took an early estimated $3 billion cost down to the current $2.3 billion estimate.
The Link US project is being broken up into several phases. The initial, funded Phase A includes construction of the bridge over the 101 Freeway and two initial run-through tracks. A future, not-yet-funded Phase B includes raising the main platform area, building new interior concourse areas, and adding additional run-through tracks.
As the run-through tracks will benefit planned high-speed rail, the CA High-Speed Rail Authority (CAHSRA) is a funding partner on the project, contributing $423 million. According to Metro’s staff report, additional project funds have come from the state’s Transit Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP – $227 million), the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP – $61 million), local Measure R Commuter Rail Funds ($51 million), a CAHSRA planning grant ($19 million), and a couple of other smaller sources.
This week’s board item would approve the terms of the $423 million CAHSRA funding, as well as approve a $298 million “Partial Preconstruction Phase” project budget.
The partial preconstruction phase would finalize design and engineering under a Construction Management/General Contractor (CMGC) delivery process, as well as complete real estate acquisitions across from Union Station (south of the 101 Freeway).
Metro’s timeline shows completion of federal environmental studies (under NEPA – National Environmental Policy Act) this summer, with Phase A construction anticipated to get underway in late 2023.
The critically important Link US upgrades represent just one way that the CAHSRA is supporting rail infrastructure improvements in L.A. County to prepare for the ultimate arrival of the state’s high-speed rail system, which has more than a hundred miles under construction in the Central Valley. Some anti-high-speed rail State Assembly Democrats, including Anthony Rendon and Laura Friedman, point to a supposed lack of CAHSRA investment in southern California rail as a pretext to deny and delay high-speed rail funding. But CAHSRA is already supporting numerous rail projects in L.A. County – including grade separation construction underway at Rosecrans-Marquardt in Santa Fe Springs, Link US construction planned at Union Station, support for other Metro rail projects (including contributing funds to the Regional Connector subway), and support for planning additional projects like the Doran Street and Broadway/Brazil Grade Separation Project.
The Metro board will meet this Thursday at 10 a.m. to vote on Link US, as well as the FY23 budget, the cancellation of the 710 Freeway widening, and more. Find the full agenda and staff reports at the Metro board webpage.
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Per Craigs:
Now, the pics from the above article:
Rendered aerial of Union Station with expanded passenger concourse and run through tracks
Rendered view of station platforms at Union Station
Rendered view of Union Station east portal from Patsaouras Plaza
Rendered view of Union Station east portal entrance
Rendered view of expanded passenger tunnel
Rendered view from station platform
Rendered view of expanded passenger concourse
Rendered view of expanded passenger concourse
Rendered aerial view of Union Station with future commercial development
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Why on earth is anyone in California fighting this? In the 21st century California will 100% need this.
Do you want your state to be a global leader or not? I swear, people are so dumb sometimes. NIMBY’s and private enterprise is gonna screw up Americas competitive advantage. We’ve become far too selfish.
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I highly doubt they win this fight. Like was said in the article, CHSR is far more important than any single housing project, especially such a small one.
Besides, if they’re so comfortable using eminent domain to build this project I’m sure they can find a couple parking lots to round up and take with little effort.
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“The costs are raising because of infrastructure education”
I agree with this. This should be a learning moment for the entire country. Lots of generational knowledge can be learned from this project. We’re going to need lots of high speed rail over the next hundred years.
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Yeah I liked especially another one of his points regarding the inland empire.
2 of the biggest reason being
- More than 6 million people live in the inland empire, not serving that market would be a massive mistake. Not to mention it ties them closer to California’s giants, San Fran and LA. Which is exactly what California wants.
And the more important reason which he mentioned
- The direct route runs through a quite long chain of mountains, if you think CHSR is expensive now it would be dwarfed by the costs required to go through those mountains
Oh yeah, the inland empire needs a lot more development. It has some of the most fertile soil in the entire world.
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There might be a problem if they run out of water.
I think California has the money to desalinate water. I don’t think places like Arizona can say the same though.
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The problem is getting past the Coastal Commission. They just nixed one desalination plant in the last 2 weeks.
Susan Carpenter
Spectrum News 1
June 2, 2022
Each day, the intersection of Rosecrans and Marquardt Avenues in Santa Fe Springs is a flurry of traffic. Big rigs. Pickup trucks. Cars. People. Trains. All of them mix in a fast-moving blur where 112 trains and 45,000 vehicles cross daily, occasionally to deadly effect.
Between 2013 and 2021, the intersection has caused 31 collisions between vehicles and trains and six deaths, prompting the state to declare it the most hazardous railway crossing in California. But that is poised to change. On Thursday, Metro broke ground on a new grade separation project that is designed to prevent train traffic from coming into contact with other vehicles.
“Separating the train tracks from the cars and the pedestrians will not only make this intersection safe, it will fix what has been a traffic nightmare for years,” LA County Supervisor and Metro Board Member Janice Hahn said moments before donning a hard hat and throwing a ceremonial shovel full of dirt for the project. “People take their lives in their hands every time they come to this intersection.”
A combination of freight and commuter trains run through the rail crossing every seven minutes, blocking roadway traffic for 21 hours every week, she said. Besides Amtrak, Metrolink and BNSF Railway, the track is also slated to be part of the California High Speed Rail project.
When it is completed in two years, trains will no longer cross through the intersection along the same stretch of asphalt as other vehicles. Cars and trucks will pass over the tracks on a new bridge that allows the trains to pass under them.
Multiple agencies from different levels of government are helping fund the $156 million Rosecrans/Marquardt Grade Separation Project. The Federal Rail Administration provided $15 million, and LA County residents ponied up $26.5 million through Measure R, the 2008 ballot measure voters passed to increase the local sales tax by half a cent to pay for transportation projects and improvements.
The California High Speed Rail Authority contributed $77 million. The authority’s Southern California Regional Director, LaDonna DiCamillo, said the project has multiple benefits beyond the safety improvement. It will decrease congestion, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce noise. Once the project is complete, trains will no longer need to blow their horns as they approach the intersection to alert pedestrians and other vehicles that they are approaching.
Metro Chief Executive Stephanie Wiggins was the head of Metrolink in 2019 when a train carrying 200 people hit an RV at the Rosecrans/Marquardt rail crossing and she went to the scene of the crash.
“There’s nothing like seeing up close and personal the damage that can take place. Today’s milestone is really indicative of what public agencies can do to help save lives,” Wiggins said of the collaboration between Metro, the Federal Railroad Administration, the California High Speed Rail Authority and government leaders in Santa Fe Springs. “You’re really showing how we can be a model partnership together to deliver infrastructure.”
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.All of four foots videos on the construction progress.
Unfortunately they are almost a year old and a lot of construction has occurred since then. Wonder when he’ll be back for more?
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