posted
I know Amtrak has never operated into SFO from the Emeryville side and the only current passenger service is the Caltrain line from San Jose, but is there still any track/bridge/tunnel in place to go "eastwards" from SFO or has it all been removed? I saw what seemed to be a disused track and dismantled bridge from the air whilst flying in once but as a visitor unfamiliar with the area it was impossible to get my bearings or work out what I was seeing. I would imagine the "BART" gets across somehow?
The obvious question is why, if there is still a link, does Amtrak bus people for just the last few miles from Emeryville?
Posts: 395 | From: england | Registered: Sep 2002
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San Francisco's current east-west rail service is the BART TransBay Tube beneath San Francisco Bay that runs between SF and Oakland. Its route roughly parallels the Bay Bridge between the two cities. One can connect between Amtrak and BART to enter SF by rail at the Richmond station north of Oakland. Amtrak's Capitols and San Joaquins stop at Richmond, but the California Zephyr and Coast Starlight do not. A determined rail traveler with time on his/her hands can take surface rail around the southern end of the bay to go between Oakland and SF. Take a Capitol from Oakland to San Jose and change to CalTrain north along the Peninsula to SF (or vice versa). That's about 100 miles to cover an eight-mile distance.
When the Bay Bridge was opened in 1936, its upper deck carried six lanes of automobile traffic -- three east and three west. The lower deck carried three lanes of truck and auto traffic -- one east, one west and one reversible. There was also double-track railroad on the lower deck for commuter trains. Rail service across the Bay Bridge ended in 1958, and today both decks carry only truck and auto traffic -- westbound on the upper, eastbound on the lower.
Before Amtrak, Oakland was really the rail terminal for long-distance rail passengers to and from SF. The exception was Southern Pacific trains between SF and Southern California, which ran north-south along the Peninsula on the same SP tracks that have long been used for commuter rail service between SF and San Jose. These passengers traveled by ferry across the bay from the Ferry Building, which still stands at the foot of Market Street in SF, to the Oakland Mole, a rail terminal built on a pier on the east side of the Bay. The Mole was the terminus for such trains as the City of San Francisco, California Zephyr (for part of its life on the Western Pacific), and Shasta Daylight.
The track and dismantled bridge you saw from the air was probably the currently unused rail trestle that crosses the bay south of SF between Palo Alto and Fremont paralleling the Dumbarton Bridge, a highway bridge sometimes referred to as the Reasonably Intelligent Barton Bridge. These two adjacent bridges make up two-thirds of a very important triple crossing at this point. The third is the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct, which carries water from Yosemite National Park to San Francisco.
There has been talk of restoring this rail bridge as part of commuter rail improvements in the Bay Area as well as in connection with the proposed California high-speed rail system intended to link the Bay Area and LA/San Diego.
Posts: 48 | From: San Jose, Calif. | Registered: Sep 2006
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posted
Mr. Doodlebug, that is what you call thorough coverage. Thanks
The rail bridge is also called the Dumbarton Bridge. There was a fire on one of the approach trestles a few years ago and it has been out of service ever since. There may have had passenger service between Oakland and San Francisco by way of this bridge at one time, but if there was, it ended many years ago.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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posted
The State of California has bought the Dumbarton (rail) Bridge and has long-term plans to reopen it, providing commuter rail service from San Francisco east through Fremont and Altamont Pass. It might also serve as a route for high speed rail to Los Angeles, although this is less certain.
Posts: 614 | From: Merchantville, NJ. USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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