Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi announced this week that San Francisco is set to receive nearly $25 million in federal grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help connect California High-Speed rail and Caltrain commuter service to the Salesforce Transit Center, also known as The Portal.
The Transbay Joint Powers Authority will receive $24.6 million to complete the final design for the track and rail systems that will connect California High-Speed rail and Caltrain commuter service to the Salesforce Transit Center. The project will create jobs and make it easier and cheaper for San Franciscans to utilize public transportation to travel to work, to health care, to schools and to community facilities throughout the entire Bay Area.
MTC is a major funder of the Salesforce Transit Center, providing more than $360 million for the project.
“Safe, affordable and accessible public transit is key to San Francisco’s economic recovery and to saving the planet from the climate crisis, " Pelosi said. "I salute the Biden-Harris Administration's commitment to reimagining our nation’s infrastructure, with equity and justice for all. This new federal investment, made possible by Democrats’ historic Infrastructure Law, will help further unite the Bay by completing the final design for the Downtown Rail Extension. "
The funding was awarded to the Bay Area from the Federal Railroad Administration’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program in a competitive national selection process by U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
The Portal will extend Caltrain service from Fourth and King Street and ultimately, the California High-Speed Rail system to the Salesforce Transit Center, in the heart of downtown San Francisco and connect 11 transit systems.
The project has been over 30 years in the making as part of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority’s (TJPA) vision to deliver seamless transportation service through its multimodal six-level transit hub, the Salesforce Transit Center, in downtown San Francisco.
The 1.3-mile rail extension (1.95 miles of total construction length) will be constructed principally below grade using cut-and-cover and mined tunneling methods underneath Townsend and Second Streets. The project includes an underground station at Fourth and Townsend streets along with the Salesforce Transit Center's basement levels, six structures for emergency exit, and ventilation along the alignment, utility relocation, and rail systems work.
The already built two-level trainbox will serve as the Lower Concourse, and Train Platform levels when The Portal is complete.
The Lower Concourse will house rail ticketing, passenger waiting areas, and support spaces. At its east end, it will connect to the intercity bus terminal and a pedestrian tunnel leading to the Embarcadero BART/Muni station, approximately one block north of the Transit Center. Along with ticketing and passenger waiting areas for rail and support spaces, the Lower Concourse will contain retail space.
The Train Platform will contain six tracks and three platforms for Caltrain commuter and high-speed rail service. Back-of-house support spaces will also be built on the Train Platform level to support rail service.
"The Transbay Joint Powers Authority cannot understate the critical role the Speaker Emerita has played in ensuring the creation of a seamless network of transportation options and we are thrilled to be selected to receive a CRISI award to further San Francisco’s rail connection to Caltrain and California High-Speed Rail through the Portal," said Adam Van de Water, Executive Director of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority.
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