1.
Bay Area Rapid Transit
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Bay Area Rapid Transit is a public transportation system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The rapid transit elevated and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in Alameda, Contra Costa, BART operates 5 routes on 104 miles of track connecting 45 stations, plus a 3. 2-mile automated guideway transit line to the Oakland International Airport which adds an additional station. A spur line in eastern Contra Costa County will utilize other rail technologies, with an average of 433,000 weekday passengers and 128.5 million annual passengers in fiscal year 2016, BART is the fifth-busiest heavy rail rapid transit system in the United States. The systems acronym is pronounced Bart, like the name, BART is operated by the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, formed in 1957. As of 2017, it is being expanded to San Jose with the consecutive Warm Springs, some of the Bay Area Rapid Transit Systems current coverage area was once served by an electrified streetcar and suburban train system called the Key System. This early 20th-century system once had regular trans-bay traffic across the deck of the Bay Bridge. By the mid-1950s, that system had been dismantled in favor of highway travel, a new rapid-transit system was proposed to take the place of the Key System during the late 1940s, and formal planning for it began in the 1950s. Some funding was secured for the BART system in 1959, passenger service began on September 11,1972, initially just between MacArthur and Fremont. All nine Bay Area counties were involved in the planning and envisioned to be connected by BART, before the system began revenue service, serious problems in the design and operation of the Automatic Train Control system were observed. Three engineers working for BART, Max Blankenzee, Robert Bruder, BART management was dismissive of their concerns, so the three took the issue to the board of directors. All but two of the directors voted in February 1972 to support management and reject the safety concerns, management retaliated against the engineers, firing them in March 1972. The IEEE later filed the first amicus brief in its history to support the engineers. The California Society of Professional Engineers reported to the California State Senate in June 1972 that there were serious safety risks with the ATC. Legislative analyst A. Alan Post, opened an investigation immediately, an ATC failure caused the train to run off the end of the elevated track and crash to the ground, injuring four people on-board, and drawing national and international attention. The “Fremont Flyer” led to a redesign of the train controls. The California State Public Utilities Commission imposed stringent oversight over train operations, the legislative analyst issued the first of three “Post Reports” in November 1972. The report was “sharply critical” of BART, finding that the ATC system was unreliable, the ATC program was mismanaged, and “no solution was in sight. ”The report accused BART of paying excessive fees for engineering services. BART’s general manager called the indictment of safety in the Post Report “not only disappointing, telephone calls were placed manually between stations, instead
2.
Antioch, California
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Antioch is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. Located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area along the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta, it is a suburb of San Francisco, the citys population was 102,372 at the 2010 census and estimated to be 110,542 in 2015. Antioch is one of the oldest towns in California, in 1848, John Marsh, owner of Rancho Los Meganos, one of the largest ranches in California, built a landing on the San Joaquin River in what is now Antioch. It became known as Marshs Landing, and was the point for the 17. It included a pier extending out into the river, enabling vessels drawing 15 feet of water to tie up there at any season of the year. In 1850, two brothers, William and Joseph Smith, founded a town slightly west of Marshs Landing, in 1851, the towns new minister persuaded the residents to change the name of the town to Antioch, for the biblical city of Antioch. This new industry resulted in the founding of the towns of Nortonville, Somersville, Stewartsville, and Black Diamond, the Empire Coal Company was formed by John C. Rouse and George Hawxhurst in 1876, which built a railroad that passed from Antioch toward the mines over what is now F Street, however, later on, both the mine and the railroad passed into the hands of the Belshaw brothers. In 1863, a great excitement arose over the discovery of ore near Antioch. Smelting works were built at Antioch, and a value of fifteen to twenty-five dollars per ton was paid for the ore, unfortunately the copper bubble eventually burst, to the dismay of the citizens with connections. Petroleum was first drilled for near Antioch in 1865, but not enough oil was found to make a decent profit. The Antioch Post Office was opened in 1851, closed in 1852, re-opened in 1855, closed again in 1862, the city of Antioch was incorporated in 1872. The Antioch Ledger was first issued on March 10,1870, in memory of when the paper was formed, a copy of its first issue has been framed and hangs over the desk of the present editor. It is five by eight inches in size, printed on one side only, the Ledger later merged with the Contra Costa Times and printed its last issue in 2005. Today, Antioch is mainly a community, with most adults working in larger cities toward Oakland. However, the Contra Costa Times and affiliated newspapers contradicted their claim, Disturbing, only its not, according to a Bay Area News Group analysis of sex offender addresses and census data. Monte Rio ranked first with 4.5 per 1000, the city was attempting in 2012 to annex an adjacent 678-acre area of unincorporated land, which includes a GenOn Energy 760-megawatt power plant, to include the plant within city limits. Antioch is located at 38°00′18″N 121°48′21″W, along the San Joaquin River at the end of the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta
3.
Island platform
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An island platform is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on twin-track routes due to pragmatic and cost-effective reasons, an alternative arrangement is to position side platforms on either side of the tracks. The historical use of island platforms depends greatly upon the location, the island platform layout is a popular, cost-effective and practical solution in modern railway systems. Island platforms allow facilities such as escalators, elevators, shops, toilets and this is essential for wheelchair accessible stations. An island platform makes it easier for users and the infirm to change services between tracks. Additionally, an island platform layout eliminates the need to construct a crossover or subway between two platforms, however, island platforms may become overcrowded, especially at busy stations, and this can lead to safety issues such as Clapham Common and Angel on the London Underground. However, for the tracks to diverge around the platform, extra width is required along the right-of-way on each approach to the station. Track centers vary for rail systems throughout the world but are normally 3 to 5 meters, if the island platform is 6 meters wide, the tracks have to slew out by the same distance. While this is not a problem on a new line that is being constructed, in addition, a single island platform makes it quite difficult to have through tracks, which are usually between the local tracks. A common configuration in busy locations on high speed lines is a pair of island platforms, high-speed trains can therefore pass straight through the station, while slow trains pass around the platforms. This arrangement also allows the station to serve as a point where trains can be passed by faster trains. The purpose of this design was to reduce unnecessary passenger congestion at a station with a high volume of passengers. Many of the stations on the Great Central Railway were constructed in this form and this was because the line was planned to connect to a Channel Tunnel. Island platforms are a normal sight on Indian railway stations. Almost all railway stations in India consist of island platforms, in Toronto,29 subway stations use island platforms. A slight disadvantage is that crossovers have to be rather long, in southern New Jersey and Philadelphia, PATCO uses island platforms in all of its 13 stations, to facilitate one-person train operation. Most elevated stations in Singapores Mass Rapid Transit system use island platforms, the exception is Dover MRT Station, which uses side platforms as it is built on an existing rail line. The planned Canberra MRT Station will also use side platforms, as it also be built on an existing rail line
4.
Millbrae station
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The Millbrae Intermodal Terminal is an at-grade Bay Area Rapid Transit and Caltrain station located in suburban Millbrae, California, in northern San Mateo County. It was expected to support over 30,000 BART trips per day, Millbrae Station is the largest intermodal terminal in the United States west of the Mississippi. It has three tracks for BART and two for Caltrain. An island platform allows a connection between the two systems. A concourse mezzanine is above the platforms, currently two BART tracks and one island platform usually are kept out of regular service, used instead to hold train sets that are also out of service. The station is also a bus transit hub with multiple bus bays served by several SamTrans lines. Millbrae Station has about 2,900 parking spaces, including a parking garage. The Reserved Parking areas cost $2/day from 10am-3pm on weekdays, a free Library-a-Go-Go Peninsula Library System library book vending machine was added in May 2011. The station has daily Caltrain commuter rail service along the line between San Jose and San Francisco. Midday trains are hourly each way, service is frequent during commute hours. Service south of San Jose to Gilroy is limited to three weekday round trips. Passengers who board the train without a ticket are subject to fines of up to $250 plus court fees. Passengers who use the electronic Clipper card to ride the Caltrain must remember to tag on their card prior to boarding, if they board the train without tagging on, they will be subject to the same fines. In addition, Caltrain passengers are charged the maximum one way fare when they tag on prior to boarding the train, if passengers who use the Clipper card forget to tag off when they exit the train, they will be charged the highest cash fare from point of origin. In 2015, construction began on the rail system. If completed as planned, Millbrae would serve as one of one or two stations between San Francisco and San Jose, and would allow high-speed rail passengers to reach SFO via BART. $290 million has been allocated to lengthen the platforms for connection to High Speed Rail, before the Millbrae Intermodal Terminal was built for the BART San Mateo Extension terminus Millbrae had a free Caltrain shuttle bus between the station and San Francisco International Airport. The former Southern Pacific Depot has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since September 1,1978, in 1985 Caltrain service began at the original Millbrae depot, replacing Southern Pacific trains that had operated along the San Francisco Peninsula since the early 20th century
5.
Diesel multiple unit
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A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages and they may also be referred to as a railcar or railmotor, depending on country. Diesel-powered units may be classified by their transmission type, diesel-electric. The diesel engine may be located above the frame in a bay or under the floor. Driving controls can be at both ends, on one end, or none, DMUs are usually classified by the method of transmitting motive power to their wheels. In a diesel-mechanical multiple unit the rotating energy of the engine is transmitted via a gearbox and driveshaft directly to the wheels of the train, like a car. The transmissions can be shifted manually by the driver, as in the majority of first-generation British Rail DMUs. In a diesel-hydraulic multiple unit, a torque converter, a type of fluid coupling. Some units feature a mix of hydraulic and mechanical transmissions, usually reverting to the latter at higher operating speeds as this decreases engine RPM. In a diesel-electric multiple unit a diesel engine drives a generator or an alternator which produces electrical energy. The generated current is fed to electric traction motors on the wheels or bogies in the same way as a conventional diesel electric locomotive. In modern DEMUs, such as the Bombardier Voyager family, each car is entirely self-contained and has its own engine, generator, a train composed of DMU cars scales well, as it allows extra passenger capacity to be added at the same time as motive power. It also permits passenger capacity to be matched to demand, and for trains to be split and it is not necessary to match the power available to the size and weight of the train, as each unit is capable of moving itself. As units are added, the power available to move the train increases by the necessary amount, distribution of the propulsion among the cars also results in a system that is less vulnerable to single-point-of-failure outages. Many classes of DMU are capable of operating with faulty units still in the consist, because of the self-contained nature of diesel engines, there is no need to run overhead electric lines or electrified track, which can result in lower system construction costs. Such advantages must be weighed against the noise and vibration that may be an issue with this type of train. DMUs were first introduced to Australia in the late mid-20th century for use on branch lines that could not justify a locomotive hauled service. Today, DMUs are widely used throughout Australias southern states, Adelaide Metro uses a variety of DMUs on their suburban network, NSW TrainLink use Xplorer DMUs on services from Sydney to Canberra, Griffith, Broken Hill, Armidale and Moree
6.
California State Route 4
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State Route 4 is a state highway in the U. S. state of California, routed from Interstate 80 in the San Francisco Bay Area to State Route 89 in the Sierra Nevada. It passes through Ebbetts Pass and contains the Ebbetts Pass Scenic Byway, SR4 roughly parallels the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a popular area for boating and fishing. There are a number of accesses to marinas and other attractions, State Route 4 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System. However, it is only a highway as designated by Caltrans from a point east of Arnold to SR89. SR4 is also known as the John Muir Parkway from I-80 in Hercules to I-680 near Martinez, the stretch through Franklin Canyon was once known as Blood Alley. SR4, an east–west highway, begins in Hercules at San Pablo Avenue next to the Interstate 80 junction as part of John Muir Parkway. The road is an expressway from its starting point until it approaches Martinez, at which point it becomes a freeway passing Concord, Pittsburg. The John Muir National Historic Site is located north of Route 4 on Alhambra Avenue in Martinez. Alhambra Avenue at SR4 is also the site of the Franklin Canyon Adobe, access to that station is provided by a pedestrian bridge crossing over the eastbound lanes of Highway 4. Route 4 east continues to Stockton, where it briefly joins I-5 and then enters a separate freeway routing almost directly through downtown Stockton. The route runs through the 8,050 ft. Pacific Grade Summit on its way up to the 8,730 ft Ebbetts Pass and ends at State Route 89 ten miles west of Topaz Lake, on the California–Nevada border. The portion from Arnold to its terminus is designated the Ebbetts Pass Scenic Byway, the pass is not plowed for snow, and thus closes during the winter months often from November through as late as May. Thus, no passage between the Mount Reba Turnoff and Markleeville is possible, the western slope is plowed and rarely closes, even for a few hours, but often has chain restrictions during and immediately following storms, usually just east of Arnold. The eastern slope is not plowed, although segments of Route 4 were part of the state highway system since 1909, Route 4 was officially designated as such between US Route 40 and State Route 99 in 1934. Prior to that date, the existing segment was officially known as the Borden Highway. Construction of Route 4 did not finish until 1935, however, the portion of Route 4 from US Route 40 to State Route 24 was added to the highway system in 1933 as Legislative Route Number 106. East of the concurrency with State Route 24 to State Route 49, finally, the segment from State Route 49 to State Route 89 was signed as LRN24 from 1909 to 1934. From 1998 to 2009, a built by the State Route 4 Bypass Authority, named the State Route 4 Bypass
7.
Stockton, California
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Stockton is the county seat of San Joaquin County located in the central valley portion of the U. S. State of California and the. Stockton was founded by Captain Charles Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquired Rancho Campo de los Franceses, the city is named after Robert F. Stockton, and it was the first community in California to not have a name of Spanish or Native American origin. The city is located on the San Joaquin River in the northern San Joaquin Valley and had an population of 315,592 as of 2016. Stockton is the 13th largest city in California and the 63rd largest city in the United States and it was named an All-America City in 1999,2004 and again in 2015. Built during the California Gold Rush, Stocktons seaport serves as a gateway to the Central Valley and it provided easy access for trade and transportation to the southern gold mines. Stockton has been the location of the oldest university in California, as a result of the 2008 financial crisis, Stockton was the second largest city in the United States to file for bankruptcy protection. Stockton successfully exited bankruptcy in February 2015, Stockton is situated amidst the farmland of Californias San Joaquin Valley, a subregion of the Central Valley. In and around Stockton are thousands of miles of waterways, which make up the California Delta, Interstate 5 and State Route 99, inland Californias major north-south highways, pass through the city. State Route 4 and the dredged San Joaquin River connect the city with the San Francisco Bay Area to its west, Stockton and Sacramento are Californias only inland sea ports. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city occupies an area of 64.8 square miles. When Europeans first visited the Stockton area, the Yatchicumne, a branch of the Northern Valley Yokuts Indians and they built their villages on low mounds to keep their homes above regular floods. A Yokuts village named Pasasimas was located on a mound between Edison and Harrison Streets on what is now the Stockton Channel in downtown Stockton, the Siskiyou Trail began in the northern San Joaquin Valley. It was a centuries-old Native American footpath that lead through the Sacramento Valley over the Cascades, Gold rush era Europeans and Americans started to arrive in the area after gold was found in northern California, starting with the California Gold Rush in 1848. When Captain Charles Maria Weber, a German immigrant, decided to try his hand at mining in late 1848. As an alien, Weber could not secure a land grant directly, born in New York, Gulnae had married a Mexican woman and sworn allegiance to Mexico, which then ruled California. He applied in Webers place for a grant of eleven square leagues on the east side of the San Joaquin River. Weber acquired the Rancho Campo de los Franceses Mexican land grant, Weber built the first permanent residence in the San Joaquin Valley on a piece of land now known as Weber Point. During the California Gold Rush, Stockton developed as a river port, during its early years, Stockton was known by several names, including Tuleburg, Fat City, Mudville, and Californias Sunrise Seaport
8.
Rapid transit
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Rapid transit, also known as heavy rail, metro, subway, tube, or underground, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. The stations typically have high platforms, without steps inside the trains and they are typically integrated with other public transport and often operated by the same public transport authorities. However, some transit systems have at-grade intersections between a rapid transit line and a road or between two rapid transit lines. It is unchallenged in its ability to transport large numbers of people quickly over short distances with little use of land, variations of rapid transit include people movers, small-scale light metro, and the commuter rail hybrid S-Bahn. The worlds first rapid-transit system was the partially underground Metropolitan Railway which opened as a railway in 1863. In 1868, New York opened the elevated West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, china has the largest number of rapid transit systems in the world. The worlds longest single-operator rapid transit system by length is the Shanghai Metro. The worlds largest single rapid transit service provider by both length of revenue track (665 miles and number of stations is the New York City Subway. The busiest rapid transit systems in the world by annual ridership are the Tokyo subway system, the Seoul Metropolitan Subway, the Moscow Metro, the Beijing Subway, Metro is the most common term for underground rapid transit systems used by non-native English speakers. One of these terms may apply to a system, even if a large part of the network runs at ground level. In Scotland, however, the Glasgow Subway underground rapid transit system is known as the Subway, in the US, underground mass transit systems are primarily known as subways, whereas the term metro is a shortened reference to a metropolitan area. In that vein, Chicagos commuter rail system, serving the area, is called Metra. Exceptions in naming rapid transit systems are Washington DCs subway system the Washington Metro, Los Angeles Metro Rail, and the Miami Metrorail, the opening of Londons steam-hauled Metropolitan Railway in 1863 marked the beginning of rapid transit. Initial experiences with steam engines, despite ventilation, were unpleasant, experiments with pneumatic railways failed in their extended adoption by cities. Electric traction was more efficient, faster and cleaner than steam, in 1890 the City & South London Railway was the first electric-traction rapid transit railway, which was also fully underground. Both railways were merged into London Underground. The 1893 Liverpool Overhead Railway was designed to use electric traction from the outset, budapest in Hungary and Glasgow, Chicago and New York all converted or purpose-designed and built electric rail services. Advancements in technology have allowed new automated services, hybrid solutions have also evolved, such as tram-train and premetro, which incorporate some of the features of rapid transit systems
9.
Light rail
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Light rail, light rail transit or fast tram is urban public transport using rolling stock similar to a tramway, but operating at a higher capacity, and often on an exclusive right-of-way. A few light rail networks tend to have closer to rapid transit or even commuter rail. Other light rail networks are tram-like in nature and partially operate on streets, Light rail systems are found throughout the world, on all inhabited continents. They have been popular in recent years due to their lower capital costs. The term light rail was coined in 1972 by the U. S, Urban Mass Transportation Administration to describe new streetcar transformations that were taking place in Europe and the United States. In Germany the term Stadtbahn was used to describe the concept, and many in UMTA wanted to adopt the direct translation, however, UMTA finally adopted the term light rail instead. Light in this context is used in the sense of intended for light loads and fast movement, the infrastructure investment is also usually lighter than would be found for a heavy rail system. The Transportation Research Board defined light rail in 1977 as a mode of urban transportation utilizing predominantly reserved, electrically propelled rail vehicles operate singly or in trains. LRT provides a range of passenger capabilities and performance characteristics at moderate costs. Light rail is a generic international English phrase for these types of rail systems, the use of the generic term light rail avoids some serious incompatibilities between British and American English. The word trolley is used as a synonym for streetcar in the United States. A further difference arose because, while Britain abandoned all of its trams except Blackpool after World War II, when these cities upgraded to new technology, they called it light rail to differentiate it from their existing streetcars since some continued to operate both the old and new systems. Conventional rail technologies including high-speed, freight, commuter/regional, and metro/subway/elevated urban transit systems are considered heavy rail, people movers and personal rapid transit are even lighter, at least in terms of capacity. Monorail is a technology that has been more successful in specialized services than in a commuter transit role. Due to varying definitions, it is hard to distinguish between what is called light rail, and other forms of urban and commuter rail, a system described as light rail in one city may be considered to be a streetcar or tram system in another. Conversely, some lines that are called light rail are in very similar to rapid transit, in recent years. Some light rail systems, such as Sprinter, bear little similarity to urban rail, in the United States, light rail has become a catch-all term to describe a wide variety of passenger rail systems. There is a significant difference in cost between these different classes of light rail transit, tram-like systems are often less expensive than metro-like systems by a factor of two or more
