1.
San Francisco
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
2.
Caltrain
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Caltrain is a California commuter rail line on the San Francisco Peninsula and in the Santa Clara Valley. The northern terminus of the line is in San Francisco at 4th, extra trains were often run for special events held in AT&T Park in San Francisco, Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, and SAP Center in San Jose. Caltrain operates 92 weekday trains,6 of which are extended to Gilroy, weekday ridership in February 2016 averaged 62,416, up 83% since 2010. Caltrain is governed by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board which consists of agencies from the three counties served by Caltrain, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara, each member agency has three representatives on a nine-member Board of Directors. The member agencies are the City and County of San Francisco, SamTrans, Caltrain has 29 regular stops, one football-only stop, and two weekend-only stops. As of October 2012 Caltrain runs 92 weekday trains,36 Saturday, the original commuter railroad built in 1863 was the San Francisco and San Jose Rail Road, it was purchased by Southern Pacific in 1870. Southern Pacific double-tracked the line in 1904 and rerouted it via Bayshore, after 1945, ridership declined with the rise in automobile use, in 1977 SP petitioned the state Public Utilities Commission to discontinue the commute operation because of ongoing losses. To preserve the service, in 1980 Caltrans contracted with SP. Caltrans purchased new locomotives and rolling stock, replacing SP equipment in 1985, Caltrans also upgraded stations, added shuttle buses to nearby employers, and dubbed the operation CalTrain. The Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board was formed in 1987 to manage the line, subsequently, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties commissioned Earth Metrics, Inc. to prepare an Environmental Impact Report on right-of-way acquisition and expansion of operations. With state and local funding, the PCJPB bought the right of way between San Francisco and San Jose from SP in 1991. The following year, PCJPB took responsibility for CalTrain operations and selected Amtrak as the contract operator, PCJPB extended the CalTrain service from San Jose to Gilroy, connecting to VTA Light Rail at Tamien Station in San Jose. In July 1995 CalTrain became accessible to passengers in wheelchairs, five months later, CalTrain increased the bicycle limit to 24 per train, making the service attractive to commuters in bicycle-friendly cities such as San Francisco and Palo Alto. In July 1997 the current logo was adopted, and the name became Caltrain. A year later, VTA extended its rail service from north Santa Clara to the Mountain View Caltrain station. In June 2003, a connection for the Bay Area Rapid Transit. In 2006, Caltrain announced that wireless internet access would be available on trains at no additional charge, Caltrain invested more than $1 million in researching and testing WiFi in 2006. Caltrain still hopes to offer the service eventually as part of a comprehensive communication package
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.
Caltrain Express
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California State Senator Jackie Speier and Caltrain leadership are credited with the idea to provide an express service for Caltrain during a brainstorming session. The funding request for the Caltrain express service was incorporated directly into the Governors budget. CTX was one of the projects recommended by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission under Resolution 3434 in December 2001, CTX officially broke ground during a ceremony held at 4th and King on June 28,2002. At the time, it was the largest capital improvement program for Caltrain, during CTX construction, Caltrain shut down weekend service for two years starting in July 2002 to allow track work. M. and the line only had two intermediate stops, at Hillsdale and Palo Alto. After construction was complete and weekend service resumed in June 2004, during construction, service was also reduced to a single track on Thursday and Friday nights after 9 P. M. By April 2004, Caltrain was showing off the stock it had acquired for Baby Bullet service. The first southbound Baby Bullet left San Francisco with 420 passengers at 7,20 AM, Baby Bullet trains often ran at standing room capacity during the first year. Just prior to the inauguration of Baby Bullet service, Caltrain served an average of 27,000 riders per weekday. One year later, Caltrain ridership had increased by 12%, and by 2014, ten years later, Caltrain ridership had more than doubled to over 60,000 riders per weekday. In addition to having one of the new locomotives named for her, CTX received a Tranny award from the California Transportation Foundation as the Program of the Year for 2004. During the same ceremony, Speier was honored as the Legislator of the Year, Caltrain split the CTX project into two separate phases, based on geographic region. The North CTX extended from San Francisco to Redwood City, the North CTX contract was awarded in April 2002 to the joint venture partnership of Herzog Contracting Corporation and Stacy and Witbeck. Herzog-Stacy-Witbeck also won the South CTX contract, as announced in January 2003, the key elements of CTX were the overtake tracks, high-speed crossovers, and a central traffic control system which collectively allowed a single office to route trains. To support smoother operation at higher sustained speeds, Caltrain also laid down continuous-welded rails, during the CTX project, Caltrain rebuilt the Bayshore station, relocating it slightly south of the prior location to accommodate the north quad track overtake section ending just south of Tunnel #4. A small rail bridge south of Bayshore was built over a creek as part of CTX, Lawrence Station was in the right-of-way planned for the south quad-track overtake section, so Lawrence was rebuilt with new platforms and an under-track pedestrian tunnel. Work at Lawrence was anticipated to be completed by the end of 2003, the Millbrae station also received some upgrades, a third track was added and existing tracks were relocated, requiring Caltrain to demolish the existing platform. Millbrae station updates were scheduled to complete with the opening of the new station in January 2003. CTX added quad-track overtake sections near the cities of Brisbane and Sunnyvale, during the initial design phase, overtakes were also announced for Millbrae and Redwood City
5.
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
6.
Muni Metro
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Muni Metro is a light rail/streetcar hybrid system serving San Francisco, California, operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway, a division of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. With an average ridership of 128,500 passengers as of the fourth quarter of 2014. Muni Metro operates a fleet of 151 light rail vehicles made by Breda, Muni Metro is the modern incarnation of the traditional streetcar system that had served San Francisco since the late 19th century. Recently, the system has undergone expansion, most notably the Third Street Light Rail Project, completed in 2007, other projects, such as the Central Subway, are underway. Muni Metro descended from the traditional streetcar system started on December 28,1912. The first streetcar line, the A Geary, ran from Kearny and Market Streets in the Financial District to Fulton Street, the system slowly expanded, opening the Twin Peaks Tunnel in 1917, allowing streetcars to run to the southwestern quadrant of the city. By 1921, the city was operating 304 miles of trolley lines and 25 miles of cable car lines. The last line to service before 2007 was the N Judah. However, five heavily used streetcar lines traveled for at least part of their routes through tunnels or otherwise reserved right-of-way, as a result, these lines, running PCC streetcars, continued in operation. The new tunnel would be connected to the existing Twin Peaks Tunnel, the new underground stations would feature high platforms, and the older stations would be retrofitted with the same, which meant that the PCCs could not be used in them. Hence, a fleet of new rail vehicles was ordered from Boeing-Vertol. The K and M lines were extended to Balboa Park during this time, on February 18,1980, the Muni Metro was officially inaugurated, with weekday N line service in the subway. The Metro service was implemented in phases, and the subway was served only on weekdays until 1982. The K Ingleside line began using the Metro subway on weekdays on June 11,1980, the L Taraval and M Ocean View lines on December 17,1980, and lastly the J Church line on June 17,1981. Meanwhile, weekend service on all five lines continued to use PCC cars operating on the surface of Market Street through to the Transbay Terminal, finally, on November 20,1982, the Muni Metro subway began operating seven days a week. At the time, there were no plans to revive any service on the surface of Market Street or return PCCs to regular running. However, tracks were rehabilitated for the 1983 Historic Trolley Festival, Muni criticism had been something of a feature of life in San Francisco, and not without reason. The Boeing trains were sub-par and grew crowded quickly, Muni did take steps to address these problems
7.
San Francisco Municipal Railway
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The San Francisco Municipal Railway is the public transit system for the city and county of San Francisco, California. In 2006, it served 46.7 square miles with an budget of about $700 million. In ridership Muni is the seventh largest transit system in the United States, with 210,848,310 rides in 2006 and the second largest in California behind Metro in Los Angeles. With a fleet average speed of 8.1 mph, it is the slowest major urban transit system in America and one of the most expensive to operate, costing $19.21 per mile per bus and $24.37 per mile per train. However, it has more boardings per mile and more vehicles in operation than similar transit agencies, many weekday riders are commuters, as the daytime weekday population in San Francisco exceeds its normal residential population. Muni shares four metro stations with BART, on weekends, most Muni bus lines are scheduled to run every ten to twenty minutes. However, complaints of unreliability, especially on less-often-served lines and older lines, are a system-wide problem. Muni has had difficulty meeting a stated goal of 85% voter-demanded on-time service. Most intercity connections are provided by BART and Caltrain heavy rail, AC Transit buses at the Transbay Terminal, 70% of stops are spaced closer than recommended range of 800–1,000 feet apart. Muni is short for the Municipal in San Francisco Municipal Railway and is not an acronym, thus, the Muni metro is often called the train or the streetcar. Most San Francisco natives use Muni when speaking about the system in general, the E Embarcadero and F Market & Wharves lines are referred to by Muni as a historic streetcar line rather than as a heritage railway. Munis logo is a stylized, trademarked worm version of the word muni and this logo was designed by San Francisco-based graphic designer Walter Landor in the mid-1970s. Bus and trolleybus lines have number designations, rail lines have letters, except for cable cars, cash fares are $2.50 for adults, $1. Clipper card fares are $2.25 for adults and $1 for seniors, youth, proof-of-payment, which fare inspectors may demand at any time, is either a Clipper card, Muni Passport, or paper transfer. One fare entitles a rider to unlimited vehicle transfers for the next 90 to 120 minutes, cable cars are $7 one way, with no transfers unless the rider has a Muni Passport or Fast Pass. As of September 2014 monthly passes cost $70 for adults, $35 for low-income residents, or $24 for youth, seniors, passes are valid on all Muni lines—including cable cars—and the $83 adult Fast Pass allows BART transit entirely within San Francisco. Other passes and stickers are valid on all Muni lines, including cable cars, cable car fare is $7 per trip, with no transfers issued or accepted. Muni has implemented a smart card payment system known as Clipper
8.
Heritage railway
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A heritage railway is a railway kept to carry living history rail traffic in order to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Often heritage railways are old railway lines preserved in a state which depicts a certain period, or periods, Heritage railway lines contain historic rail infrastructure that has been substituted or made obsolete in modern railway transit systems. Historical installations, such as hand operated points, water cranes, due to the lack of modern technology, or to a desire for historical accuracy, railway operations can be handled with traditional practices, such as the use of physical tokens. Use of heritage infrastructure and operations often calls for assigning roles based on historical occupations to the railway staff, station masters and signalmen, sometimes wearing period-appropriate attire, can be seen on some heritage railways. Most heritage railways carry heritage rolling stock, but modern rail vehicles can be used to showcase railway scenes with historical line infrastructure, still other heritage railways offer a viable public transit option and can therefore sustain operations with a sufficient amount of revenue from regular riders or government subsidies. Childrens railways are extracurricular educational institutions, where children and teenagers learn railway professions, often they are fully functional, passenger-carrying narrow gauge rail lines. This phenomenon originated in the USSR and was developed in Soviet times. Many sites were called pioneer railways, after the communist youth organisation, the first childrens railway was opened Moscow in 1932, and at the breakup of the USSR,52 childrens railways existed in the country. Even though the fall of communist governments has led to closures of these railways, many preserved childrens railways are still functioning in post-Soviet states, many childrens railways were built on parklands in urban areas. Unlike many industrial areas, typically served by a gauge railway. Child volunteers and socialist fiscal policy enabled stagnant existence for many of these railways, the old childrens railways, which still carry traffic, have often retained their original infrastructure and rolling stock, including vintage steam locomotives. Some have also acquired heritage vehicles from other railways, creating passages for trains up steep hills and through mountain regions offers many obstacles which call for special technical solutions. Special steep grade railway -technologies and extensive tunneling may be employed, the use of narrow gauge allows tighter curves in the track and offers a smaller structure gauge and tunnel size. Pit railways have been an important part of operating an underground mine all over the world, small rail vehicles offer effective transportation of ore and waste rock, as well as workers, through narrow tunnels. Sometimes the trains were the mode of transport in the passages between the work sites and the mine entrance. Often the loading gauge of the railway dictated the cross-section of the passages to be dug, and the tunnel, on many mining sites, pit railways have been abandoned due to mine closure or adoption of new kinds of transportation equipment. Nowadays some show mines exhibit a vintage pit railway and offer a chance to experience a mantrip into the mine, Millennium Underground Railway or M1, built from 1894 to 1896, is the oldest line of the Budapest Metro system and the second oldest underground railway in the world. In the 1980s and 1990s, M1 underwent major reconstruction, the original appearance of the old stations has been preserved
9.
Central Subway
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The subway is the second phase of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agencys Third Street Light Rail Project. The first phase opened to the public as the T Third Line in 2007, the Central Subway is expected to open to the public in 2018. With the addition of the Central Subway, the T Third Line is projected to become the most heavily ridden line in the Muni Metro system by 2030, the subway will serve major employment and population centers in San Francisco that are underserved by rapid transit. SoMa is home to the headquarters of many of San Francisco’s major software and technology companies, Union Square, located in the citys downtown, is a primary commercial and economic district. Chinatown is the most densely populated neighborhood in the city, the Central Subway will connect these areas to communities in eastern San Francisco, including Mission Bay, Dogpatch, Bayview-Hunters Point and Visitacion Valley. The budget to complete the Central Subway is $1.578 billion, the project is funded primarily through the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts program. In October 2012, the FTA approved a Full Funding Grant Agreement, the Central Subway is also funded by the State of California, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority and the City and County of San Francisco. Ground was broken for the Central Subway on February 9,2010, as of February 2014, both tunnel boring machines had passed under Market Street and were tunneling under Stockton Street toward Chinatown. Tunnel boring for the Central Subway was completed at Columbus and Powell Street in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco on June 16,2014 and this subway extension of the T Third Line is expected to open to the public in December 2018. In February 2008, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board of directors voted to select the alignment for the subway. In the approved alignment, trains travel north along 4th Street and Stockton Street, stopping at one above-ground station, currently northbound T Third Line trains turn right from 4th Street onto King Street and travel along the Embarcadero to the Market Street Tunnel. When the Central Subway is complete, trains will instead cross King Street, the first stop will be at an above-ground station at 4th and Brannan streets, the 4th and Brannan Station. Heading north, trains enter the subway through a portal on 4th Street between Bryant and Harrison streets, under Interstate 80. The route will continue under 4th Street through South of Market, stopping at an underground station. At Market Street, the subway will dip below the Market Street Subway, another underground station serving Market Street and Union Square will be located underneath Stockton Street. This combined Union Square/Market Street Station will have entrances at the Market, Ellis and Stockton intersection and within Union Square Plaza at Stockton, a pedestrian passage will connect the Union Square/Market Street Station to the Muni Metro and BART Powell Street Station. The subway will then continue under Stockton Street to Chinatown Station, the subway tunnels, one for northbound trains and one for southbound trains, will continue north past Chinatown Station, beneath Stockton Street and Columbus Avenue. In the future, the T Third Line may terminate in North Beach or extend to Fishermans Wharf and the Aquatic Park to connect with F Market & Wharves
10.
Interstate 280 (California)
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Interstate 280 is a 57-mile long north–south Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It connects San Jose and San Francisco, running along just to the west of the cities of San Francisco Peninsula for most of its route. I-280 from its terminus at U. S.101. One of the signs still indicates that the Junipero Serra Freeway is known as the Worlds Most Beautiful Freeway due to its scenic route through the San Francisco Peninsula. From State Route 1 to the James Lick Freeway in San Francisco it is called the John F Foran Freeway, but is more commonly referred to by its original name. And from the James Lick Freeway to its end at King Street and Fifth Street. This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System, I-280 is one of two 3-digit Interstate designations to appear on opposite coasts of the United States. I-110 in California and Florida is the other designation. The southern end of Interstate 280 begins at U. S.101 in San Jose, the segment of the Junipero Serra Freeway between Cupertino and Daly City has been called the Worlds Most Beautiful Freeway since its dedication in the 1960s. Through much of this segment, the freeway is actually running just inside the rim of the rift valley of the San Andreas Fault. For nearly all of its length, Interstate 280 runs roughly parallel, both freeways are north–south routes connecting San Jose with San Francisco, however, unlike I-280, the route that U. S.101 takes between the two cities goes entirely through urbanized areas. The majority of the population of the San Francisco Peninsula lives somewhere between Interstate 280 and U. S.101, I-280 never intersects with Interstate 80, its parent interstate. The northern terminus of I-280 is within about a mile of I-80s western terminus, although San Francisco has had several opportunities to connect I-280 to I-80, it has chosen to use the money for other purposes. Connecting the two freeways is considered to be politically and financially infeasible at this time, due to the citys strong anti-freeway stance. Instead, 280s northernmost extension primarily functions as a spur into Downtown San Francisco, Most of I-280, in San Jose to Daly City, is designated as the Junipero Serra Freeway in honor of Spanish missionary Junípero Serra, who founded many of Californias missions in the 18th century. The section of I-280 between the James Lick Freeway and its end at 6th and King Streets is called the Southern-Embarcadero Freeway. Major intersections include U. S.101 and State Route 1 in San Francisco, Interstate 380 in San Bruno, State Route 92 in San Mateo, and I-880 and I-680 and U. S. in San Jose. The Junipero Serra Freeway is the name of Interstate 280 from SR1 in San Francisco to SR17, as named by Assembly Concurrent Resolution 140, Chapter 208 in 1967
Muni: 10, 30, 45, 47, 81X, 82X, 83X
Media related to San Francisco 4th and King Street station at Wikimedia Commons
