1.
San Jose, California
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San Jose, officially the City of San José, is the economic, cultural, and political center of Silicon Valley and the largest city in Northern California. With an estimated 2015 population of 1,026,908, it is the third most populous city in California and the tenth most populous in United States. Located in the center of the Santa Clara Valley, on the shore of San Francisco Bay. San Jose is the county seat of Santa Clara County, the most affluent county in California. San Jose is the largest city in both the San Francisco Bay Area and the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland Combined Statistical Area, which contain 7.7 million and 8.7 million people respectively. Before the arrival of the Spanish, the area around San Jose was inhabited by the Ohlone people, San Jose was founded on November 29,1777, as the Pueblo of San José de Guadalupe, the first civilian town founded in Spanish Alta California. When California gained statehood in 1850, San Jose became the states first capital, following World War II, San Jose experienced an economic boom, with a rapid population growth and aggressive annexation of nearby cities and communities carried out in the 1950s and 60s. The rapid growth of the high-technology and electronics industries further accelerated the transition from a center to an urbanized metropolitan area. Results of the 1990 U. S. Census indicated that San Jose had officially surpassed San Francisco as the most populous city in Northern California, by the 1990s, San Jose and the rest of Silicon Valley had become the global center for the high tech and internet industries. San Jose is considered to be a city, notable for its affluence. San Joses location within the high tech industry, as a cultural, political. San Jose is one of the wealthiest major cities in the United States and the world, and has the third highest GDP per capita in the world, according to the Brookings Institute. Major global tech companies including Cisco Systems, eBay, Adobe Systems, PayPal, Brocade, Samsung, Acer, Prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by several groups of Ohlone Native Americans. The first lasting European presence began with a series of Franciscan missions established from 1769 by Junípero Serra, San Jose came under Mexican rule in 1821 after Mexico broke with the Spanish crown. It then became part of the United States, after it capitulated in 1846, on March 27,1850, San Jose became the second incorporated city in the state, with Josiah Belden its first mayor. San Jose was Californias first state capital, and hosted the first, today the Circle of Palms Plaza in downtown is the historical marker for the first state capital. The city was a station on the Butterfield Overland Mail route, in the period 1900 through 1910, San Jose served as a center for pioneering invention, innovation, and impact in both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air flight. These activities were led principally by John Montgomery and his peers, the City of San Jose has established Montgomery Park, a Monument at San Felipe and Yerba Buena Roads, and John J. Montgomery Elementary School in his honor
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
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.
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
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It is one of the governing parties for the Caltrain commuter rail line that serves the county. In 1969, Santa Clara County had three private bus companies, all of which were in financial trouble, Peninsula Transit, San Jose City Lines. The California Legislature passed a Santa Clara County Transit District Act in 1969, however, the Act did not supply any funding for the new district. The formation of the Santa Clara County Transit District was rejected in 1969 and 1970 before it was approved by county voters on June 6,1972. The SCCTD took over the operations of the three old bus companies on January 1,1973, on September 26,1974, the county Board of Supervisors dissolved the Public Works Department. Non-transit operations went into a new General Services Agency, while transit operations were placed into a new Santa Clara County Transportation Agency. In its early years the Santa Clara County Transportation District approached the task of replacing the bus fleet it inherited from its predecessors, at first the district bought propane-fueled Twin Coaches and Gilligs. SCCTD switched to an all-diesel fleet after six buses went up in flames between December 1977 and April 1978, at the time, critics referred to the buses as rolling propane bombs. On March 6,1976, Santa Clara County voters approved a half-cent sales tax, Measure A, in 1977, the primary Overhaul and Repair Facility was built at the Cerone Yard. Also in 1977, County Supervisors decided to change the bus fleet from propane to diesel, by 1979, three additional bus yards were built and commissioned into service. Another issue was improving the diversity of its workforce, in December 1978, the SCCTD approved an affirmative action plan for the Transportation Agency. After a long battle, the U. S. Supreme Court by a 6-3 majority upheld the gender component of the plan against a civil rights challenge on March 25,1987. On January 1,1995, the SCCTA merged with the county Congestion Management Agency to become the SCVTA, for convenience, the acronym was later shortened to VTA. In 1996, voters approved a half-cent general county sales tax, Measure B, the measure was challenged, but in 1998, the California Supreme Court ruled that the two measure system was valid. The tax was to be collected for ten years, in 2000, voters approved a 30-year extension of the 1996 sales tax to fund an extension of Bay Area Rapid Transit to Santa Clara. The measure was placed on the ballot by the VTA and does not include funding specifically for highway projects, the measure passed with 70% of the vote. Revenues from the tax would not begin being collected until April 2006. After 2000, due to the dot-com bust, existing revenue sources declined and VTA was forced to cut service, VTA introduced a series of fare increases between 1998 and 2005
5.
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
6.
San Jose Diridon station
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San Jose Diridon is the central passenger rail depot for San Jose, California. It also serves as a hub for Santa Clara County. The station is on the Union Pacific Coast Line tracks at 65 Cahill Street in San Jose, the depot is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its Italian Renaissance Revival style architectural and historical significance. The station is served by Caltrain, ACE, VTA light rail and this is in addition to bus services by California Shuttle Bus, Amtrak Thruway Bus, Monterey-Salinas Transit, San Benito Transit, Santa Cruz Metro, SMART, local VTA and employer shuttles and buses. It is to have Bay Area Rapid Transit service when the Silicon Valley BART extension is complete and is to be preceded by a Downtown San Jose BART station, the Cahill Depot opened in December 1935. The opening of the depot was the culmination of a 30-year effort to relocate 4, the new depot replaced the Fourth Street lines station. The Cahill Depot was a stop for several Southern Pacific passenger trains, including the famous San Francisco–Los Angeles train, other named trains that used the station were the all first-class Lark, and the Del Monte. Amtrak took over long distance train service in 1971. Restoration of the station was finished in 1994, when the station was renamed Diridon Station after former Santa Clara County Supervisor Rod Diridon, in 1996, Santa Clara County voters approved a half cent sales tax to fund the 1996 Measure B Transportation Improvement Project. Part of this project was the construction of the Vasona Light Rail extension which included a VTA light rail platform at the Diridon train depot, the passenger platform was featured in the opening scene of Alfred Hitchcocks Marnie as representing the Hartford, Connecticut, train station. Of Amtraks 74 California stations, San Jose was the 19th-busiest in FY2010, the depot is in the Italian Renaissance Revival style, with a three-story central section flanked by two-story wings. The building, a compilation of rectangular sections, is 390 feet long and 40 feet to 78 feet wide, the central section, which contains the passenger waiting room, measures 40 by 80 feet and is 33 feet high. The high center pavilion housing the room is constructed of steel columns. The side wings are framed with wood, the exterior walls are clad with tapestry brick or varied colors and arranged in an English bond pattern. The depot is in an area formerly dominated by warehouses. Several vernacular sheds, a tower, butterfly passenger sheds. This depot is one of only four Italian Renaissance Revival style depots in California, the only other large depot built in California during the 1930s was the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal. The high-speed rail track and platform locations have not been determined yet, the BART station will be called Diridon/Arena and planned to be a subway station adjacent to the train station and Santa Clara Street
7.
Gilroy station
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Gilroy is a Caltrain station located in Gilroy, California. It is the southernmost terminus on the Caltrain line, and is served during commute hours on weekdays. It is located in Fare Zone 6, Gilroy is a former Southern Pacific Railroad depot that was adopted by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board. Amtraks Coast Starlight passes through Gilroy between Salinas and San Jose Diridon, but does not stop, once every year, Caltrain operated a special limited-stop train from San Francisco to Gilroy that operated during the weekend of the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Christmas Hill Park. Shuttle buses would take passengers from the Caltrain station to the festival, when weekend service resumed in 2004, Caltrain opted to end the annual Garlic Train. The Golden Gate Railroad Museum chartered weekend trains to Gilroy during the festival for a few years, Caltrain announced that the Garlic Train would resume service for the 2013 Garlic Festival. The Gilroy Rail Station is one of two sites that California High Speed Rail is considering for its Gilroy stop, with the site on lands immediately east of Gilroy Premium Outlets. Media related to Gilroy Station at Wikimedia Commons Station information Station information Park & Ride Lots - Gilroy Caltrain Station at VTA
8.
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
VTA: 25, 82
Media related to Tamien station at Wikimedia Commons
