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San Jose, CA— The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority announced today that beginning Monday, May 21 the newly-retrofitted southbound light rail platforms at Second and Santa Clara  streets will officially reopen for passenger service.

Light rail passenger service will begin late Friday afternoon, May 18 and continue throughout the weekend, while minor construction activities are completed.  The reopening marks the substantial completion of an 18-month, four-station downtown San Jose light rail station retrofit project that has significantly upgraded access to the light rail system by providing level boarding between light rail vehicles and station platforms without the use of steps, ramps or lifts.

Remaining construction activities at the Santa Clara Station, including some stonework and placement of the shelter canopies, will take place while the station is in operation or outside of operating hours. Temporary railings also need to be replaced at two other stations and that work is scheduled to take place during June.

Also on Monday, the use of temporary bus stops on Second Street between and San Fernando streets will be discontinued. Lines 23, 66, 68, 85, 180, 304 and 305, as well as the Highway 17 Express, will return to stops adjacent to the reopened light rail boarding platforms while Routes 72 and 73 will use a newly-established permanent stop on Second Street north of Santa Clara Street.

The southbound platforms are reopening two weeks ahead of schedule, while the northbound light rail platforms at First and Santa Clara streets reopened last month, five weeks ahead of schedule.

Three other stations, Convention Center, Paseo de San Antonio and St. James, were also part of the Downtown Platform Retrofit Project and all three have already been returned to service.    Light rail stations south of Convention Center Station on the Alum Rock to Santa Teresa Line have not yet been retrofitted and work at those stations is tentatively scheduled to begin later this year.

Level boarding helps mobility impaired individuals, such as someone in a wheelchair or using a walker, by eliminating the need to use ramps or lifts to access light rail vehicles. Cyclists, parents with baby strollers, students with wheeled book packs and business travelers with wheeled luggage also all benefit from a level surface between boarding platform and train. Level boarding also increases system efficiency and on-time reliability by decreasing train dwell time in stations because passengers board and exit more quickly.

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About VTA
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is an independent special district responsible for bus, light rail and paratransit operations; congestion management; specific highway improvement projects; and countywide transportation planning. As such, VTA is both an accessible transit provider and multi-modal transportation planning organization involved with transit, highways and roadways, bikeways and pedestrian facilities.

For more information about VTA services, call VTA Customer Service at (408) 321-2300, (408) 321-2330 (TDD only). Or, log on to www.vta.org.