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San Jose, Calif. – Starting early December, construction will begin at both Palo Alto Caltrain Stations, and on several rail bridges in Palo Alto.  Today, officials from Caltrain, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and the City of Palo Alto kicked off the project with a celebration at the California Avenue Caltrain Station. 

The year-long, $35 million construction project will improve track capacity and rail safety in Palo Alto, as well as bring both train stations up to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"This is an important project for Caltrain and its partners," said Caltrain Board chair José Cisneros.  "These improvements will not only allow us to better serve patrons at our stations in Palo Alto, but they also help us improve the overall infrastructure of our rail system and help us lay the foundation for important growth and improvements in coming years."

"It seems like just yesterday we were opening the newly remodeled Palo Alto Transit Center and Caltrain Station,” stated VTA Board Member, and participant in the kick-off celebration, Forrest Williams.   In December 2005, VTA opened the renovated transit hub to facilitate transfers between VTA and Caltrain services, improving the efficiency of bus operations and service levels in this multi-modal environment.   “This project today features safety and efficiency, and VTA is proud to be a partner in delivering these improvements," Williams added. 

The California Avenue station currently retains the same layout and design from when it was first built, more than 100 years ago.  Construction at this station will eliminate the "hold-out" rule, which will improve safety and track capacity.  Because of the station's platform configuration, only one train can be in the station at a time, which means other trains have to hold out, or wait beyond the station limits when another train is in or passing through the station. This project will replace the current center-boarding platform with outside boarding platforms on either side of the tracks, and a fence between the train tracks. The new design will improve safety by preventing pedestrians from crossing the tracks.  Pedestrians will cross between the platforms using a new pedestrian underpass that will be built at the site.

At the main Palo Alto station on University Avenue, crews will modify the existing pedestrian underpasses and ramps, add accessible ramps to the northern most underpass and replace existing platforms with new, longer platforms.  The current underpass was built decades ago and is too steep for many customers who use wheelchairs or other mobility assistance devices.

This project also will replace rail bridges at several locations in Palo Alto, including Alma Street, San Francisquito Creek and Matadero Creek.  These bridges have reached the end of their useful life-spans and need to be replaced to ensure reliability of the Caltrain system.

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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.