SANTA CLARA VTA LIGHT-RAIL

The VTA light rail system consists of of track, currently consisting of two main lines and a spur line. There are currently 62 light rail stations in operation on the three lines. The light rail system was opened in 1987 and has gradually expanded since then. ^[1]

Contents

Light rail vehicles

Major light rail connections

Notes

Alum Rock — Santa Teresa

Designated as 901, this line runs from the Alum Rock station in East San Jose (or Alum Rock) to Santa Teresa station in the Santa Teresa neighborhood of San Jose, via Milpitas and downtown San Jose. There are 36 stops on this line. In South San Jose, the line operates in the median of California State Route 87 and 85. A proposed future development is an extension past Alum Rock along Capitol Ave. and Capitol Expressway to the Eastridge Transit Center, which would effectively duplicate (and possibly replace) the current service by the 522 bus line along this corridor.

Mountain View — Winchester

Designated as 902, this line runs from Downtown Mountain View station in Mountain View through Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, North San Jose along Tasman Drive, North First Street, Downtown San Jose, and the Southwest Expressway on its way to its terminus at the Winchester station in western Campbell. It has 32 stops, 14 of which are shared with the 'Alum Rock-Santa Teresa Line'.

Almaden Shuttle

Designated as 900, this is a 3-stop spur from the Ohlone/Chyoweth station to Almaden station at the Almaden Expressway in the Almaden Valley. The Ohlone/Chynoweth station provides connection to the Alum Rock-Santa Teresa Line, and the Almaden station connects to VTA bus service. It receives little traffic, even though there is an intermediate stop at the Westfield Oakridge mall.

Light rail vehicles

A Kinki Sharyo Low Floor Light Rail Vehicle in Mountain View - used by VTA since 2002

Urban Transit Development Corporation high-floor light rail vehicle - used by VTA between 1987-2003.

From 1987 until September 2003, the system was served by a fleet of high-floor light rail vehicles built by Urban Transportation Development Corporation. In 2002, VTA introduced new low floor light rail vehicles by Kinki Sharyo into the fleet. The low floor vehicles initially operated only on the Tasman West line (Downtown Mountain View — I-880/Milpitas)because the vehicles' floor height matched the platform height only at that line's stations and was only able to provide level-boarding there. In 2003, after VTA reconstructed platforms along North First Street from the Japantown/Ayer stop northward (with wooden ramps provided for the leading car's front door at all other stations), VTA replaced the entire fleet with low floor light rail vehicles. Currently, all stations on the Mountain View - Winchester line and all stations from the Convention Center station northward on the Alum Rock - Santa Teresa Line provide level boarding at all doors.

Major light rail connections

★ 'Caltrain' - connections at the Downtown Mountain View, Tamien, and San Jose Diridon stations.

★ 'Amtrak' - connects at the San Jose Diridon Station and Lick Mill stations.

★ 'Altamont Commuter Express' - connections at the San Jose Diridon and Lick Mill stations.

★ 'BART' (proposed) - there is a proposal to include connections to BART at the Montague Station and Diridon Station in the planned "BART to Milpitas, San Jose, and Santa Clara" project. This would likely replace many or all express buses to Fremont BART.

Notes

1. Light Rail Services