San Francisco’s $2.3 Billion Grand Central Station Transit Hub

The $2.3 billion Grand Central Station of the West located in San Francisco It opens again following repairs in 2019 after completion in 2018. And five years later it’s, well, rather empty. It features a peaceful rooftop public park, a few restaurant and service tenants, and buses. It might also perhaps link to a fresh Transbay tube. Will this object be the crown gem of Bay Area mobility?

Alternatively will it be a costly, mostly empty construction built before downtown San Francisco cleared out following COVID? Let’s begin the excursion following the bike bell. Here is a brief view of this object from above. Its length and thinness will immediately grab your attention.

Though barely 50 meters broad, it is 440 meters long. Built above street level, over Fremont and First Streets, it is one continuous construction. Approaching the station, it seems as though it has been placed into the city apart from the usual building grain. You most certainly cannot miss it whether you approach it from Fremont or First. I had to show you the cross-section diagram before we entered.

Later on will we discuss the subterranean levels. The central hall of the somewhat tall main level Businesses occupy a mezzanine as well; above that is the bus level and above that a rooftop park. And I just wanted to quickly say before we entered the structure and started looking about. We call this facility the Salesforce Transit Center. It shouldn’t be surprising that this object also has a corporate sponsor as publicly sponsored sports stadiums have sponsors in our globe.

Operating the station sold, the joint powers authority sold Salesforce naming rights for $110 million over the next 25 years. Arriving at the station at Fremont and Mission, you will find Salesforce Plaza. Right in front of Salesforce Transit Center and San Francisco’s highest building, Salesforce Tower, Apart from Salesforce, you will also see the little aerial tram. It’s meant to move guests from the plaza up to the rooftop park, but it was broken when I visited.

Salesforce Transit Center

Later on, I examined this and apparently it’s either not operating very much or out of order. Though I was a little let down not to be able to test it, I instead went via these doors to the main station hall. First is the center skylight in a rather horizontal building that brings sunshine from the park on down and acts as a pleasing vertical organizer.

The second focus point is the large screen, a contemporary interpretation of the departure boards of past. With few departures shown on the bottom half of the board, adverts and announcements sadly occupy much of the board. Like I indicated previously, the station features businesses like a dentist office and gym on the mezzanine floor in places outside the Great Hall.

Nothing really noteworthy; so, all I will say about it is this. Rising to the actual second level, the bus terminal, the Great Hall’s main escalator moves you I believe what I have read about this transit station—the most expensive bus stop in the United States. Since no trains are yet arriving here, this is essentially a bus terminal with a few bus lines.

I was here during the San Francisco Marathon, so there were a good amount of people downtown at the time; I was here on a Sunday and didn’t get a sense for rush hour. Should this area ever get filled, it will most surely be a hive of activity. As it is today, though, traffic seems light. Still, there were some buses arriving and leaving and some passengers boarding them.

Before this, the Port Authority Bus Terminal was the big bus terminal I knew most about. All I will say, then, is that although this is a lovely new bus terminal far better than the competitors, it simply requires a few more buses. Now, another observation regarding the busses here: another bus area exists at street level. Those relate to buses run by Muni and Golden Gate Transit. On this bus level you have Greyhound, Samtrans, AC Transit, and Westcat buses.

Though that’s a topic for another video, a side remark here: the Bay Area truly needs to combine all of its transit organizations. You really do get kind of an episodic feel as you travel across a park this length. One end features an amphitheater for concerts and gatherings. You pass past grassy fields, public bathrooms, the escalators leading you up here as you go along one of the two lengthy walks at the edge. You find a terrace with food, chairs, and tables midway across the park.

And really, it’s a quite lovely place. Further on you find a small bamboo garden and a lovely fountain connected to a nearby business building. Glancing over one edge, you can see the cable-stayed bridge linking the Bay Bridge to the transit hub for bus only usage. Since that’s exactly what it is, it feels now like a train station devoid of trains. And if it never gets trains, it will be somewhat disappointing, particularly considering the financial outlay for this construction.

Not even rail transit choices linked to the station, hence the start is already off to a negative note. Plot the transit center on the map. And here is the closest BART line traversing Market Street. Four blocks away, the Transit Center lacks any kind of tunnel connection or other such arrangement. You have to walk out of the BART station to transfer.

Opening in 2022, the new Central Subway is just south of the Transit Center. With plans to possibly stretch it all the way to the Presidio, Muni Metro light rail trains are buried underground to three new stations. Though not directly to the Transit Center either. Trams also run along the Embarcadero, although once more there are no direct transfers.

The transit hub so exists rather near to a lot of train service, although there are no direct exits and entrances. Still, the station is designed for commuter and long-distance trains, and that may change going forward. Caltrain recently electrified in the Bay Area and high-speed rail infrastructure under development in the Central Valley offer some promise for fast travel in the future of this construction.

Let’s start by going below the present station to where the train platforms will eventually stand. It will be a two-story building with trains below at a concourse level. Three platforms and six tracks total. The station’s subterranean space has already essentially developed. Known as the train box, it is ready for the platforms when the time comes. Cal Train rails from San Jose will be shared.

The line ends now at the 4th Street Station. Caltrain, and hence high-speed rail, will be brought to the transportation hub by a 1.3-mile expansion via a tunnel. It will also bury the fourth street station. Assuming all goes according, that extension will cost $6.7 billion and be finished in 2032.

San Francisco's 4th Street Station

Though I remain a high-speed rail enthusiast, I find it difficult to determine how fast rail will affect the station. Being a terminal station in what will be one of the best high-speed rail systems in the United States, low bar I know, might improve the station and give it almost like a busy airport feel. Not only will high-speed rail be among the trains using a costly tunnel arriving at the train box.

Caltrain commuter rail trains will, as I mentioned, keep running along the line linking the city to Silicon Valley, San Jose, and down to its terminal in Gilroy. And commuter rail service could potentially be extended northward from the transit hub. Link 21 is a project with an even longer time horizon than high-speed rail. Link 21 comprises mostly a second trans-bay tube. One tunnel under the water links San Francisco with Oakland right now. Since BART trains from four separate lines, it is quite crowded.

It also causes a significant system choke-point. A second BART tube would establish a fresh link between the East Bay and San Francisco, therefore enhancing service and closely tying the two areas.

One thing I would not do in this BART scenario, though, is actually make contact with the Transit Center. As I mentioned, no BART trains presently link to the Salesforce Transit Center. Again, four blocks further on Market Street, the closest lines are Not the new Transit Center, but rather the current endpoint, the 4th Street Caltrain Station, this new BART tube would traverse the water perpendicular to Market Street and link at Link 21 suggests a second tunnel that would directly link the Transit Center, however this one would not carry BART trains.

Rather, it would link commuter rail similar to the Amtrak Capital Corridor line. This is significant since currently now neither any Amtrak intercity trains nor commuter rail from the East Bay can enter the city straight-forwardly. Right now, the Capital Corridor service runs Sacramento to San Jose via Oakland; if the customers had the choice to cross into San Francisco, it would be immensely popular.

Daily during my PhD, I rode Capital Corridor trains; I would dearly love to see it connected straight to San Francisco. Since BART uses wide gauge rails, meaning the two rails are wider apart than a conventional gauge rail, the tunnel sadly cannot hold both BART trains and standard commuter rail and Amtrak trains. You therefore have two quite brilliant ideas for a tunnel.

Relieving BART congestion and linking San Francisco to Sacramento by commuter rail; at now, only one tunnel is intended to be built. Here the clear solution is to create two tunnels. For San Francisco and the Bay Area overall, both would be rather transforming. That is costly, of course, thus let’s see what occurs. Still, it’s obvious that the commuter rail choice would improve the transit center and establish it as a real train regional hub. Though perhaps nobody would laugh if you refer to the Salesforce Transit Center as the Grand Central of the West, it might never feel like the real Grand Central Station.