Today, Wednesday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority will host an open house in San Francisco. It will take place from 4 to 6 pm at "the Portal," which is where the future service will terminate at the Salesforce Transit Center.
A similar open house took place in Gilroy this week. These are the final two of four open houses held in Northern California this fall to update the public about the status of the project.
The open house will be a drop-in event where visitors can talk to planners and engineers and view detailed design maps of the alignment. There will also be a new virtual reality experience, including not only taking a look at train interiors, but train platforms and a drone shot over the completed Hanford viaduct.
A bit of 3D art at the Portal allows people to take photos that make it seem they are standing at the edge of a hole in the ground revealing the future train terminal below their feet.
Environmental clearance for the Northern California segment of the program - from the Central Valley through San Francisco - was completed in 2022. Four stations are planned on that segment: Gilroy, Diridon Station in San José, Millbrae-San Francisco Airport, and the terminal at Salesforce Transit Center.
CAHSRA has reached settlements in several lawsuits along the segment, including with the city of Brisbane, where a maintenance facility is planned, and the Grasslands Water District, which is an important bird habitat that will be crossed by the rail line. It has worked on several joint projects with other agencies, including the electrification of Caltrain, in preparation for and along the future route of high-speed rail (CAHSRA contributed about a third of the total project cost); The Portal, which is the new terminal for the rail corridor; Diridon Station planning and redesign, in partnership with Caltrain, the City of San José, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), and the Metropolitan Transportation Council; and planning for the Gilroy station area, in collaboration with the city of Gilroy and the VTA.
