Caltrain Board Awards Maintenance Facility Contract

The Caltrain board has awarded an $11.6 million contract for the next phase of construction of its new Caltrain Equipment Maintenance and Operations Facility.

The maintenance facility will be located in San Jose between Lenzen Avenue and Taylor Street, just north of Caltrain’s Diridon station, on the site of a former Southern Pacific rail yard.

The maintenance facility will include a repair shop that will better accommodate workers and equipment so that major repairs currently contracted out can be done in-house.

In addition, a new indoor train-washer will replace an ineffective portable machine. A three-story operations building also will be constructed to accommodate train dispatchers and other key staff.

The contract was awarded Sept. 2 to Shimmick Construction of Hayward. It is one of six for the maintenance facility, whose total construction cost is estimated at $76 million. The relocation of Union Pacific railroad tracks and of a fiber optic duct bank, as well as the construction of a community wall, have been completed under earlier contracts.

Shimmick will start later this year on the relocation of mainline tracks, which is necessary to make room for remaining site improvements including construction of the maintenance shop. In addition, Shimmick crews will dig a pedestrian tunnel for workers to move between the shop and a new operations building.

The final phase of CEMOF is the construction of the Central Control Facility and Operations buildings, which is scheduled to go out to bid in March 2005 depending on the availability of capital dollars. Construction is slated to begin in August 2005, and the entire facility is expected to be complete by the end of 2006.

Currently routine Caltrain maintenance is done at a small outdated facility in San Jose and at the San Francisco station. The San Jose facility only has space to work on one locomotive. Neither place has an enclosed facility, a train-washer or the ability to fix a traction motor gone bad.

When a locomotive is in need of heavy wheel repair or a traction motor change, Caltrain has to contract these services out, which can take up to four weeks. In addition, with more trains running on a tighter schedule, maintenance staff doesn’t have the necessary elbow room for efficient repairs.

Caltrain works with an oversight committee to keep neighbors and San Jose city staff informed about construction.

9/8/04