Transbay Terminal


2021 attempt at disaster salvage: DTX via Seventh Street and Howard Street


Transbay Terminal (extant) to Seventh and Bryant, via Howard Street, passing under Moscone Center and under Muni Central Subway, to Seventh and Mariposa, via existing Caltrain rights of way.


(Pre-2010 pre-TJPA/PTG "design" catastrophe would-have could-have hypotheticals ...)

The only possible remaining (limited by castastophically incompetent past decision-making by the TJPA and SF government), operable (based on first world standards and practices), constructible (based on lack of criminally-permitted conflicting real estate sell-offs) rail alignment into the Transbay Terminal is this. (640kb PDF.)

70kmh design speed; DB/OeBB-standard turnout geometry; minimum 250m radius on running lines (300m no longer feasible due to real estate scams); 190m radius absolute minimum; gap-free 1000m minimum radius platform curvature; over-generous 4.5m track spacing; maximally conflict-free interlockings enable maximum possible throughput; maximally free passenger flow to minimize journey times (not shown in track sketch, but obvious); etc.

In other words, about what your average non-English-as-a-first-language (ie potentially competent) railway engineer with basic skills (ie certainly not American) would toss off in his or her sleep.

Yes, explanatory text and a nice narrative should be added sometime.
Much more detail available on request ... though why bother?



Ancient and hopelessly naive Transbay Terminal rail alignment development from the 1990s


Bay Bridge


Caltrain


BART


MUNI


Gunzelling




Richard Mlynarik