MCM-RailWorks Lands Santa Clara VTA Light Rail Extension Contract

Rendering of the Story Road Station and the pedestrian overcrossing, Courtesy of Santa Clara VTA.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board of Directors has approved an approximately $437 million contract to the MCM-RailWorks joint venture to construct the 2.4-mile Eastridge to BART (San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District) Regional Connector Project.

According to the Board, construction is slated to run from April 2024 though fall 2027, with testing and training beginning in fall 2027 and revenue service starting in early 2028.

The Eastridge to BART Regional Connector Project (formerly Capitol Expressway Light Rail Project) will extend the light rail system from the existing Alum Rock Light Rail Station to the Eastridge Transit Center with an elevated guideway primarily in the center of Capitol Expressway (see map, left). The Eastridge extension will include an elevated light rail station at Story Road and an at-grade station located at the Eastridge Transit Center. When this project is complete, Santa Clara VTA riders can board at the Eastridge Station and connect directly with BART at the Milpitas Station.

The project price tag is $652.9 million for design, right of way, utilities, and construction. This is $122.8 million more than originally expected, with funding so far coming from 2000 Measure A ($313.6 million), SB1 ($25.1 million), RM3 ($130.0 million), LCTOP (Low Carbon Emissions Transit Operations Program, managed by Caltrans; $14.8 million), and TIRCP (Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program; $46.6 million).

According to the San Jose Mercury News, Santa Clara VTA “will cover the cost overruns with reserve funds.” In its March 11 report, the newspaper said that “[i]ncreases in material and labor costs meant that the lowest bid for the construction contract came in at $437 million, 38% higher than VTA’s original estimate of $316 million. With the money already spent on the project, that brings the total cost to $653 million.” The newspaper noted that bus service the only public transit currently linking Alum Rock and Eastridge. Light rail, it said, will cut the now 11-minute bus ride to just under five minutes.  

“While the project comes in over budget, it could also be completed faster than originally anticipated,” the San Jose Mercury News reported. “Sacramento-based MCM Construction Inc. and New York City-based RailWorks Corporation, which submitted their winning bid for the contract together, promised to deliver the project in 1,250 days, rather than the 1,600 VTA had accounted for, cutting a year off the project’s timeline. If construction begins in April as VTA plans, rail service could begin in 2028.”

The Eastridge to BART Regional Connector Project is being delivered in phases. According to Santa Clara VTA, the first phase was delivered in two parts. In Phase 1A completed in fall 2012, the agency addressed pedestrian access and improved safety measures along the expressway between Quimby Road and Capitol Avenue; this included new sidewalks, street lighting, and a landscaping buffer. Phase 1B, completed in 2015, covered the reconstruction of the Eastridge Transit Center, including new shelters and amenities.  

The light rail extension is Phase 2, and the final phase of the larger Capitol Expressway Transit Improvement Project that Santa Clara VTA said will transform the Capitol Expressway into a multi-modal expressway offering light rail transit, bus rapid transit (BRT), and “safe connections to the regional transit system.”