SRTD: To Folsom in the Fall

A $237 Million Light-Rail Extension Adds 4 Stations

The 10.9-mi. rail extension will allow 6,000 new daily passengers to use the rail line from downtown Sacramento to downtown Folsom. The four new stations heading into Folsom include Hazel Avenue, Iron Point Road, Glenn Drive and the historic center of Folsom. Last year, 11 million passengers used the Sacramento light-rail system.

By Robert Carlsen

The Sacramento Regional Transit District is on track for an October completion for its ambitious $237 million Amtrak/Folsom Corridor light-rail project.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SACRAMENTO REGIONAL TRANSIT DISTRICT

The extension will add 10.9 mi. between downtown Sacramento and downtown Folsom. It includes four new stations. SRTD expects 6,000 new daily passengers will use the extension.

SRTD is also opening a new station at the Amtrak station in downtown Sacramento.

Sacramento's light-rail system opened in March 1987. The 30.25-mi. system links both the eastern and northeastern suburbs with downtown Sacramento and carries 36,700 passengers on a typical weekday. In fiscal 2004, the system carried 11 million passengers.

Ron Perkins, deputy project manager for SRTD, said he started on the light-rail expansion project in August 2001, when the 2.8-mi., double-track Mather Field to Sunrise Boulevard line extension project began. That phase opened last June.

The four new stations heading into Folsom from Sunrise include Hazel Avenue, Iron Point Road, Glenn Drive and the historic center of Folsom.

Getting it done The general contractor for the Folsom extension is Kiewit Pacific, operating out of its Pleasanton office, and its subsidiary, Kiewit Western, based in Phoenix. John F. Otto of Sacramento is building the four new stations.

Alameda-based Stacy Witbeck is handling the general contractor duties in downtown Sacramento, which extends the line about a half-mile through a dense urban landscape. Perkins said this part of the project is slow going because "we've run across a number of unknown utilities."

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Acanthus Studio Inc. of Sacramento designed the new downtown Sacramento Amtrak/light-rail station. It also handled the three new Folsom stations, as well as the Hazel station on the Folsom extension.

SRTD lead architect, David Solomon, handled the coordination with Acanthus and another architecture firm, Oakland-based Amphion Environmental Inc., which designed the first phase Cordova Town Center and Sunrise stations.

Perkins said the district was "lucky" with steel prices because it pre-ordered the steel rails in November 2001 before prices went through the roof. "We took a bit of a hit for the steel for the stations, though," he said, adding that the district bought the last of the steel for the stations at the end of last year.

Both Perkins and Solomon concede that one of the main challenges to the extension project was building the downtown Folsom station. It's located at the end of Folsom's historic Railroad Block between the Sutter Street off-ramp and the reconstructed Leidesdorff Street.

(The Railroad Block historic site is being redeveloped by the city of Folsom as a tourist attraction.)

The Iron Point station, at the intersection of Iron Point Road and Folsom Boulevard, will be located below a shopping center, top right (photo courtesy of Sacramento Regional Transit District).

The design of the Folsom station includes three parking areas for a total of 102 cars to be shared by light-rail passengers as well as passengers on a proposed excursion train, which will be sharing the track. The light-rail platform actually sits on top of a bridge or box, called the Leidesdorff overcrossing "lid," with Folsom Boulevard running underneath.

Solomon said all the new stations will have shelters and handicapped ramps, as well as telephones, landscaping, drinking fountains, bicycle racks, lockers and an information kiosk. The station platforms are approximately 400 ft. long to accommodate a four-car, light-rail train.

System details Throughout the system, concrete ties have been used on all track laid since 1994. There are 47 mainline switches; 19 are spring operated, 25 are power operated and three are manually operated. The overhead contact system uses a blend of trolley wire and catenary.

Trolley wire, found downtown, is a single electrical contact wire used by both light rail and historic streetcars. Catenary is a more complex overhead system that maintains the wire tension necessary for high speeds.

The system has 24 electrical substations that provide power for the trains. The overhead lines carry 950 volts of electricity.