Commuter Transit Station Planned for East Menlo Park

A commuter rail line between the Peninsula and the East Bay will soon be stopping in East Menlo Park.

City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve city staff’s recommendation to build a transit station directly east of the Menlo Science & Technology Park, which is accessible via the intersection of Willow and Hamilton. 

“It would be one track, with six trains going one way,” Chip Taylor, Menlo Park Transportation Manager.

Three trains would go from Menlo Park north to San Francisco, and three would go to San Jose at different times, he said.  

The purpose of the station is to connect Caltrain to public transportation in the East Bay, reducing a commuter’s need to use a vehicle to get to work, according to city staff.

Two big factors in selecting this site, according to Taylor, were the ease of access to the area, and the property owner’s openness to the idea. The site’s proximity to the future , and the were also considered.

Two years ago, sites in East Palo Alto and North Fair Oaks were considered potential build spots, according to Jones. But, the Dumbarton Rail Committee took them off the table.

The cost of doing business could run between $700,000 and $1 million, according to Starla Jones, Menlo Park’s Assistant City Manager, who is helping the city conduct an Environmental Impact Report on the project.  The city has received $300,000 in grant money to fund the planning of the project in 2005, says Jones, although the actual cost to complete it is not certain.

A complication is that most of the money to build the transit station platform would come from ReDevelopment Agency funds in the city budget.

"But use of RDA funds are frozen until the Supreme Court makes a decision on whether RDAs will continue or not," Jones said.

What is certain is that some residents in the area are concerned about the noise that the trains would make as they pulled through the station. Taylor said that the use of Electric Mobility Units, instead of regular diesel fueled cars such as the ones used by Caltrain, would reduce the noise, and make the trains more efficient.

The Environmental Impact Report for the project, which is being reviewed and revised, is designed to take the impact of a project on the surrounding areas into account, and work them into a project’s plan. Public meetings will be held, so people can specify which factors are important to them.

Council Member Fergusson said that as city staff assists with the EIR, they should consider incorporating a bike path into the plan that would run between Sunnyvale to Redwood City. Fergusson and Mayor Pro Tem Kirsten Keith represent the interests of Menlo Park on the Dumbarton Rail Policy Committee.

You can at the r on Nov 10. Mayor Rich Cline encouraged the public to attend.