The AECOM-led Portal Connectors team will provide program management and construction management service for The Portal Project, which will extend Caltrain’s commuter rail system 1.3 miles from its current terminal at Fourth and King streets to San Francisco’s Salesforce Transit Center and accommodate future California high-speed rail service.
The Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) is responsible for the project, also known as the Downtown Rail Extension, and is working in cooperation with five other agencies—Metropolitan Transportation Commission, San Francisco County Transportation Authority, Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (Caltrain), California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA), and the City and County of San Francisco—to advance it.
Over 30 years in the making, the Portal Project is said to be part of the TJPA’s vision “to deliver seamless transportation service” through its multimodal transit hub, the Salesforce Transit Center, located just south of Mission Street between Second and Beale streets in downtown San Francisco (see map below). According to the TJPA, the 1.3-mile rail extension (2.2 miles of total construction length) is expected to be constructed principally below grade using cut-and-cover and mined tunneling methods underneath Townsend and Second streets. The project includes an underground station at Fourth and Townsend streets and will bring rail service to the underground train box that was built as part of the Salesforce Transit Center; it also includes utility relocation and track and systems work.
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) approved the project into New Starts Engineering in April 2024. The TJPA expects to receive a Full Funding Grant Agreement in 2025, and initiate revenue service in 2035.
AECOM on Aug. 21 reported that the TJPA selected the Portal Connectors team to implement “an operating model to successfully deliver an array of program management and project supervision services in support of the Portal.” Services include “obtaining FTA funding, finalizing the procurement plan in 2024, activating collaborative delivery models, designing and building the tunnel stations, and integrating The Portal with existing rail systems and operations,” according to AECOM.
The Portal is the second phase of the TJPA’s $12 billion Transbay Program. The first phase replaced the former Transbay Terminal with the Salesforce Transit Center.
“AECOM has been proud to support the TJPA since the inception of the Transbay Program, and we’re thrilled to help deliver the next phase of this transformative investment,” said Mark Southwell, Chief Executive of AECOM’s global Transportation business. “Our world-class tunneling capabilities and fully integrated service offerings address all aspects of large-scale tunnel projects, making us well positioned to deliver this crucial work that will serve as a lynchpin for the region’s long-term transit needs.”
The Portal Project price tag was estimated in 2023 at approximately $8.26 billion. Of this amount, $729 million reflects the cost of the train box, which was completed as part of the construction of the Salesforce Transit Center, according to the San Francisco County Transportation Authority. In May 2024, the FTA established the project’s federal Capital Investment Grant (CIG) funding share of $3.38 billion. The project is in the Engineering phase of the CIG program. Its funding plan includes:
- FTA Capital Investment Grant: $3.38 billion (Federal)
- Completed Train Box: $729 million ($400 million Federal; $329 million non-Federal)
- Committed/Budgeted Funds: $1.390 billion:
- Local/Regional:
- Transbay Transit Center Community Facilities District: $355 million.
- Transbay Transit Center Impact Fees: $16 million.
- Transbay Redevelopment Tax Increment: $225 million.
- SFCTA Prop K: $22 million.
- SFCTA Prop L: $300 million.
- Metropolitan Transportation Commission Regional Measure 3: $325 million.
- Developer Contributions: $62 million.
- Land Sale Proceeds: $6 million.
- SFCTA Prop L/Regional Transportation Improvement Program Fund Exchange: $18 million.
- Caltrain Contribution for Engineering: $3 million.
- State:
- Transportation Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) Project Development Funding: $60 million.
- Local/Regional:
- Planned Funding: $2.751 billion, including additional local, regional, state, and federal funding.
The San Francisco County Transportation Authority is said to be working with TJPA and project partners to secure remaining funding commitments for the project, including federal, state, regional, and local sources.
