The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) and Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) recently unveiled an interactive public art piece that provides a 3D representation of The Portal project, which will bring high-speed rail service to the multimodal Salesforce Transit Center in San Francisco.
Dozens of transit enthusiasts and advocates unveiled the #ThePortalSFtoHSR installation (see video below) outside the Salesforce Transit Center at Mission and Fremont Street on Oct. 7.
The 3D interactive art piece, the agencies say, allows people to peer 60 feet below ground, or two full levels into the train platform where riders could board a high-speed train and arrive in Los Angeles in under three hours. The public can take pictures with the installation, post them to their social media, and tag @cahsra and @transitcentersf with #ThePortalSFtoHSR.
The Portal, also known as the Downtown Rail Extension, will extend Caltrain’s 77-mile service from San Francisco Fourth and King Street and the statewide high-speed rail system to the Transit Center in the heart of downtown San Francisco. This transformational infrastructure investment, the agencies say, will ultimately connect 11 transit systems from the Bay Area and Southern California, “bringing communities closer, reducing climate change impacts, and providing Bay Area residents with better access to jobs, housing, and economic opportunities.”
“This interactive installation provides a rare glimpse into the existing two-level trainbox found in the basement of the Salesforce Transit Center waiting for trains to arrive through The Portal project,” said TJPA Executive Director Adam Van de Water. “Thanks to a $3.38 billion commitment from the federal government, The Portal project is now over three-quarters funded. We invite the public to interact with this 3D art piece and envision the future of rail in uniting the Bay Area and connecting California.”
“The Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, and the Ferry building are some of the iconic symbols people think of when they think of San Francisco,” said CHSRA Northern California Director Boris Lipkin. “The Salesforce Transit Center, with high-speed rail and Caltrain in its basement, will be the next San Francisco transportation icon. It’s no longer a question of whether California will have a high-speed rail system but only how much of the high-speed rail system we want to have and how soon.”
More information about The Portal is available here.
