Caltrain South San Francisco Station to be rebuilt

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Caltrain South San Francisco Station to be rebuilt

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I’m a fan of suburban commuter rail and all, used it for years in NY. However, I never really looked at the economics of a station. This one caught my eye and I ran the numbers for a 50 year life of this station. Just under $7 per passenger trip. That seems like a tough nut to crack at the fare box. I’d appreciate someone with a lot more knowledge than I have about commuter rail economics comparing how these numbers look at other operations? What percent of station infrastructure is typically recovered through the fare box?

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Also wondering about the economics of this, or if the 400/day figure is wrong. Hey, about that many riders get off and on a NYC subway, at one station at a single stop.

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I questioned the 400/day too - just from sort of a “smell test” - that it seemed awfully small. However, I used that to compute the $7/passenger station cost.

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I guess it’s possible that the station has been sidelined and underused because of the arrangement. Even if it’s assumed usage will remain low though, perhaps the “One train at a time” rule is causing enough disruption to the network that this part justifies the change?

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Paul Harrison - that’s a good point - I didn’t consider the overall system efficiencies that this upgrade is accomplishing. That gets into lots of fuel and labor savings and other DOCs as well and must be the driver of this project - if it is economically rational.