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Two VTA Light Rail Stations Closed For Retrofit Work Reopen Early!

San Jose, Calif. -The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is pleased to announce the reopening of the Branham and Curtner Light Rail Stations a week ahead of schedule. Originally slated to return to service in mid-June after being closed for platform retrofit work, the stations will now be open to the public on Monday, June 9, 2008 beginning at 4:30 a.m.

VTA passengers will soon be able to access the Capitol Light Rail Station, as platform retrofit work is scheduled for completion by Monday, June 16, 2008. Once the Capitol station reopens, Almaden and Oakridge Light Rail Stations will close for platform retrofit work. The Ohlone/Chynoweth Light Rail Station will close after the Fourth of July weekend. These three stations are slated to reopen in late August.

When those stations return to service, two more phases will remain: Blossom Hill and Cottle; and Snell and Santa Teresa. The $23 million project covers retrofitting 13 stations in San Jose between Children’s Discovery Museum and Santa Teresa and is expected to be complete by March 2009. Once finished, VTA will offer level boarding at every doorway of every light rail vehicle at all stations in its 42-mile light rail system. The project is 80 percent funded by federal dollars, with VTA bearing the cost of providing substitute bus service to the closed stations.

The retrofit work raises the level of the platform approximately eight inches so it matches the level of the light rail vehicle floor. Level boarding eliminates the need for mobility impaired individuals to use ramps or lifts to access light rail vehicles and also eases boarding for parents will strollers, commuters with bicycles, seniors with collapsible utility carts and others.

Project updates are regularly posted in the “construction notices” section of VTA’s website, www.vta.org and individuals can sign up for electronic e-mail updates by sending an e-mail to community.outreach@vta.org.

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About VTA
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is an independent special district responsible for bus, light rail and paratransit operations; congestion management; specific highway improvement projects; and countywide transportation planning. As such, VTA is both an accessible transit provider and multi-modal transportation planning organization involved with transit, highways and roadways, bikeways and pedestrian facilities.

For more information about VTA services, call VTA Customer Service at (408) 321-2300, (408) 321-2330 (TDD only). Or, log on to www.vta.org.