Bayshore Cutoff

Bayshore Cutoff
Bayshore Highway crosses the Bayshore Cutoff at Tunnel 5, Sierra Point (c. 1915).
Overview
Other name(s)	Bay Shore Cut-Off
Status	Revenue service
Owner	Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board
Locale	San Francisco and northern San Mateo counties
Termini	San Francisco San Bruno
Stations	7 (2 closed)
Service
Type	Commuter rail, heavy rail
System	SP (Coast Line, Peninsula Commute; 1863–1992) Caltrain and Union Pacific (1992–present)
History
Commenced	October 26, 1904 (1904-10-26)
Completed	December 8, 1907 (1907-12-08)
Technical
Line length	11.04 mi (17.77 km)
Number of tracks	2 (4 in Brisbane after CTX)
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	Overhead line, 25 kV 60 Hz AC
Operating speed	79 mph (127 km/h)
Highest elevation	20.3 ft (6.2 m)
Route map Legend Third and Townsend Depot 4th and King Street Ocean View Line Tunnel 1 1.9 mi 3.1 km 22nd Street Tunnel 2 Army closed   Tunnel 3 4.1 mi 6.6 km Paul Avenue closed 2005 Tunnel 4 5.2 mi 8.4 km Bayshore Bayshore Yard closed   Visitacion closed   Tunnel 5 abandoned 1956 8.6 mi 13.8 km Butler Road closed 1983 9.3 mi 15 km South San Francisco Ocean View Line to San José This diagram: view talk edit

The Bayshore Cutoff (originally the Southern Pacific Bay Shore Cut-Off)^[1] is the rail line between San Francisco and San Bruno along the eastern shore (San Francisco Bay side) of the San Francisco Peninsula. It was completed by Southern Pacific (SP) in 1907 at a cost of $7 million (equivalent to $229 million adjusted for inflation), and included five tunnels, four of which are still used by Caltrain, the successor to Southern Pacific's Peninsula Commute service. Fill from the five tunnels was used to build the Visitacion or Bayshore Yard, the main SP classification yard near the city of Brisbane. The Del Monte was similarly rerouted over the line at some point in its operational history.

The original alignment of the Coast Line completed in 1863 took it around the western side of San Bruno Mountain, through Colma and Daly City. Rail traffic along the original route needed helper engines for grades and curves along a route nearly 13 miles (21 km) long. The Bayshore Cutoff reduced the distance to 10.5 miles (16.9 km) with a maximum grade of 0.3 percent.

Once the Bayshore Cutoff was completed, and main line traffic was shifted to it, the former route was renamed the Ocean View Branch line. It was used to carry coffins to Colma; it was severed in the 1940s, but a few miles at the south end was still in SP's 1996 timetable. In the late 1980s BART purchased the right-of-way of the Ocean View line for the San Francisco International Airport extension south from Daly City.

Bayshore Cutoff Tunnel 5, at Sierra Point, was abandoned when the easternmost tip of the point was leveled during construction of the Bayshore Freeway in 1955–56, and the line was rerouted through the leveled section as well. The rail yard was in operation until the 1970s, and the site is currently being considered for redevelopment for light industrial/retail use as part of the Brisbane Baylands development project.