Berkeley, CA
Stop on the proposed 17,000-mile maglev network. Next stop: Oakland, CA (4.6 mi).
About Berkeley
Berkeley is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emeryville to the south and the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington to the north.
Source: Wikipedia summary (full article). Population and facts as published there.
Cost breakdown (proposal-scale estimates — see math)
| Item | Basis | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal construction | Large-city terminal (range $2–4B) | $3B |
| Land acquisition | Regional factor 1.5× on $200M base | $300M |
| Track: Berkeley → Oakland | 4.6 mi × $500M/mi | $2.3B |
| Annual operations (share) | Staffing, power, maintenance | $60M/yr |
| Stop total (excl. annual ops) | $5.6B |
Best terminal location (proposed)
the downtown Berkeley BART station district. Downtown Berkeley BART is one of the system's busiest stations, feeding UC Berkeley's 45,000 students plus a dense downtown. Shattuck Avenue's commercial core offers the foot traffic a major terminal needs. It captures the entire inner East Bay academic and professional catchment.
Before / after
Aerial mock-up (illustrative, not an engineering rendering). Left: the proposed site today. Right: with the maglev terminal.
- Emeryville — dense small city on the corridor with major retail and biotech jobs.
- The MacArthur corridor (Oakland) — transit-rich neighborhood approaching downtown Oakland.