Civic Center substation construction sees heavy equipment soaring over San Francisco sky

Large gray boxes appeared to levitate in the blue sky over San Francisco’s Market Street on Saturday, June 18 as a 106-foot-tall crane carefully piloted the equipment down into a hole cut deep in the earth.

The boxes – some weighing up to 37,000 pounds – contained a bevy of switch gear equipment – transformers, AC units, rectifiers, and the like – that will soon power a new substation at BART’s Civic Center Station. The substation will feed additional energy to power the San Francisco line, providing additional trains and more frequent service through the heavily trafficked route.

BART closed the entrances at 8th and Market streets about three years ago to make way for the new substation, which is just one aspect of BART’s Transbay Corridor Core Capacity Program. The substation will replace a section of previously public space at Civic Center Station, as well as two escalators.

The Core Capacity Program is a series of strategic investments that will enable BART to operate up to thirty ten-car trains per hour in both directions through the Transbay Tube. The program will add 306 railcars to the line, a new communications-based train control system that will enable shorter waits between trains, and a new railcar storage yard at the Hayward Maintenance Complex.

Five new substations will be added to the BART system as part of the program – at Civic Center Station, Montgomery St. Station, near MacArthur Station at 34th St., Concord Station, and Richmond Station. The project requires vast coordination across BART and various trades, such as drywall technicians, painters, electricians, HVAC experts, plumbers, and more.

“Many agencies and contractors came together to make this happen,” said Gordon Wong, BART Principal Electrical Engineer. “It would not have been possible without the support and coordination of C3M Power Systems, Clark Construction, Cupertino Electric, Bigge Crane, and numerous subcontractors the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, SF Dept of Public Works, the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency, and local businesses.”

On June 18, buses and street cleaners whooshed past the fenced off 15-foot-by-15-foot hole that was cut into the ground to deliver heavy machinery and equipment needed for the construction of the substation. Eighth St. was closed just for the day to make room for the soon-to-be-deposited equipment.

In all, the process took about 12 hours to complete, but the maintenance and engineering group had been preparing for more than a year prior. 

Before the crane was brought in, the hole had to be cut – carefully and slowly. Construction teams began by slicing the heavy concrete into small sections, each of which weighed about 3,000 pounds, then removing the concrete and cordoning off the hole to protect passersby.

The most exciting action took place June 18, when the Bigge crane could be seen slowly lifting and lowering the variety of equipment into the hole. During each delivery, four men waited below, hard hats and safety boots snug, to gently guide the equipment into the hole – sometimes with only a foot of space between the wall and the object.

Coordinating by radio with the crane operator, the construction workers below eased each item onto “skates,” or rolling wheels, which allowed them to glide the equipment to its rightful place. The process was painstaking, as each item had to be deposited in a specific order and facing the right direction – the space was too long and narrow to account for any mistakes in this regard.

The new substation will likely be up-and-running in the next year. The next station to receive an additional substation is Montgomery St. Station. You can read more about the Core Capacity Program on bart.gov.