High Speed Rail needs secure (grade-separated, fenced) track. Many commute stations and grade crossings make Caltrain’s route unsafe and unreliable for HSR. In its first phase, HSR to the Bay Area should end at San Jose, with nearly seamless transfers there to Caltrain, Capitol Corridor, Amtrak, VTA rail, and BART.

North from San Jose? Batter, safer, more reliable, and far cheaper: upgrade the UP/Amtrak route via Santa Clara, Mulford, and Oakland to Sacramento. Add a transfer station at the BART overhead in Oakland, just six minutes from Embarcadero in downtown San Francisco, with trains every four minutes or oftener. Much better BART and Muni access to all of San Francisco than with the grossly-misnamed Transbay Transit Center far from the nearest BART/Muni station.