Massive crane deployed for BART passenger-rail expansion project

A 217-foot crane has been deployed for the second phase of the BART Silicon Valley expansion project in California. The crane is one of only four in the United States and the only one operating on the West Coast, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority officials (VTA) announced yesterday.

Deployment of the crane marks a new chapter in the project, which calls for construction of 6 miles of track and four new stations, connecting Berryessa through downtown San Jose and into Santa Clara, California. The project has entered a critical construction phase: installing massive steel rebar cages deep into drilled shafts, the structural cores of the rail system's future foundations, VTA officials said in a press release.

The crane is a key piece of equipment as crews prepare for future tunneling operations. Thirty-nine semi-trucks were required to deliver the massive crane to the tunnel boring machine launch site. The crane will use a custom-built tripping frame, which is specialized to safely lift massive rebar cages — some of which extend over 140 feet long and weigh more than 300,000 pounds — and lower them into vertical shafts.

Each installation takes about 26 hours. Once in place, the cages are filled with concrete to form reinforced columns that will support underground walls and infrastructure, necessary to launch the tunnel boring machine in the future.

“This [crane] is a rare machine and seeing it in action is like witnessing the muscle behind modern infrastructure,” said Sarah Wilson, the project's director of construction. “Its presence signals one of the most exciting and transformative stages of the project, vertical construction.”

A video of the crane's installation can be viewed here.