European experts will craft big San Jose train station revamp

SAN JOSE — Designers from Europe, including experts behind dramatic upgrades of rail hubs in The Netherlands, have been hired to undertake a far-reaching reinvention of downtown San Jose’s Diridon train station, a key focal point of Google’s proposed transit village nearby.

“This is a once-in-a-century opportunity to envision and create a facility that will be one of the most important and well-loved facilities in San Jose and the Bay Area,” Kim Walesh, San Jose’s director of economic development, said Tuesday. “This would accomplish the expansion and the creation of a new inter-modal station unlike any we have seen in the United States.”

Bay Area government officials have hired Benthem Crouwel, an architect that re-designed Western Europe transit hubs in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht and The Hague; and Arcadis, a design and engineering consultant, to “reinvent” the Diridon Station, all part of a dramatic upgrade planned for the western edges of downtown San Jose that includes the Google transit-oriented development.

“Diridon Station is set to become one of the busiest transit hubs in the nation,” said Steve Truman, a contract manager with Arcadis.

“Reinvent Diridon Station” is the goal of the efforts by Benthem Crouwel and Arcadis, according to an announcement by the designers, which were hired by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, the city of San Jose, Caltrain and the California High Speed Rail Authority.

Proposed public and private development efforts next to and near the Diridon transit hub are among the activities that are expected to create an increase in travel connections at the train station.

Mountain View-based Google anticipates that 15,000 to 20,000 of its employees would work in a transit-oriented community of office buildings, stores, restaurants and open spaces in downtown San Jose.

San Jose-based Adobe Systems plans a dramatic expansion of its three-building downtown headquarters campus by adding fourth office tower at an adjacent site, potentially doubling Adobe’s current workforce in the area from the current 3,500 workers.

“In the past decade, an incredible redevelopment of the largest train stations of the Netherlands has been accomplished,” said Daniel Jongtien, partner at Benthem Crouwel.

Diridon Station is a transportation hub that connects light rail, Caltrain, Amtrak, the Capitol Corridor, ACE Train and bus lines. Within the next several years, a BART line is scheduled to stop at the Diridon transit site. It’s even possible that someday, a high-speed rail line will provide connections to the fast-growing boom towns of the Central Valley as well as Southern California.

Plenty is at stake in creating a new Diridon Station that both connects to rail lines with far-flung destinations, as well as creates a gateway to a downtown San Jose poised to undergo dramatic changes.

“It is critically important that we have the right concept and right design for an exceptional experience for travelers and visitors and one that works well for all the transit operators at Diridon Station,” Walesh said.

Some observers believe Diridon Station can be transformed into the Grand Central Terminal of the West Coast. Walesh said the revamped transit complex can make San Jose a travel gateway.

“People will be arriving from all over by Amtrak, BART, Caltrain, or high-speed rail, and when they come into the station they will be arriving in San Jose,” Walesh said. “We want that arrival experience to be special, and we want it to be special for locals who are traveling out of San Jose.”

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