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Talk:United States congressional delegations from California

Merger
List of United States Senators from California is basically redundant with U.S. Congressional Delegations from California. --Mark Adler 21:57, 19 November 2005 (UTC)
 * It sure is. I am for merger --DuKot 06:56, 19 December 2005 (UTC)
 * I support this merge here and for all State articles with similar redundancies. --Ross 16:15, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

 * I support merging both lists. Dananderson 03:43, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

 * I also support the merge, seeing that both articles contain the same information, presumably. SiriusAlphaCMa 03:59, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Oppose - I wasn't too thrilled to see each state congressional delegation article augmented by these "List of Reps" and "List of Sens" articles. However, some very good work on the navigation templates has been completed and many "list" articles have already been created. I do think that these list articles need to present the information in some other way than repeating what is shown in the 'congression delegation' article--maybe alphabetical.--G1076 22:29, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Fails - I am removing the merge proposal as this issue has been dormant for a very long time, and a general consensus over all the state articles is for 3 articles: Congressional Delegation, List of Reps, and List of Senators. I will add a todo list to the article to suggest improvements to the article in harmony with the Project Congress article scheme.--G1076 17:19, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Marion Cannon
Note: I'm not entirely sure which district Marion Cannon was in, but that's the only place that really fits. --Golbez 08:17, Sep 4, 2004 (UTC)

Will Rogers
The bioguide site says Will Rogers, Jr. was a congressman from Oklahoma, not California. Can anyone clarify? PedanticallySpeaking 19:44, Aug 24, 2004 (UTC)

 * I did on your talk. Different guy. --Golbez

 * Bioguide says that William Vann Rogers, Jr. was a Congressman from California from 1943-1944. Look more carefully next time. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mazallen (talk • contribs) 23:16, 9 January 2007 (UTC).

California Congressional Delegations
First a history lesson: California has gained seats in Congress -- which are apportioned on the basis of census results -- in every census since 1850. This means that every ten years, for the last 150 years, California has added new Congressional districts and thus has had to renumber older ones.

Second: wikipedia's editors do not take note of the previous fact and lazily assume that Congressional districts in California having the same number necessarily represent the same place and constituency -- maybe that's the case in England or Australia but definitely not in California! Therefore we find such absurdities as Jane Harman (who has always represented the beachfront Palisades area of LA county) being listed as having "succeeded" George E. Brown (who, again, had always represented the city of San Bernardino -- which, for those of you who do not know, is in the inland desert east of Los Angeles County.) For the record, Brown died in office and was succeeded by "The Honorable" Mr. Joe Baca -- also of San Bernardino.

So, thirdly: will someone please do the research and correct these glaring, howling, errors concerning the California Congressional delegation? A good place to start would be to obtain copies of the Almanac of American Politics (dating from 1975) and read them. For older records, try looking in the Congressional Record (which often lists the places these Congressmen claim residency in -- which often coincide with places within their said districts.) And most of all, consult a map, please ....

Mazallen 23:41, 9 January 2007 (UTC) Mazallen

 * That someone could be you, Mazallen. Wikipedia pages are editable by anybody!

 * Constituencies aren't numbered at all in the UK and Australia, FYI. They have names that remain (relatively) stable, which means that this sort of thing is easier to figure out for those countries. --Jfruh (talk) 00:16, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

 * I made a table of California's seats with the seats arranged in the order they were created and will have it up shortly. In the case of more than one seat having been created, the districts are in the order of the number they were assigned at the time of their creation. I was pretty much able to arrange everyone in the proper order of succession, but had some trouble with arranging the seats for the results of the 1982 election, when the redistricting resulted in some Republican congressmen retiring. The ones I had the most difficulty with trying to place were Wayne Grisham and Bob Dornan. Socal gal at heart (talk) 16:04, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

 * I started work on ordering the districts so that they are arranged in the proper order of succession, with the first three done so far. Evolution of California's congressional districts --Socal gal at heart (talk) 20:54, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

I've see the original thread started in 2007, so the concerns many not still be there, though the "district succession" succession versus "constituent succession" has been a hot topic for a few editors as evident in various articles throughout Wikipeida. But district number has been the standard for succession for a while now, because its the most practical, (see Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_U.S._Congress. I've been trading discussions with Socal gal on this. Her Evolution of districts article is a good one, and I agree that there is room to display this kind of information. It's just a matter of the best way to do so without adding to the confusion. I think individual notes on articles when there is massive redistricting, is the best approach, like that used in Bart_Stupak's article.Dcmacnut (talk) 16:10, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

Richard Nixon
He served between 1950 and 1953, not 1949 and 1951, is there a way to change that? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ethan c.00 (talk • contribs) 00:24, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Rotate House tables?
With the large number of House districts in California, even going back several decades, one has to scroll horizontally quite a bit. It seems to me it would be more sensible to pivot the tables 90°, with the Congresses (110th, 111th, 112th, etc.) as the columns and the districts as rows. That would put California out of sync with other states, but no other state has ever had 50+ districts. (The closest any other state has gotten was New York with 45, from 1933 to 1953.) Of course, any state with even 10 districts would likely benefit from a similar reorientation.

On the other hand, the new tables would take less total screen area, since the decrease in width would be greater than the increase in height, plus the major advantage of allowing most users to scroll through the entire article linearly instead of having to zigzag. It would also make it much less confusing to edit the tables, since the Nth district rep's would all be grouped together, instead of all the new rep's of the Nth Congress.

Here's what it might look like (showing just the first 5 districts, for the current decade): Lincmad (talk) 23:46, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

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Harris & Padilla
Note: If Harris doesn't resign by noon EST on January 3, 2021 as US Senator? She'll be a US Senator at the beginning of the 117th US Congress. GoodDay (talk) 20:59, 23 December 2020 (UTC)

Picture of Dianne
This page needs a more recent picture of Feinstein. 100.11.111.39 (talk) 02:25, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

Congressional residences
There are at least a couple of errors in the residences of members of the current delegation.

Doug LaMalfa, in District 1, is from the tiny town of Richvale, not Oroville. And Darrell Issa, in District 48, is--according to the infobox in his Wikipedia article--a resident of Vista, not San Diego.

I thought it would be a simple matter to edit these entries in the table, but there's no indication of how to do so. Can someone help? Rontrigger (talk) 11:50, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
 * This article pulls the table from California's congressional districts, so any edits made to that table will apply to both pages. Emk9 (talk) 16:59, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Thank you so much! I see now what I overlooked. Rontrigger (talk) 21:26, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
 * It comes from the US House website, so do not change it unless there's a mismatch between the two. —CX Zoom[he/him] (let's talk • {C•X}) 08:14, 17 June 2023 (UTC)
 * The House website is of no use. I clicked there on Doug LaMalfa and the only mention of his hometown, backing up my edit to Richvale, is in a press release. (In fact, the only links in that website are to press releases and other pro-member propaganda!) I know that Richvale is correct because it's identified in several biographical pieces (such as LinkedIn, the Los Angeles Times and his local newspaper, the Chico Enterprise-Record). He was BORN in Oroville and likely that's where the nearest hospital is to Richvale, where LaMalfa still is the (fourth-generation!) owner and operator of the family rice farm. (I myself was born and raised in similar circumstances.) Congressional hometowns need to be verified through (at least minimal) research. Rontrigger (talk) 22:45, 17 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I think I'm not clear enough, so let me explain. If you can back it up with a WP:RS, go for it with an inline citation. Otherwise, House website is the most reliable source we've got. If it says a member resides somewhere, there is at least some truth to it. Maybe the member hasn't lived there in ages, but he has some property there anyways, or something like that. But, we can't go adding original research (WP:NOR) for which there is no evidence. —CX Zoom[he/him] (let's talk • {C•X}) 22:55, 17 June 2023 (UTC)


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Veit Harlan

Veit Harlan (22 September 1899 – 13 April 1964) was a German film director and actor. Harlan reached the highpoint of his career as a director in the Nazi era; most notably his antisemitic film Jud Süß (1940) makes him controversial. While viewed critically for his ideologies, a number of critics consider him a capable director on the grounds of such work as Opfergang (1944).

Life and career
Harlan was born in Charlottenburg, Berlin, the son of the writer Walter Harlan and his wife Adele, nee Boothby. His elder brother Peter was a multi-instrumentalist and musical instrument maker. After studying under Max Reinhardt, he first appeared on the stage in 1915 and, after World War I, worked in the Berlin stage. In 1934 he starred in the Berlin premiere of Eugen Ortner's tragedy Meier Helmbrecht, but it was a critical disaster and he later described it as his lowest point as an actor. Shortly afterwards he directed his first play, the comedy Marriage on the Panke, at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm.

In 1922 he married Jewish actress and cabaret singer Dora Gerson; the couple divorced in 1924. Gerson later was murdered at Auschwitz with her family. In 1929, he married Hilde Körber, having three children with her, then divorcing her for political reasons related to the influence of Nazism. One of their children, Thomas Harlan, became a writer and director in his own right. In 1939, Veit Harlan married the Swedish actress Kristina Söderbaum, for whom he wrote several tragic roles that included dramatic suicide scenes, increasing their popularity with the German cinema audience. Harlan had two children with Söderbaum.

Nazi era
Film critic David Thomson asserts that Harlan, having just started directing in 1935, was able to attract Goebbels' attention only because so much directorial talent had emigrated from Germany after the Nazis had taken power. By 1937, Joseph Goebbels had appointed Harlan as one of his leading propaganda directors. His most notorious film was Jud Süß (1940), made for anti-Semitic propaganda purposes in Germany and Austria. In 1943 it received UFA's highest awards. Karsten Witte, the film critic, provided a fitting appellation for Harlan calling him "the baroque fascist". Harlan made the Reich's loudest, most colorful and expensive films.

Postwar
After the war Harlan was charged with participating in the anti-Semitic movement and aiding the Nazis. He successfully defended himself by arguing that the Nazis controlled his work, that he was obeying their orders, and that he should not be held personally responsible for the content. In 1949, Harlan was charged with crimes against humanity for his role as director of Jud Süß. The Hamburg Criminal Chamber of the Regional Court (Schwurgericht) controversially acquitted Harlan of the charges. This decision was upheld by the court of the British occupation zone. Both acquittals remain controversial to this day since the ruling judge had previously worked as a judge for the Nazi regime and since Harlan's works had been proven to have contributed hugely to spreading the antisemitic sentiment in Germany, which enabled the Holocaust. Nazi camp guards who watched Jud Süß, Jewish survivors told the court, had become crueller towards inmates afterwards, clearly affected by the propaganda contents which made them hate Jews more (although this allegation could not be proved). The film was deemed in one court to be unsuitable and highly problematic and to have contributed to enabling the antisemitism and genocides, but neither Harlan or his antisemitic supporters who insulted Jewish victims in the courts were ever sentenced.

In 1951, Harlan sued for an injunction against Hamburg politician Erich Lüth for publicly calling for a boycott of Unsterbliche Geliebte (Immortal Beloved). The District Court in Hamburg granted Harlan's suit and ordered that Lüth forbear from making such public appeals. However, the lower court decision was overturned in 1958 by the Federal Constitutional Court because it infringed on Lüth's right to freedom of expression (Lüth-Urteil). This was a landmark decision because it clarified the importance of the constitutional civil rights in disputes between individuals.

Harlan made a total of nine films between 1950 and 1958. He died in 1964 while on vacation in Capri.

Family
Veit Harlan's son Thomas (1929–2010), an author and film director, created a semi-documentary film titled Wundkanal (Wound Passage), in which his father, played by a convicted mass murderer, is forced to undergo a series of brutal interrogations into his war crimes. Thomas Harlan's final publication, issued posthumously, Veit, was a memoir in the form of a letter to his father, continuing the investigation into Veit Harlan's complicity in the Nazi regime.

In 1958, Veit Harlan's niece Christiane Susanne Harlan married filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, who was Jewish. She is credited by her stage name Susanne Christian in Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957). She said she was ashamed to come from a "family of murderers" but was relieved that Kubrick's Jewish family accepted her despite her ties to Harlan. They remained married until Stanley Kubrick's death in 1999.

Susanne Körber, one of his daughters from his second wife Hilde Körber, converted to Judaism and married the son of Holocaust victims. She committed suicide in 1989.

Documentaries
In 2001, Horst Königstein made a film titled Jud Süß – Ein Film als Verbrechen? (Jud Süß – A Film as a Crime?).

The documentary Harlan – In the Shadow of Jew Süss (2008) by Felix Moeller explores Harlan's motivations and the post-war reaction of his children and grandchildren to his notoriety.

Actor

 * The Master of Nuremberg (1927) as David
 * The Trousers (1927) as Mandelstam
 * One Plus One Equals Three (1927) as Paul
 * The Girl with the Five Zeros (1927) as Ernst Waldt
 * Somnambul (1929) as Kurt Bingen
 * Hungarian Nights (1929) as Zoltan
 * Revolt in the Reformatory (1929) as Kurt
 * A Woman Branded (1931) as the student
 * Alarm at Midnight (1931) as Otto Weigandt
 * The Eleven Schill Officers (1932) as Klaus Gabain
 * Frederica (1932) as Duke Karl August von Weimar
 * The Invisible Front (1933) as Friseur Jonny
 * The Hymn of Leuthen (1933) as Paul the soldier
 * Typhoon (1933) as Inose Hironari
 * Paganini (1934) as Enrico Tortoni
 * A Woman With Power of Attorney (1934) as Schwartzkopf
 * The Brenken Case (1934) as the stranger
 * My Life for Maria Isabella (1935) as the rebel corporal
 * Don't Lose Heart, Suzanne! (1935) as Georg Brinkmann
 * The Red Rider (1935) as Andreas
 * Joan of Arc (1935) as Pierre
 * Stradivari (1935) as Antonio Stradivari
 * Stars Over Colombo (1953) as the clown

Director

 * Die Pompadour (1935)
 * Trouble Backstairs (1935)
 * Kater Lampe (1936)
 * Fräulein Veronika (1936)
 * Maria the Maid (1936)
 * Tired Theodore (1936)
 * The Kreutzer Sonata (1937)
 * My Son the Minister (1937)
 * The Ruler (1937)
 * Youth (1938 film) (1938)
 * Covered Tracks (1938)
 * The Immortal Heart (1939)
 * The Journey to Tilsit (1939)
 * Jud Süß (1940)
 * The Great King (1941)
 * Pedro Will Hang (1941)
 * Die goldene Stadt (1942)
 * Immensee (1943)
 * Opfergang (1944)
 * Kolberg (1945)
 * Immortal Beloved (1950)
 * Hanna Amon (1951)
 * The Blue Hour (1953)
 * Stars Over Colombo (1953)
 * The Prisoner of the Maharaja (1954)
 * Verrat an Deutschland (1954)
 * Different from You and Me
 * I'll Carry You in My Arms (1958)
 * Liebe kann wie Gift sein (1958)
 * Es war die erste Liebe (1958)

Screenwriter only

 * Der Puppenspieler (unvollendet) (1945)
 * Eyes of Love (1951)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Veit Harlan


text: File:Supergrass (album).jpg

title: File:Supergrass (album).jpg


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Delitzsch

Delitzsch (Slavic: delč or delcz for hill) is a town in Saxony in Germany, 20 km north of Leipzig and 30 km east of Halle (Saale). With 24,850 inhabitants at the end of 2015, it is the largest town in the district of Nordsachsen.

Archaeological evidence outside the town limits points to a settlement dating from the Neolithic Age. The first documented mention of Delitzsch dates from 1166 and it later became the Elector of Saxony's residence in the 17th and 18th centuries. The old town is well preserved, with several plazas, citizens' and patrician houses, towers, a baroque castle and the town's fortifications.

Delitzsch and its surrounding area contain water areas, hiking and cycling networks and nature reserves.

Location
Delitzsch is located in the northwestern part of Nordsachsen in Saxony, at an altitude of 94 meters above sea level. Due to its location on the border with Saxony-Anhalt, Delitzsch is the northernmost town in Saxony. It is situated on the north heath and recreation area Goitzsche which extends across the Saxony-Saxony-Anhalt border to Bitterfeld-Wolfen. To the east is the spa town of Bad Düben, which is the starting point for the Düben Heath.

The total size of the urban area is 83.57 km2. The north–south extension is 10 km and the east–west extension 8.3 km. The adjacent communities are Löbnitz, Schönwölkau, Rackwitz and Neukyhna clockwise called from the north of town.

History
Delitzsch was founded as a town around 1200 AD (according to chronicles) and became recognized as a city in 1300 AD. Both before and after its founding, the city fought off many invaders: first the Slavic tribes who had lived there before the city was founded and then, later, in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), the Swedes. A legend arose from this final encounter with the Swedes, saying that when the Swedes reached the river Lober, the tower warden's daughter spied them and blew a trumpet, allowing the citizens of the town to get to safety and prepare, and as a result the invaders were defeated. Every year there is a historical medieval style fair to celebrate this victory over the Swedes and, during the fair, shops are open on Sundays.

As a result of the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15, Delitzsch was granted to Prussia from the Kingdom of Saxony. A district of Delitzsch was established for administrative purposes. From 1815 to 1944, Delitzsch was part of the Prussian Province of Saxony, from 1944 to 1945 of the Province of Halle-Merseburg, from 1945 to 1952 of the State of Saxony-Anhalt, from 1952 to 1990 of the Bezirk Leipzig of East Germany and since 1990 of Saxony.

In World War II (1939–1945), only one building, the station, was burned, minimal damage in comparison with many other German urban centers.

According to a 1996 census, Delitzsch had more than 27,000 inhabitants.

1747–1999
(using town boundaries as at the time) ¹ Census

² Merging districts

Source: Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen

2000–present
(using town boundaries as at the time)

¹ Merging districts

Source: Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen

Town council
The town council consists of the lord mayor and 30 town councillors. Every five years, the town council is chosen anew. The inaugural meeting of newly elected council always takes place in the conference hall of the city hall. The current council has been in place since the last local election (held on 26 May 2019), and is constituted as follows:

The next council elections are scheduled for 2024.

Mayor

 * Arno Erhardt: 1945
 * Richard Hampe: 1945-1950
 * Paul Heinze: 1951-1952
 * Walter Lange: 1952-1956
 * Rudolf Kunath: 1956-1959
 * Otto Paul: 1960-1973
 * Hans-Joachim Kumrow: 1973-1977
 * Wolfgang Neubert: 1977-1979
 * Karl Lubienski: 1979-1990
 * Heinz Bieniek: 1990-2008

Historian Manfred Wilde (born 1962) won the mayoral election in 2008 with 60.2 percent of the votes cast.

Coat of Arms
The emblem of the town Delitzsch combines two different arms, the house of Wettin or tribal emblem and the County of the Mark Meissen. It shows two upright poles blue (Landsberger piles) that are in a golden box, and this split in three parts. In the middle of the main shield of the emblem can be seen in an inclined position as a means to shield Meissen black lion on a golden shield. The middle blade is tilted forward, and so the lion appears as upright as possible, or borders. He has two tail tuft, with their division begins in the middle of the tail, which should point to the Mark Meissen County. As an accessory, the coat of arms (1526 introduced) a fluttering ribbon bearing the inscription: "Secretum civium in delitzsch" (loosely translated: Privy Seal of Delitzsch).

Twin towns – sister cities
Delitzsch is twinned with:
 * 🇩🇪 Friedrichshafen, Germany (1990)
 * 🇩🇪 Monheim am Rhein, Germany (1990)
 * 🇵🇱 Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland (2000)

Road
To the west of the town the national roads B183a and B184 intersect.

Rail transport
Delitzsch has an "upper station" with two platforms and a "lower station" with three tracks. Both stations are in the tariff zone 165 of the regional public transport network (Mitteldeutscher Verkehrsverbund). Since December 2008 the two stations have been served Mitteldeutsche Regionalbahn ("Central German regional railway" (MRB)) in addition to Deutsche Bahn (DB), services to and from Delitzsch oberer Bahnhof have been taken over by Abellio in 2015. The upper station is served by regional trains hourly on weekdays, two-hourly on weekends. The lower station is served by S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland and by regional trains between Leipzig and Magdeburg. Long-distance services can be reached by changing in Leipzig or Halle.

 * The trains of the MRB take the following route:
 * Eilenburg - Delitzsch oberer Bahnhof - Halle (Saale) Hauptbahnhof (MRB118)
 * The DB trains run on the following lines:
 * Eilenburg - Delitzsch oberer Bahnhof - Halle (Saale) Hauptbahnhof (RB118)
 * Leipzig Hauptbahnhof - Delitzsch unterer Bahnhof - Bitterfeld - Dessau - Magdeburg (RE13)
 * Leipzig Hauptbahnhof - Delitzsch unterer Bahnhof - Bitterfeld - Dessau (RB54)
 * Leipzig Hauptbahnhof - Delitzsch unterer Bahnhof - Bitterfeld - Wittenberg (RB57)
 * The trains of the S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland take the route:
 * Gaschwitz - Leipzig-Connewitz - Leipzig City Tunnel - Delitzsch unterer Bahnhof - Bitterfeld (S2)

Air traffic
Leipzig/Halle Airport is located 14 mi southwest of Delitzsch.

Local businesses
The most important industries in Delitzsch included the sugar and confectionery industry. Currently, the Delitzscher Chocolate Factory (acquired on 1 October 2008 by the Halloren Chocolate Factory AG), the EuroMaint Rail GmbH (former rail car plant SFW Delitzsch GmbH), URSA Insulation and the Smurfit Kappa Corrugated board plant are the major industrial employers. Most of these big companies are located in the industrial area on the south-west side.

Due to the EU production quotas for sugar, the sugar factory (Südzucker) was shut down in 2001.

Lignite mining was discontinued in the early 1990s, the remaining mines are planned to be a system of lakes and heathland in an arc from the southwest to the north.

Sights

 * Baroque castle with Lustgarten (pleasure gardens), formerly temporary residence and administrative centre, later dower of the Dukes of Saxony-Merseburg, built on the foundations of a medieval moated castle
 * kennel gardens, terraced green space created between the city wall and moat (re-opened to visitors in 2010)
 * fortifications dating back to the 14th and 15th century with two towers, defensive wall, and water-filled moat
 * rose garden
 * city church of St. Peter & Paul, brick church of the 15th century with significant high altar
 * memorial to Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch
 * executioner's house (resident executioner first documented in 1619)
 * Stadtschreiberhaus, former home and workplace of the town clerk, now a gallery
 * city park with water basin
 * zoological gardens

Sports
Among the many sports clubs in North Saxony district town, among other things, the annual sporting events like the LVZ Bicycle Ride, Delitzsch moves or the old town race. More than 13 sports clubs are based in the region of Delitzsch. Some of the clubs:

 * 1. SV Concordia Delitzsch
 * NHV Concordia Delitzsch 2010 e.V. (second handball club)
 * GSVE Delitzsch 1995 e.V. (volleyball club)
 * Delitzscher Sportfüchse 1995 e.V. (judo club)
 * 1.FC Delitzsch 2010 e.V. (football club)
 * RV Germania Delitzsch 1891 e.V. (bicycle club)
 * Korean Tigers 1989 e.V. (Taekwondoverein)
 * Delitzscher tennis club 1921 e.V.
 * Badminton club Delitzsch
 * Dive club Delitzsch 1958 e.v.

Education
The first school was built around 1426 as a boys school and was expanded in the 16th century to cater for girls. Today more than 3,500 students learn in ten public and three private schools. These include three primary schools, two Mittelschulen (secondary schools), one grammar school, two colleges and two special schools. The School of Music, the Adult high school and the acting school are private schools.

 * Primary schools
 * Primary school Diesterweg
 * Primary school on Rosenweg
 * Primary school Delitzsch-East
 * Middle schools
 * Artur Becker- Middle School
 * Middle School Delitzsch-North
 * Grammar school
 * Christian-Gottfried-Ehrenberg-Grammar School
 * Technical and vocational schools
 * School of Social Sciences
 * Vocational School Dr. Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch
 * Special schools
 * Special Educationscool Rödgen - school for mentally disabled
 * Pestalozzischool – school to promote learning
 * Other schools
 * Delitzsch Music School
 * Theatre Academy Saxony (Acting School)
 * Adult high school

Notable people

 * Lucas Brandis (c. 1450–1500) and his brothers, Moritz, Mark, and Matthew Brandis (died after 1512), book printers
 * Max Bruning (1887–1968), painter, born in the house market 20
 * Norbert Denef (born 1949), campaigner about sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church.
 * Carl August Ehrenberg (1801–1849), botanist and plant collector.
 * Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (1795–1876), bioscientist, co-discovered the use of bacteria in medicine
 * Bernhard Förster (1843–1889), high school teacher, cultural critic and husband of Elizabeth (Forester) Nietzsche
 * Paul Fürbringer (1849–1930), physician
 * Clementine Helm (1825–1896), children's and youth book author
 * Eberhard Ruhmer (1917–1996), art historian and curator, son of the city minister Wilhelm Ruhmer
 * Erasmus Schmidt (1570–1637), mathematician and philologist
 * Helmut Schreyer (1912–1984), German telecommunications specialist, inventor and professor in Rio de Janeiro
 * Franz Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch (1808–1883), founder of the German cooperative system and politician, born in the house market 11 (plaque).
 * Walter Tiemann (1876–1951), book artist and graphic designer

Sport

 * Joachim Fritsche (born 1951), footballer in the East German league, played for the GDR, 1973–1977
 * Lutz Mack (born 1952), gymnast
 * Siegfried Mehnert (born 1963), boxer

title: Delitzsch


text:
The Keith Barret Show

The Keith Barret Show is a spoof BBC chat show hosted by Keith Barret (Rob Brydon) who interviews celebrity couples in the hope of finding the secret to a successful marriage (though in fact many of his interviewee couples were not married; see below). It was devised by Paul Duddridge and co-written with Rob Brydon. In each programme, there are a selection of clips from venues such as speed dating or interviews with relationship experts.

Rob Brydon's character Keith first appeared on TV in the comedy series Marion and Geoff where, for most of the first series, he was oblivious to the affair between the title characters.

Series 1

 * 1) Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan (5 July 2004)
 * 2) Bryan McFadden and Kerry McFadden (12 July 2004)**
 * 3) Ronnie Corbett and Anne Corbett (19 July 2004)
 * 4) Darren Day and Suzanne Shaw (26 July 2004)*, **
 * 5) Lembit Opik and Siân Lloyd (3 August 2004)*, **
 * 6) Tony Wilson and Yvette Livesey (10 August 2004)*

Christmas Special
 * 1) Ulrika Jonsson and Lance Gerrard-Wright (20 December 2004)**

Series 2

 * 1) Leslie Ash and Lee Chapman (7 January 2005)
 * 2) Richard Whiteley and Kathryn Apanowicz (14 January 2005)*
 * 3) Justin Ryan and Colin McAllister (21 January 2005)*,***
 * 4) Vinnie Jones and Tanya Jones (28 January 2005)
 * 5) Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford (4 February 2005)*,***,**
 * 6) David Dickinson and Lorne Lesley  (11 February 2005)

 * unmarried couples
 * have since split
 * have married since

title: The Keith Barret Show


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Extreme points of Norway

The extreme points of Norway include the coordinates that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location in Norway; and the highest and the lowest altitudes in the country. The northernmost point is Rossøya on Svalbard, the southernmost is Pysen in Lindesnes Municipality, the easternmost is Kræmerpynten on Svalbard, and the westernmost is Hoybergodden on Jan Mayen. The highest peak is Galdhøpiggen, standing at 2469 m above mean sea level, while the lowest elevation is sea level at the coast.

The Norwegian Antarctic territories—Bouvet Island, Queen Maud Land and Peter I Island—are not part of the Kingdom of Norway. If included, the Antarctic territories account for the southernmost, easternmost, westernmost and highest extreme points.

The latitude and longitude are expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, in which an "N" value refers to the northern hemisphere, and an "S" value refers to the southern hemisphere. Similarly, a "E" longitude value refers to the eastern hemisphere, and a "W" refers to the western hemisphere. The extreme points of latitude and longitude are published by the Norwegian Mapping Authority, while the elevations are published by the World Fact Book. Both make use of the World Geodetic System (WGS) 84, a geodetic reference system.

Latitude and longitude

For the Kingdom of Norway, the northernmost point is Rossøya, just north of Nordaustlandet on the Svalbard archipelago, bordering the Barents Sea. The southernmost point is Pysen in Lindesnes Municipality bordering Skagerrak—the only latitude and longitude extreme point that is in Norway proper. The easternmost location is Kræmerpynten on Svalbard, bordering the Barents Sea, while the westernmost point is Hoybergodden on Jan Mayen, bordering the Greenland Sea.

All four latitude and longitude extreme points are bordering the sea; due to the geographic nature of the coastline, all extremities are located on islands. Therefore, extreme points of the Norwegian mainland are also included in the list. The northernmost point is Knivskjellodden, located in Magerøya in Finnmark. The northernmost mainland point is Cape Nordkinn, located in Lebesby Municipality, Finnmark; this is also the northernmost location of mainland Europe. Both border the Barents Sea. The southernmost location of Norway proper is Pysen, while the southernmost mainland location the Lindesnes peninsula in Lindesnes Municipality; both border Skagerrak. The easternmost point is Hornøya, with Kibergsneset being the easternmost mainland location. Both are in Vardø Municipality in Finnmark. The westernmost location is Holmebåen in Solund Municipality in Vestland county, while the westernmost mainland location is Vardetangen in Austrheim Municipality, also in Vestland. Both border the North Sea.

If Antarctica is included, the southernmost point is the South Pole. All seven Antarctic claims meet there, so this point borders all other six territories. The easternmost point is the border between Queen Maud Land and the Australian Antarctic Territory, which follows the 45th meridian east. The westernmost point is Peter I Island. As the only Antarctic claim that is not a sector, it borders the Amundsen Sea.

Altitude

The highest point in the kingdom is Galdhøpiggen, which, standing at 2469 m above mean sea level, is located in Lom Municipality. Galdhøpiggen is part of the Jotunheimen mountain range, as well as Jotunheimen National Park. It is also the highest peak along the Scandinavian Mountains. If Antarctica is included, the highest peak is Jøkulkyrkja, standing at 3148 m. It is located in the Mühlig-Hofmann Mountains in Princess Astrid Coast. Norway's lowest point is located on the coast, at sea level. The coast stretches 83281 km, including fjords, bays and islands.

Transportation
Only public transportation. Note that the southernmost point which is reachable without using a boat is in fact not Lindesnes Lighthouse, but a rocky cape in Ytre Farestad on the island Skjernøya. It is not per definition the southernmost mainland point, but can be reached by road Fv230 385.

title: Extreme points of Norway


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Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel

The Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT), also referred to as the Metro Bus Tunnel, is a 1.3 mi pair of public transit tunnels in Seattle, Washington, United States. The double-track tunnel and its four stations serve Link light rail trains on the 1 Line as it travels through Downtown Seattle. It runs west under Pine Street from 9th Avenue to 3rd Avenue, and south under 3rd Avenue to South Jackson Street. 1 Line trains continue north from the tunnel to Northgate station and south through the Rainier Valley past Seattle–Tacoma International Airport to Angle Lake station as part of Sound Transit's light rail network.

The DSTT was used only by buses from its opening in 1990 until 2005, and shared by buses and light rail from 2009 until 2019. Bus routes from King County Metro and Sound Transit Express left the tunnel north via Interstate 5, south via the SODO Busway, or east via Interstate 90. It was owned by King County Metro and shared with Sound Transit through a joint-operating agreement signed in 2002; Sound Transit assumed full ownership in 2022. The Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel was one of two tunnels in the United States shared by buses and trains, the other being the Mount Washington Transit Tunnel in Pittsburgh, and was the only one in the United States with shared stations.

Though proposals for a rapid transit tunnel under 3rd Avenue were introduced in the 1910s and 1920s, planning for the modern bus and rail Metro Bus Tunnel only began in 1974. The King County Metro Council approved the bus tunnel proposal in November 1983, but construction did not begin until March 1987. The tunnel between Convention Place and Westlake stations was built using the cut-and-cover method, closing Pine Street for 19 months and disrupting access to the retail core. The segment from Westlake to the International District was bored with two tunnel-boring machines, heading north from Union Station and finishing within a month of each other. Tests of normal buses and the Breda dual-mode buses built specifically for tunnel routes began in March 1989; tunnel construction was declared complete in June 1990, at a cost of $469 million. Light rail tracks were installed in anticipation of future rapid transit service through the tunnel, but were later found to be poorly insulated and unusable for Link light rail. Soft openings and public previews of the five tunnel stations were held from August 1989 to September 1990, with regular bus service beginning on September 15, carrying 28,000 daily passengers in its first year of operation. For the next several years, until June 2004, service in the tunnel was provided exclusively by dual-mode buses, which ran as trolleybuses in the tunnel – like the city's extensive trolleybus system – and as diesel buses on surface streets and freeways.

The tunnel was closed on September 24, 2005, for modification to accommodate both buses and Sound Transit's Central Link (now the 1 Line) light rail trains with shared lanes and platforms. The roadway was lowered by 8 in and other improvements were made to prepare for light rail service. New hybrid electric buses were moved into the tunnel to replace the Breda fleet, as the overhead wire was replaced for light rail trains. The tunnel reopened on September 24, 2007, and light rail service began on July 18, 2009. A stub tunnel, branching from the main tunnel, was constructed under Pine Street to allow light rail trains to stop and reverse direction; it was later used as the first segment of a light rail extension to Capitol Hill and the University of Washington that opened in 2016. Convention Place station was closed permanently on July 21, 2018, to make way for an expansion of the Washington State Convention Center that would also restrict bus access to the tunnel. On March 23, 2019, bus service in the tunnel ceased and its remaining seven routes were moved to surface streets.

Route and stations

The 1.3 mi, 18 ft tunnel is used by the 1 Line between Westlake and International District/Chinatown stations. Entrances at several tunnel stations are built into nearby buildings with variable-message signs over the stairs and elevators leading to the mezzanines. A total of 11 wheelchair-accessible elevators connect the tunnel stations to the surface. The deepest of the tunnel stations are 60 ft below street level and consist of two side platforms, two tracks, and a former bus passing lane in the middle. Since 2019, the stations have also had signs with numbered exits to aid in rider wayfinding. As part of the city's public art program that began in 1973, the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel and its stations were furnished with $1.5 million (equivalent to $ million in dollars) in artwork by 25 artists commissioned by King County Metro.

The northern portal, formerly accessible to buses at street level from Olive Way, and from Interstate 5 via an express lane ramp, was the former Convention Place station at the intersection of 9th Avenue and Pine Street near the Washington State Convention Center. Until its closure in 2018, Convention Place was the only bus-exclusive station in the tunnel, and consisted of four sheltered platforms in a sunken, open-air layover space below street level. Buses entered the tunnel from 9th Avenue and passed under the historic Camlin Hotel, before joining the University Link Tunnel used by light rail trains headed north for three blocks under Pine Street to Capitol Hill station.

The DSTT enters Westlake station under Pine Street between 3rd and 6th avenues, located between the Westlake Center shopping mall and Westlake Park. The station features a two-block-long mezzanine with exits to Pine Street and several retailers, including the Westlake Center, the former The Bon Marché flagship store, and the Nordstrom Building, as well as the former King County Metro customer service center. The area around the station is known as the Westlake Hub, with connections to the South Lake Union Streetcar and the Seattle Center Monorail as well as the King County Metro and Sound Transit buses. Leaving Westlake Station, the bored set of twin tunnels turn south under Century Square to follow 3rd Avenue and its transit mall through the central business district, parallel to the shoreline of Elliott Bay.

Three blocks south of Pine Street, buses and trains enter University Street station, located between Union and Seneca streets adjacent to Benaroya Hall and 1201 Third Avenue in the financial district. The station has a split mezzanine, with entrances to 2nd Avenue and University Street accessible from the north half, and an entrance to Seneca Street from the south half. From University Street, the tunnel continues under 3rd Avenue for five blocks, entering the Pioneer Square neighborhood and historic district. At this point, 3rd Avenue passes several of Seattle's skyscrapers, including the historic Seattle Tower, Safeco Plaza, the Fourth and Madison Building and the Wells Fargo Center. Within University Street station, the tunnel passes over the century-old Great Northern Tunnel with a clearance of 15 ft.

Pioneer Square station is located between Cherry Street and Yesler Way, with four entrances to nearby streets and Prefontaine Place serving two mezzanines. The station serves the administrative centers of the Seattle and King County governments, located within walking distance of Seattle City Hall, the Seattle Municipal Tower, the King County Courthouse and the King County Administration Building, as well as other major buildings, including Smith Tower, Columbia Center and the Alaska Building. From Pioneer Square, the tunnel travels down a 5.5% grade to cross 4.5 ft under the Great Northern Tunnel at a 45-degree angle near the intersection of 4th Avenue South and South Washington Street, briefly descending below sea level, before turning cardinal south into the International District neighborhood.

International District/Chinatown station, the southernmost tunnel station, is partially open-air and located immediately below a public plaza at Union Station. The station has connections to Amtrak and Sounder commuter rail at King Street Station a block to the west, accessible through the Weller Street Bridge, as well as the First Hill Streetcar on Jackson Street, stopping east of 5th Avenue South. Other attractions near the station include Lumen Field to the west and Uwajimaya a block to the southeast. South of the station, the light rail tracks and bus lanes were formerly separated by railway signals at an underground bus layover and staging area next to the tunnel comfort room for bus drivers. The southern portal of the tunnel is located under the intersection of Airport Way and 5th Avenue South at the western terminus of the former Interstate 90 express lanes for high-occupancy vehicles. Until bus operations ceased, southbound routes continued from the tunnel in separated lanes on the SODO Busway, while eastbound buses used a set of ramps that traveled onto the Interstate 90 express lanes. The eastbound ramps will be retrofitted for the East Link light rail service that begins in 2025 on the 2 Line.

Service

The Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel is part of the "Third Avenue Transit Spine", the busiest transit corridor in Seattle, serving a combined average of 54,000 weekday riders with bus stops on the surface. The tunnel has a theoretical capacity of 40 trains per hour per direction with a minimum of 90-second headways, carrying 22,000 passengers per hour per direction, but is only able to carry 12,000 per hour per direction in 4-car light rail vehicles with current systems in place. Prior to the start of Link light rail service, the DSTT could serve up to 145 buses during the afternoon rush hour. , the DSTT carried 52,600 daily riders, of which 10,000 are on light rail.

The tunnel carries a segment of the 1 Line, which runs from Northgate station through Downtown Seattle and the Rainier Valley, and terminates at Angle Lake station near Seattle–Tacoma International Airport. Trains serve all downtown tunnel stations 20 hours a day every day; during regular weekday service, trains run roughly every six to 10 minutes during rush hour and midday operation, respectively, with longer headways of 15 minutes in the early morning and 20 minutes at night. During weekends, 1 Line trains arrive every 10 minutes during midday hours and every 15 minutes during mornings and evenings. Light rail service from Westlake to International District/Chinatown takes approximately seven minutes.

Prior to the cessation of bus service in March 2019, the DSTT was served by seven bus routes that stopped at all four tunnel stations as well as stops near the former Convention Place station. At each station, bus routes were divided into three bays labeled with their general direction. Bay A was served by three routes heading north toward Northgate and the University District and east to Kirkland via State Route 520; Bay C was served by three routes heading south through the SODO Busway toward the Rainier Valley and Renton; and Bay D was served by a single route, Sound Transit Express route 550, heading east to Mercer Island and Bellevue via Interstate 90.

During closures of the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel, tunnel buses were rerouted onto 2nd and 4th Avenues between Yesler Way and Pine Street, and Stewart Street and Olive Way between 2nd and Boren Avenues. Metro also runs a special route, the Route 97 Link Shuttle, between all Link light rail stations during service disruptions.

Operations
The DSTT is open for 20 hours on weekdays and Saturdays, from 5:00 am to 1:00 am the following day, and for 18 hours on Sundays, from 6:00 am to midnight. At the time of its opening in 1990, the Metro Bus Tunnel only operated from 5:00 am to 7:00 pm on weekdays and 10:00 am to 6:00 pm on Saturdays, with no Sunday service; the operating hours were temporarily extended into weekday nights from 1998 to 2000 at the request of the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners, but were cut after the passage of Initiative 695 and subsequent loss of motor vehicle excise tax revenue. Preparations for Link light rail service restored late-night and full weekend hours for the tunnel, introduced in June 2009 after Sound Transit Express route 550 moved all of its trips into the tunnel.

Coordination between trains in the tunnel is managed by the Link Light Rail Operations Control Center (OCC), located at the King County Metro Communication and Control Center in SoDo. The OCC controls vehicle movements (and formerly operations between buses and trains) by using on-board radio-frequency identification tags installed on tunnel buses and light rail vehicles, their locations tracked by passing over induction loops embedded in the tunnel roadway. Signals at each station indicate when a driver can proceed through the tunnel. Within the DSTT, speed limits are set at 15 mph in stations and staging areas and 30 mph between stations. During joint operations, Light rail trains and buses were required to wait in the tunnels between stations until the platform was cleared of vehicles ahead; buses were mandated to keep a minimum of six seconds of separation between each other.

During joint bus–rail operations, two types of vehicles were used in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel: Sound Transit's Kinkisharyo-Mitsui light rail vehicles and King County Metro's New Flyer diesel-electric hybrid buses. The New Flyer buses, dubbed "tunnel buses" by King County Metro, were ordered in 2004 to replace a fleet of Breda dual-mode electric trolleybuses whose overhead wire was to be removed in the tunnel's renovation for light rail; 59 of the dual-mode Breda coaches were converted into fully electric trolleybuses between 2004 and 2007 and moved to surface routes, where they continued to operate for more than a decade before being fully replaced in 2016. The New Flyer low-floor, 61 ft articulated buses feature a "hush mode" that allowed buses to operate solely on stored electric power within the tunnel, minimizing emissions and noise.

Previous subway proposals
Several proposals for a cut-and-cover subway tunnel under 3rd Avenue in Downtown Seattle were presented to the City of Seattle by predecessors of the Seattle Planning Commission throughout the 20th century. The first major proposal was part of urban planner Virgil Bogue's "Plan for Seattle" in 1911, as Route 1 of a proposed rapid transit network. Route 1 ran southeast on 3rd Avenue from a circular ring around a proposed civic center in the Denny Regrade neighborhood to King Street Station, paralleled to the west by a subway on 1st Avenue known as Route 17; stations on the line were to have additional entrances from department stores and other major businesses on 3rd Avenue. The plan was supported by City Engineer Reginald H. Thomson and the Municipal League among others, but opposed by businesses fearing it would shift the commercial district further north, and by the three daily newspapers published in Seattle. A special municipal election for the comprehensive plan was held on March 5, 1912, in which Seattle voters rejected it by a 10,000-vote margin.

Although Bogue's proposal was ultimately rejected, some elements of the plan were independently studied by others, including a rapid transit subway in Downtown Seattle. In 1920, City Engineer Arthur H. Dimmock published a report recommending a rapid transit system for the city of Seattle, centered around a cut-and-cover subway tunnel under 3rd Avenue from Virginia Street to Yesler Way. The line was to connect to surface and elevated lines at Dexter Avenue, Olive Way and South Jackson Street, serving the neighborhoods of Fremont, Eastlake, Capitol Hill, and North Delridge in West Seattle. The proposal, which was expected not to be acted upon for at least 15 years, gained little support, and was called a project of "purely academic interest" by Mayor Hugh M. Caldwell, who doubted that any rapid transit proposal would be seriously considered during his term. The Seattle City Planning Commission proposed its own rapid transit system in 1926, centered on an elevated line over Western Avenue with a possible parallel subway under 3rd Avenue from Yesler Way to Pike Street. The Seattle Traffic Research Commission published a report in 1928 recommending a subway under 2nd Avenue from King Street Station to Pike Street as part of a longer rapid transit line serving the University District and Fremont. In the late 1950s, the Seattle Transit Commission proposed building a rapid transit system on the existing right-of-way used by Interstate 5 between Tacoma, Seattle and Everett, with a two-station subway under 5th Avenue in Downtown Seattle.

The most significant rapid transit proposal came as part of the Forward Thrust initiatives of the late 1960s, which was centered around a downtown subway under 3rd Avenue. The subway would be fed by lines from Ballard, Lake City, the University District, Capitol Hill, Bellevue, and Renton, combining for a planned minimum headway of 1.5 minutes at rush hour, 2.5 minutes during midday, and five minutes at all other times. The stations on 3rd Avenue were to be situated at South Jackson Street and 5th Avenue South, James and Cherry streets, Seneca and Spring streets, and Pike and Pine streets, all planned to open by 1985 and operated by the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle. Seattle voters were asked to provide $385 million (equivalent to $ in dollars), to supplement a $765 million grant (equivalent to $ in  dollars) from the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA), during a municipal election on February 13, 1968, narrowly passing the bond by 50.8%, but falling short of the required 60 percent supermajority. A second attempt on May 19, 1970, with an adjusted $440 million local contribution (equivalent to $ in dollars) and $881 million federal grant (equivalent to $ in  dollars), failed to pass with only 46% approval amid a local recession caused by layoffs at Boeing; the earmarked funds intended for the Forward Thrust rapid transit project were instead allocated to Atlanta, to build its rapid transit system.

Bus tunnel proposal and approval
The concept of a downtown bus tunnel was first proposed in 1974 during discussions between Governor Dan Evans and Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman about regional transportation projects in response to the proposed extension of Interstate 90 into Seattle via a third floating bridge crossing Lake Washington. Metro Transit later commissioned a study into the bus tunnel, released the following July, which determined that it would not be able to adequately meet the rush hour demand of downtown bus ridership by 1980. The study suggested that a double-decked tunnel with automated guideway transit to complement bus service, running from Union Station to the Seattle Center, would be able to meet projected demand at an estimated cost of $450 million. Ultimately, the plan was rejected because of the high cost of ventilation for diesel buses that would use the tunnel. The bus tunnel proposal resurfaced in 1979, outlining a tunnel from South Jackson Street to Pine Street that would carry 200 buses an hour in each direction at a cost of up to $350 million with the option of conversion for electric rail transit in the future. The tunnel was suggested by Metro officials and engineering consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff as a solution to worsening downtown traffic, and was better received than alternative concepts. The proposal gained further support from Metro Transit in its long-term "Metro 1990" plan, adopted in 1981, as a transit mall or tunnel under 3rd Avenue carrying buses that could be converted for a light rail system. The Puget Sound Council of Governments (PSCOG), a regional planning agency, endorsed Metro Transit's proposal and integrated the tunnel into its proposed light rail line connecting Seattle to Snohomish County.

The Metro Transit Committee debated the inclusion of the bus tunnel in the project's environmental impact assessment well into 1983, Seattle members opposing the tunnel in favor of a transit mall and suburban members supporting a bus tunnel that would be converted to a light rail system. On September 22, UMTA requested that a preferred alternative be declared by the end of November, which prompted the Metro Council to expedite its decision. Metro Council Executive Director Neil Peterson favored the tunnel alternative, while the Seattle City Council and Mayor Charles Royer preferred the transit mall, but stated that a tunnel would be a long-term solution to downtown congestion. The Seattle City Council reversed its decision on their preferred alternative, voting unanimously on October 17 in favor of an electric-only transit tunnel. Along with Mayor Royer, they were willing to compromise on Peterson's proposed dual-mode buses to serve suburban commuters where trolleybuses were not feasible. The Metro Council approved the downtown bus tunnel by a unanimous vote on November 3, 1983, estimating a cost of $300 million to build a five-station tunnel under 3rd Avenue and Pine Street to be completed in 1989 along with the conversion of 3rd Avenue into a landscaped transit mall.

Planning, funding and design
Metro unveiled its preliminary plans for the bus tunnel in January 1984, selecting five sites for stations along 3rd Avenue and Pine Street: at Union Station, the King County Courthouse, between Seneca and Union streets, at the Westlake Mall, and near the Washington State Convention Center. The Burlington Northern Railroad opposed Metro's preference for the tunnel to cross the existing Great Northern Tunnel by going under it, the agency stating that passing over would require a cut-and-cover tunnel that would disrupt City Hall Park. The following month, Metro announced that it would use a fleet of 200 dual-mode buses for the first decade of tunnel operations, with an eventual switch to subway trains. The bored tunnel would be able to carry 180 buses an hour in each direction, serving either a wide island platform or two smaller side platforms that would be dug out from the surface. In April, Metro published the draft environmental impact statement for the tunnel project, estimating a cost of $387 million (equivalent to $ million in dollars) and a completion date of June 1989. The cost of the project drew criticism at public hearings for using a significant portion of Metro's capital budget, a total of $840 million from sales tax revenue approved by voters in 1980, as well as potential disruption to business during the cut-and-cover construction of the stations and Pine Street segment of the tunnel.

UMTA ranked Metro's bus tunnel project as first among transit projects favored to receive federal funding in 1985, despite its reliance on unproven dual-mode buses. Metro tested a prototype Renault PER 180 dual-mode trolleybus in 1983, describing it as problematic after finding it exceeded freeway axle load limits by 2 ST and having to replace several parts after several mechanical failures. Congress later appropriated $20 million to the City of Seattle for the bus tunnel project in October 1984, allowing for right-of-way acquisition to begin, but the funds were withheld until restrictions on new transit projects were lifted by the United States Senate the following May.

The Downtown Transit Project subcommittee unanimously approved Metro recommendations that would reduce the number of bus tunnel stations from six to five, saving $35 million, as well as opting for tunnel boring machines for the 3rd Avenue segment to minimize surface-level disruptions that would be present from cut-and-cover excavation. Stations would be located at Union Station south of Jackson Street, under 3rd Avenue and James Street, under 3rd Avenue and University Street, at the Westlake Mall and at 9th Avenue and Pine Street near the Washington State Convention Center. The Metro Council approved the station sites and use of tunnel-boring machines in July 1985, proceeding with final design by approving a $25.9 million contract with Parsons Brinckerhoff for engineering work related to the project.

In March 1986, the federal government offered Metro a contract committing $195 million in UMTA funding toward the bus tunnel, requiring that a decision on whether to move forward with the project be made by December 31. A month later, the King County Council asked Metro to consider delaying construction of the bus tunnel while waiting for assurance on federal funding being able to cover half of the $395 million cost of the project; the council was scheduled to begin awarding contracts for utility relocation along 3rd Avenue and Pine Street in preparation for tunnel construction. On May 15, the Reagan administration signed a contract with Metro to commit $197 million of the $395 million required for the bus tunnel project, assuming re-authorization of a mass transit grant program by Congress, while also extending the deadline for a final decision to September 1987. Hours later, the Metro Council awarded the first construction contract for utility relocation, with construction set to begin in July. The Metro Council accepted the UMTA contract during their June 5 meeting, allowing for bidding on tunnel construction to begin. The tunnel construction contract was awarded to the joint venture of Guy F. Atkinson Construction and Dillingham Construction in late September for $44.16 million, beating seven competing bids with an estimate far lower than the approximately $61 million predicted by Metro engineers. The contract for the dual-mode trolleybuses was awarded by the Metro Council to Breda Costruzioni Ferroviarie in October, consisting of an order for 236 buses at a cost of $133 million (equivalent to $ million in dollars); it was approved by UMTA in November.

Construction

Construction on the bus tunnel project began with partial closures of 3rd Avenue in July 1986 for utility relocation, narrowing traffic to one lane in either direction and restricting traffic to buses and emergency vehicles during rush hour. To prepare for extended periods of service disruption on 3rd Avenue, Metro Transit also moved its electric trolleybus routes onto 1st Avenue.

Excavation of the 3rd Avenue tunnel segment began with the ceremonial launch of the "Mighty Mole", a 140 ST, 129 ft tunnel boring machine (TBM), on March 6, 1987. The TBM, designed by Robbins Company of Kent, Washington, and built by Nicholson Manufacturing in Seattle, began digging the western tunnel from Union Station the following May. A second, identical "Mighty Mole" TBM began digging the parallel eastern tunnel on June 29. During tunnel boring under 3rd Avenue between Spring Street and Madison Street on October 21, a small earthflow damaged a water main and caused pavement on 3rd Avenue to drop 8 in, shutting down water in the nearby Seattle City Light and 1001 Fourth Avenue Plaza buildings. While repairing the broken water main, electricians working on damaged high-voltage cables caused a small power outage that affected eight downtown buildings on the night of October 28, but were able to restore power by the following morning. Work on the western tunnel was briefly interrupted in November, when the TBM hit an unexpectedly large pocket of loose sand under Madison Street that had to be stabilized with grout to prevent damage to the adjacent Seattle City Light building. Boring on both tunnels was stopped in early January 1988, when a pocket of wet sand was encountered 300 ft before the planned 90-degree turn onto Pine Street. Metro and tunnel contractors Atkinson/Dillingham, who had scheduled tunnel excavation for completion in mid-January, closed 3rd Avenue between Pike and Pine streets and installed 40 drilled wells to remove water from the sand pocket in February. Digging resumed on the western tunnel on March 14, and the TBM reached Westlake station on April 9, completing the first of the two tunnels. The eastern tunnel was completed a month later on May 18, allowing for parts of the TBMs to be salvaged and the steel outer shells to be buried in the tunnel.

The Pine Street segment of the tunnel was planned to be dug cut-and-cover from the surface. In preparation for utility relocation work on Pine Street, Metro moved 36 bus routes serving the corridor to other east–west streets in February 1987. On April 27, excavation of the tunnel began with the closure of Pine Street, and its offramp to Interstate 5, to automobile traffic between 3rd Avenue and Boren Avenue. Workers finished digging in late August, allowing the project to progress to concrete pouring for the roadway. Pine Street was briefly re-opened for the Christmas shopping season beginning November 1 at the request of downtown merchants, with a temporary surface laid over backfill for automobiles and pedestrians. On January 4, the street was closed to automobile traffic once again, along with the intersection of 5th Avenue and Pine Street and the Pike Street offramp of I-5, to install utility lines and a permanent roadway. Pine Street was fully reopened to traffic on November 1, 1988, coinciding with the completion of Westlake Park and the Westlake Center shopping mall, a year ahead of schedule.

By October 1988, Metro reported that 53% of major construction was complete and anticipated that the tunnel would be completed in May 1990 and opened for service in September 1990. Seattle Mayor Norm Rice and City Council members Paul Kraabel and George Benson recommended a limited opening of the tunnel for the 1990 Goodwill Games to be held in July, but Metro rejected the proposal so that the safety systems of the tunnel could be tested adequately before service began. Testing in the bus tunnel began with a ceremonial first run on March 15, 1989, first with a diesel bus and then one of the Breda dual-mode trolleybuses operating in diesel mode, as the overhead trolley wires had not yet been installed. Wooden planks and steel plates covered slots in the concrete roadway where rails would be installed later. Local media were given a tour the next day. By January 1990, the tunnel stations were declared "nearly complete", with only minor work still left for contractors. Murals and other interactive art installations were placed in the nearly complete stations from December 1989 onward, as part of a $1.5 million arts program. Tunnel construction was finished on June 7, 1990, leaving Metro to test safety systems and train personnel for regular service to begin in September.

The initial cost of the tunnel project was estimated in 1984 to be $334.6 million, but the final costs rose 56% over budget to a total of $468.7 million (equivalent to $ in dollars);  the project's cost overruns were blamed on unanticipated soil conditions on the approach to Pine Street from 3rd Avenue, complaints and payouts to downtown businesses disrupted by tunnel construction, and the death of an electrician during construction. Excavated dirt from the project was used as fill for runway expansion at Paine Field in nearby Everett.

South African granite scandal
A minor scandal involving the bus tunnel project emerged in late 1988, over the discovery that granite to be used by Metro in the tunnel's stations had been sourced from South Africa. The Verde Fontaine granite was quarried in South Africa, which had been under Apartheid rule at the time, but was cut and finished in Italy, allowing for it to be approved despite the Metro Council's ongoing boycott of South African goods. The Verde Fontaine granite was selected for use as benches and interior walls in Westlake and Pioneer Square stations by architecture firm TRA; Metro was unaware that Verde Fontaine was only quarried in South Africa. The granite's origin was discovered by an activist from the Black Contractors Coalition in late 1988, who notified Metro and members of the Metro Council. Metro determined that replacing the 24,000 sqft of granite would cost $500,000 and delay both stations but would not delay the planned 1990 opening and would be covered by contingency funds in the project's budget.

During a press conference on January 25, 1989, Metro Director Alan Gibbs confirmed that the granite had been quarried in South Africa and announced that an investigative report would be delivered to the Metro Council Transit Committee the following week. The announcement was met with calls from King County Councilman Ron Sims to fire the responsible Metro officials who knowingly allowed the purchase. Metro's ban on South African goods was stricter than the federal sanctions, which only prohibited importation of specific materials such as steel, coal, uranium and agricultural products, and was used by UMTA to threaten to pull its funding for the bus tunnel project.

A report by the Metro Council Rules Committee delivered in March stated that the granite's origin was discovered in early 1988, and was authorized by tunnel superintendent David Kalberer with the assumption that only a small amount would be used to furnish University Street station. Kalberer, who received praise for his work on the project before the scandal, admitted that the failure to consult the Metro Council's tunnel subcommittee before signing off on the deal was his mistake. Metro Director Alan Gibbs resigned on February 23 as a result of the scandal and was succeeded by technical director Richard Sandaas in September. The granite was rejected by Metro and was returned to the supplier in Italy.

Before this discovery, in September 1987, African-American rights groups had forced tunnel contractor Atkinson/Dillingham to return 36 steel beams from South Africa used for temporary shoring at Pioneer Square station. This led Metro Director Alan Gibbs to propose a ban on South African materials by Metro for its projects, which was adopted by a resolution of the Metro Council on September 17.

Opening and bus-only operation
Regular service in the bus tunnel began on September 15, 1990, on five routes serving the University District, North Seattle, and Renton. The limited service was the result of delays in the manufacturing of dual-mode buses from Breda, which were fully delivered in 1991. The opening was preceded by soft openings of each individual station, beginning with Westlake station in August 1989, and ending with Convention Place station the day before the beginning of service. A ceremonial walk and run was held on September 9, 1990, and attracted 5,000 participants.

In its first year of operations, the bus tunnel carried 28,000 daily passengers on 688 scheduled bus trips. The tunnel reduced the number of buses operated on 3rd Avenue at peak hours from 190 to 86, with 20 Metro routes using the tunnel. The Seattle Times called it a "qualified success", commenting that the tunnel was like a "mini-subway system". The paper's editorial board also requested that Metro expand tunnel hours to keep buses running for late-night workers and entertainment events held on weekends. On December 9, 1991, the SODO Busway opened, extending bus service from the tunnel into SODO and moving southbound routes off Interstate 5. Direct access from Interstate 90 to the bus tunnel was opened in February 1992 as part of a reversible express lane system for the new floating bridge.

The first use of the tunnel by Sound Transit buses began on September 18, 1999, with the takeover of Metro's Seattle–Bellevue express route, which was renumbered from 226 to 550. To operate buses in the tunnel, Sound Transit leased 20 dual-mode buses from Metro, repainted them in the agency's colors, and contracted with Metro to operate the route along with other Sound Transit Express routes in King County.

Renovation for light rail

From the outset, the bus tunnel was intended to be converted for light rail trains at some point in the future. Metro approved the addition of tracks to the bus tunnel in 1988, appropriating half of the $5 million used to install them during tunnel construction, the remainder coming from federal sources. To save $1.5 million in costs, Metro eliminated most of the rail's electrical insulation, which would later render them unusable for rail service.

A regional transit authority was formed in the early 1990s to build and operate a light rail system that would use the bus tunnel within Downtown Seattle. The authority, later named Sound Transit, gained voter approval in November 1996 to build a $3.9 billion system between Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, Downtown Seattle, and the University District. In 1998, Sound Transit found that the rails in the tunnel would need to be replaced at a cost of up to $110 million and require a full closure for two years. The plan would also require the purchase of new hybrid electric buses to replace the Breda fleet, as the electrical systems were incompatible. Convention Place station would have to be abandoned as it was too shallow to support a northern extension under Interstate 5.

Sound Transit approved its route for the light rail project, named Central Link (now the 1 Line), in November 1999, including four of the five stations in the downtown transit tunnel (excluding Convention Place). King County Executive Ron Sims proposed transferring ownership of the tunnel, along with $130 million in debt and liabilities for maintenance and operations, from King County Metro to Sound Transit in 2004. The two agencies signed an agreement in May 2000 that formally transferred ownership and responsibility for the tunnel to Sound Transit, in exchange for $195.6 million paid to King County Metro. Metro would retain ownership of Convention Place station and other assets, while Sound Transit would convert the tunnel to rail operation after 2004.

Sound Transit underwent a funding crisis in 2001 after the Central Link light rail project was found to be over budget and would not be able to open until 2009, three years later than planned. The light rail project was truncated to Westlake station in Downtown Seattle and to Tukwila, the sections north of downtown and south to the airport being deferred to a later date. The King County Council called for a new agreement to be negotiated with Sound Transit adding requirements for an adopted plan for light rail service to Northgate, and for a study into new riders that light rail would bring to the tunnel over a conventional bus network. In early 2002, Sound Transit also explored, and ultimately rejected, a proposal to build a parallel, rail-only tunnel under 5th Avenue that would cost $1 billion.

Sound Transit and the King County Council signed a new joint-operations agreement in June 2002, leaving King County Metro as owners of the tunnel and Sound Transit responsible for paying part of the tunnel's debt service at an estimated cost of $65 million. The agreement would allow for buses and light rail trains to share the tunnel and its stations beginning in 2009, after a two-year closure for renovations. A separate agreement signed in May 2003 selected King County Metro as the operator of the light rail line.

Metro began testing a fleet of new hybrid diesel-electric buses in 2002, intending to use them in the bus tunnel before and after the conversion to joint bus-rail operations. The first few of a planned fleet of 235 hybrid diesel-electric articulated buses began operating on tunnel bus routes in June 2004. The Breda dual-mode trolleybuses were removed from the tunnel in January 2005 and would later be refurbished into electric-only trolleybuses for use on the city's trolleybus network. The last day of trolleybus operation in the tunnel was January 24, 2005, with only a single dual-mode bus in service on the final day.

In February 2004, Sound Transit announced that it would begin the closure and renovation of the bus tunnel in September 2005, two years earlier than scheduled, to save money and reduce construction delays. Construction of a stub tunnel under Pine Street near Convention Place station, to be used for light rail train storage and turnback, as well as a future extension to Capitol Hill, began in January 2005. The bus tunnel was closed on September 24, 2005, moving the tunnel's 21 routes and 140 buses per hour to surface streets. 3rd Avenue was converted to a "transit-priority corridor" during peak periods, restricting general traffic to one-block travel.

The $82.7 million construction contract for the transit tunnel renovation was awarded to Balfour Beatty in August 2004, 12 percent below Sound Transit's estimates. The majority of the cost was paid by Sound Transit and supplemented by $8.1 million from King County Metro. As part of the renovations, the tunnel's roadway was lowered by 8 in to allow for level boarding, required by the Americans with Disabilities Act; as a result, Metro added strobe lights to bus mirrors, which were lowered to head height, and added warning signs. New electrical, mechanical, and emergency systems were installed, along with a new communications system connecting to a joint-operations center. The project ended up costing $94 million in total, 3.4 percent over the budget set in 2004. During the closure, Metro found that average travel time through downtown increased only 11 percent during the afternoon peak period, and ridership on popular routes only dropped slightly.

Joint bus and train operations
The tunnel reopened to service on September 24, 2007, with tunnel routes modified to group common destinations together. Initially, the reopened tunnel was in use only on weekdays, with Saturday operation not yet reinstated. Stations were given new entrance signs, lighting fixtures, electronic passenger information signs, and restored paint. The peak bus-only restrictions on 3rd Avenue remained in place after the reopening, along with the skip-stop service that Metro implemented on the street. The tunnel was temporarily closed for nine days in December after a computer glitch disrupted the tunnel's new emergency-control system, which was repaired and replaced. The tunnel had remained closed on weekends after its reopening, but Saturday operation was reinstated and Sunday operation was introduced in May 2009.

Simulated light rail testing in the tunnel also began on May 20, 2009, with two-car trains operating alongside in-service buses, making it the first joint bus and rail tunnel with stations in the United States; the Mount Washington Transit Tunnel, a joint bus and rail tunnel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had already been in operation but lacked underground stations. Service on the Central Link light rail line began on July 18, 2009, operating from Westlake station in the tunnel to Tukwila International Boulevard station near the airport. Light rail service was extended north from Westlake to University of Washington station (via Capitol Hill station) on March 19, 2016, coinciding with the moving of several bus routes out of the tunnel to accommodate increased train frequencies. The ramp from International District/Chinatown station to the Interstate 90 express lanes was closed in September 2018 as part of preparations for East Link construction.

End of bus service
In November 2015, King County Metro signed a $147 million agreement to sell Convention Place station to the Washington State Convention Center for redevelopment. The convention center plans to build a new expansion on the property, necessitating the closure of the station and transit tunnel to buses earlier than planned. In 2017, Sound Transit and the Seattle Department of Transportation announced that the tunnel would become rail-only in 2019, two years sooner than the planned switch in 2021 to coincide with the opening of the Northgate Link Extension. Convention Place station was permanently closed on July 21, 2018, and was replaced with a set of bus stops on 9th Avenue and a new tunnel access ramp.

Bus service in the tunnel ended on March 23, 2019, with a ceremonial trip by a preserved Breda dual-mode bus at 1 a.m. The remaining 830 bus trips through the tunnel, serving approximately 37,000 riders on seven routes, were redirected onto surface corridors on 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th avenues. Metro and the city government also increased surface street capacity for buses by introducing all-door boarding for all 3rd Avenue and Westlake Avenue routes at 31 stops, improving signal timing, and adding a new northbound bus lane on 5th and 6th avenues.

During early 2020, Sound Transit built connections to East Link at International District/Chinatown station. Over a ten-week period that began in January 2020, four-car trains ran on a single track within the tunnel, with through-passengers transferring at Pioneer Square station via a temporary center platform, reducing frequency to 13–15 minutes. The tunnel was also closed for four weekends until work was completed in late March, after a week-long delay in testing. Frequency restrictions brought on by the project remained due to the coronavirus pandemic and local shutdowns. Sound Transit originally planned to assume full ownership of the tunnel in 2020, but later delayed plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic and issues with station escalators. The 36 escalators serving the downtown tunnel stations, which suffered from breakdowns and lengthy repairs, are planned to be repaired under a new contractor to replace Kone. Sound Transit took over maintenance operations on January 1, 2021, and signed a contract with Schindler Group.

Sound Transit ownership
The full transfer of ownership was approved by Sound Transit on October 27, 2022, at no cost due to an agreement with Metro to pay off $87 million of remaining debt incurred from its construction. As part of the transfer, $96 million was budgeted for upgrades to elevators and escalators, fixing utilities and station elements, and cleaning soiled artwork. In September 2022, ORCA card readers were removed from the platforms and new signage and tactile markings added for fare paid zones. Sound Transit plans to replace all 58 escalators and elevators in the transit tunnel over a nine-year period beginning in 2023 at a cost of $134 million. In addition to wear and age, some pieces of equipment are also due for replacement because of flooding and rainwater seepage. , 56 of the 58 elevators and escalators in the tunnel stations are in operation.

The tunnel was retrofitted from January to February 2024 to replace 500 ft of northbound track in the curve between University Street and Westlake stations where the rails in the track had drifted apart by 1/8 in. Other tunnel work, including the replacement of 58 bond boxes for signaling between the tracks, was also undertaken during the project, which had single-track service on weekdays and a full closure of the downtown section on weekends. The first week of the project resulted in crowding on station platforms and delays exceeding the scheduled 26-minute frequency for single-tracking trains.

title: Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel


text:
King of Kensington

King of Kensington is a Canadian television sitcom which aired on CBC Television from 1975 to 1980.

Synopsis
Al Waxman starred as Larry King, a convenience store owner in Toronto's Kensington Market who was known for helping friends and neighbours solve problems. His multicultural group of friends consisted of Nestor Best (Ardon Bess), Max (John J. Dee), and Tony "Duke" Zarro (Bob Vinci), who hung around regularly to the perennial disapproval of King's mother Gladys (Helene Winston).

For the first three seasons, Fiona Reid played his wife Cathy. At the end of the third season, Reid decided to leave the series, so Larry and Cathy divorced. Larry then dated Tina (Rosemary Radcliffe) in the fourth season and Gwen Twining (Jayne Eastwood) in the fifth. At the same time, Larry sold the convenience store and took a new job with a youth community centre.

Production
The show was created by Perry Rosemond, who also produced the first season. Other producers included Jack Humphrey (1976–1980) and Joe Partington (1978–1980). The original series pilot starred Paul Hecht and Sandra O'Neill as Larry and Cathy King, although the series was recast with Waxman and Reid by the time the show went into production.

The series featured many Canadian actors as guest stars, including Andrea Martin, Mike Myers, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Jeff Wincott and Mark Humphrey. The show was popular with viewers; prior to the start of the fourth season, one of the producers noted the show drew 1.5 to 1.8 million viewers weekly.

The show's gentle but politically conscious humour is seen by some critics as a Canadian version of the topical Norman Lear sitcoms of the 1970s, such as All in the Family and Maude. The series maintained a tight production schedule, with episodes sometimes airing just one week or less after they were filmed, so that topical jokes about current news stories could be incorporated into the scripts.

The series was syndicated to some American stations during the height of its popularity.

After King of Kensington ended in 1980, many of the producers went on to create the new CBC sitcom Hangin' In, while head writer Louis Del Grande went on to create and star in Seeing Things, and Waxman was cast in the American series Cagney & Lacey.

Cast

 * Al Waxman as Larry King
 * Helene Winston as Gladys King
 * Fiona Reid as Cathy King (1975–1978)
 * Ardon Bess as Nestor Best (1975–1978)
 * Bob Vinci as Tony "Duke" Zarro (1975–1978)
 * John J. Dee as Max (1975–1978)
 * Jayne Eastwood as Gwen Twining (1978–1980)
 * Peter Boretski as Jack Soble (1978–1980)
 * Robert Haley as Ron Bacon (1978–1980)
 * Rosemary Radcliffe as Tina (1978–1980)
 * Linda Rennhofer as Dorothy (1978–1980)

Tributes
In the SCTV episode "CCCP1-Russian television", one of the fake TV programs infiltrating the network is Hey Giorgy, about "everyone's favorite Cossack", intended as a Russian knockoff of King of Kensington.

In the first episode of the 1990s television series Twitch City, also set in Kensington, the character Nathan (played by Daniel MacIvor) was sent to prison for killing a homeless man with a can of cat food. The producers of Twitch City cast Al Waxman in the role of the murder victim, as a symbolic wink to King of Kensington, although they claimed that they did not intend for the character to be seen as Larry King himself.

In the late 1990s, This Hour Has 22 Minutes featured a sketch detailing the making of a film version of King of Kensington. In the sketch, director Atom Egoyan (played by Greg Thomey), re-imagines the series as a surreal crime thriller, with Larry King as a serial killer instead of a convenience store owner.

Following Waxman's death on January 18, 2001, a memorial to him was erected in Kensington Market.

In one episode of the Canadian comedy program Puppets Who Kill, the character Bill steals Al Waxman's preserved brain from CBC headquarters.

Home media
On November 13, 2007, Morningstar Entertainment released King of Kensington – Season One on DVD in Region 1.

title: King of Kensington


text:
Altamont Corridor Express

The Altamont Corridor Express (also known as ACE, formerly Altamont Commuter Express) is a commuter rail service in California, connecting Stockton and San Jose during peak hours only. ACE is named for the Altamont Pass, through which it runs. Service is managed by the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission, and operations are contracted to Herzog Transit Services. The 86 mi route includes ten stops, with travel time about 2 hours and 12 minutes end-to-end. In, the line had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of. ACE uses Bombardier BiLevel Coaches, MPI F40PH-3C locomotives, and Siemens Charger locomotives.

Service began on October 19, 1998, with two weekday round trips. A third round trip was added in May 2001, followed by a fourth round trip in October 2012. Saturday service commenced in September 2019. , average weekday ridership was 5,900.

The tracks are owned by Union Pacific Railroad, previously built along the Western Pacific Railroad main line. Under the ACEforward program, a number of improvements to the service are being considered. These include a rerouted line through Tracy, an extension to Modesto and Merced, and connections to BART at Union City and Tri-Valley.

Planning
By the 1980s, three rapidly growing areas in California – Silicon Valley, the Tri-Valley, and the San Joaquin Valley – were poorly connected by public transit, as Interstate 580 and Interstate 680 became more congested. Commuting from the San Joaquin Valley or the Tri-Valley to Silicon Valley required using a car or limited bus service.

In 1989, the San Joaquin Council of Governments, Stockton Chamber of Commerce, and the Building Industry Association of the Delta started work on a 20-year transportation plan for the northern section of the San Joaquin Valley. In November 1990, San Joaquin County voters passed Measure K, a half-cent sales tax to fund a variety of transportation improvements. The highest-priority project was the establishment of passenger rail service to San Jose. In 1995, San Joaquin County and seven cities along the route formed the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission (SJRRC) to oversee the creation of the service. In May 1997, the Altamont Commuter Express Joint Powers Authority (ACE JPA) was formed by the SJRRC, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), and Alameda Congestion Management Agency (ACMA). That agreement formalized financial support, administrative processes, and governance for the rail service. The operation is funded by a variety of state and federal sources, largely sales tax revenue collected by the three JPA signatories, while farebox revenues account for about one-third of costs.

Cost sharing for capital projects, excluding stations, during the initial 36 months of service was determined by the JPA on a case-by-case basis and approved by each of the member agencies. The initial purchase of rolling stock, construction of stations, and other start-up costs, amounting to some $48 million, were covered primarily by Measure K funds. Station improvements are the responsibility of the county in which the station is located. ACE pays the Union Pacific Railroad about $1.5 million per year to use their tracks. ACE trains also use about 4 miles of Caltrain track in San Jose. Service began on October 19, 1998, with two daily round trips running to San Jose in the morning and Stockton in the evening.

Service expansion
The original service used two trainsets, each with four bilevel coach cars, for a total seated capacity of 1,120 passengers in each direction daily. In September 1999, less than a year after opening, the service reached 1,000 daily riders per direction, near full capacity.

With that success, the agency wanted to add additional runs. To enable more trains on the line, ACE funded $3 million in track improvements, but the limited amount of equipment allowed ACE to add only a morning "short turn" run between San Jose and Pleasanton. This "turn-back train" started service on February 21, 2000, and gave Pleasanton and Fremont a third inbound train to alleviate the crowding on the two earlier trains. Even with the added capacity, by early 2001 ACE was regularly carrying more than 700 daily standees.

ACE purchased additional equipment, allowing the "turn-back train" to operate to Lathrop/Manteca station, nearly the full length of the route, beginning on March 5, 2001; trains also began stopping at Santa Clara station. Although the third train added 560 seats in each direction, it brought an immediate increase of 380 daily riders.

ACE then planned to add a fourth round trip later in the year, with fifth and sixth round trips by 2006. However, by late 2001, the deepening dot-com recession was severely hurting ridership, and expansion plans were put on hold. On June 30, 2003, the ACE JPA was dissolved in favor of a Cooperative Services Agreement between the three member agencies.

On January 6, 2003, ACE introduced the Stockton Solution Shuttle, allowing Stockton passengers to use the ACE trip which terminated at Lathrop/Manteca. The trip was extended to Stockton on August 1, 2005. At that time, service to Santa Clara was suspended to allow for the construction of a second platform and pedestrian tunnel at the station.

On August 28, 2006, ACE added a fourth round trip, which operated midday using one of the existing trainsets. On November 7, 2006, San Joaquin County voters approved a 20-year extension of Measure K. Suffering from reducing funding due to the Great Recession, ACE cut the lightly used midday trip on November 2, 2009. On May 14, 2012, ACE restored service to Santa Clara station. On October 1, 2012, a fourth rush-hour round trip was added, running approximately one hour after existing trips.

Altamont Corridor Express
In December 2012, the service was rebranded from Altamont Commuter Express to Altamont Corridor Express to reflect plans for a broader scope of service.

In March 2014, ACE opened a $65 million, 121000 sqft maintenance facility in Stockton. On July 1, 2015, management and governance of the San Joaquin passed from Caltrans to the new San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority. The SJJPA has nominal control over the SJRRC, but delegates all responsibility over ACE to the SJRRC.

On March 7, 2016, an ACE train was derailed by a mudslide in Niles Canyon near Sunol. The front car plunged into the rain-swollen Alameda Creek. Fourteen passengers were injured, but there were no fatalities.

ACE received Road Repair and Accountability Act funds in order to initiate Saturday service in January 2018, with two Saturday round trips added in September 2019.

Future plans
In association with the California High-Speed Rail project, the ACE line is planned to be dramatically upgraded and expanded. Beginning around 2008, initial plans called for the Altamont Corridor Rail Project to produce a high speed rail "Super ACE" capable of halving the travel time between the endpoints.

As the high-speed rail project was scaled back and rerouted to Pacheco Pass several years later, these plans were replaced with the more modest ACEforward program. The San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission issued a notice of intent to proceed with an Environmental Impact Statement in June 2013; this was released in 2017 and prioritized goals as either long term or short term. Short term goals included track improvements, a possible reroute through downtown Tracy including new stations, a West Tracy station, and a new extension to Modesto in addition to additional daily round trips. Long term goals included upgrades to the existing corridor to allow as many as 10 daily round trips, extension to Merced and electrification of the line from Stockton to San Jose.

Also under studied were possible connections with BART at Union City or the Tri-Valley via traditional ACE rail, diesel multiple units, or bus bridges. This connection is planned to be facilitated by the Tri-Valley–San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority.

Altamont Corridor Vision
The state senate allocated $400 million in revenue from a gas tax increase to ACEforward expansion. ACE was awarded $500.5 million in April 2018 for expanded service to Ceres and Sacramento to provide more rail service and connections within the Central Valley. Service is expected to begin from Ceres by 2023 with interim bus bridge service to Merced until that segment of Union Pacific right-of-way is upgraded. Four trains will depart Ceres in the mornings, and one train may make the complete run to San Jose with others transferring passengers at North Lathrop.

By 2019, the plan had come to be called the Altamont Corridor Vision, with an expected price of $9.7 billion, allowing ACE to run up to six weekday round trips in 2023 with the goal of ten weekday round trips once additional track infrastructure is completed. ACE and the Tri-Valley–San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority sought funding to construct a shared tunnel under Altamont pass in order to speed service and increase reliability. The Union Pacific right of way between Ceres and Lathrop will be double tracked to facilitate passenger service. platforms are being extended to accommodate longer trains.

Valley Rail
Valley Rail is the project to route ACE and Amtrak San Joaquins along the little-used Sacramento Subdivision between Stockton and Sacramento. Six new stations would be constructed along the line with a layover facility at Natomas. Trains would run the length of the line from Natomas to San Jose or Ceres with a midday short turn to Stockton. A Draft Environmental Impact Statement was released in 2020, with services expected to begin no later than 2023. The North Elk Grove station was eliminated from planning in September 2020. The project received funding via California's Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program in 2023, by which time the project was expected to open in phases beginning in 2025. Later that year, the estimated commencement of service to Ceres and Natomas were again pushed back to 2026, with service to Merced and infill stations opening by 2030.

Service
, ACE operated four round trips per weekday in the peak rush hour directions – westbound (to San Jose) in the morning and eastbound (to Stockton) in the evening. Trains were scheduled to make the 85 mile one-way trip in 2 hours 12 minutes, an average speed of 39 mph.

ACE did not operate on weekends or major holidays until September 7, 2019, when two Saturday round trips were added.

Route
From San Jose to just north of Santa Clara, ACE uses the Caltrain main line (Peninsula Subdivision), shared with Caltrain and Amtrak service. From Santa Clara to Stockton – the majority of the route – ACE runs on Union Pacific Railroad freight lines. From Santa Clara to Newark, ACE uses the Coast Subdivision, then the Niles Subdivision to Niles. From Niles to Lathrop, the line uses the Oakland Subdivision. From Lathrop to Stockton, the line uses the Fresno Subdivision.

The route runs through Niles Canyon, parallel to the Niles Canyon Railway, Highway 84, and the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct. The line passes through a 0.75 mi long tunnel which cuts off one of the canyon's horseshoes. This tunnel was modified from its original configuration to accommodate intermodal double-stack freight trains. However, this left the track in poor condition, reducing speeds from 45 mi/h to 25 mi/h in the summer and as low as 10 mi/h during the rainy season. The San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission plans to rehabilitate the tunnel.

East of Pleasanton and Livermore, the line runs through the Altamont Pass on the original Feather River Route. After crossing the California Aqueduct and the Delta-Mendota Canal into the Central Valley, skirting the southern edge of Tracy. It then turns north between Lathrop and Manteca and runs to Robert J. Cabral Station in Stockton.

Tickets and fares
ACE fares are distance-based and available in one-way, round trip, 10 trip, 20 trip, and monthly passes. Unlike many of the other commuter rail services on the West Coast, ACE does not have ticket machines at stations. Passengers are encouraged to use the railroad's mobile ticketing app, but paper tickets can be purchased from agents at all stations except Vasco Road and the Santa Clara Transit Center. Also, unlike many other transit services in the Bay Area, ACE does not accept the Clipper Card.

Rolling stock
ACE operates push-pull trains with one to two diesel locomotives and four to eight bilevel coach cars. Trains typically operate with the locomotive(s) leading westbound and the cab car leading eastbound.

ACE has ordered 17 additional Bombardier BiLevel cars (5 cab cars and 12 coaches). Deliveries were expected to begin sometime in 2021. The entire fleet of Bombardier bilevel coach cars and MPI F40PH-3C locomotives will be rebuilt, overhauled, and repainted to have a matching paint. They will then continue to operate along with the newer Siemens Charger SC-44 locomotives, which entered service in 2020.

title: Altamont Corridor Express


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