San José is located about 75 km south of San Francisco, at the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay. With 930,000 inhabitants, it is the third largest city in California. The Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley) includes San José's neighbouring cities like Palo Alto, Mountain View, Santa Clara, Milpitas, Campbell. The Santa Clara County is home to some 1.8 million people.

Light rail system

- operated by Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)
- 68 km
- 62 stops with low platforms
- low-floor vehicles (manufactured by Kinki Sharyo)
- runs in the median of a freeway between Virginia and Branham, and between Blossom Hill and Cottle
- some single-track sections on Winchester leg: Diridon - Fruitdale, Bascom - Downtown Campbell; also between Downtown Mountain View and Whisman; and Ohlone/Chynoweth - Almaden shuttle;
- elevated section on the Alum Rock leg with two elevated stations, at Great Mall/Main and Montague
- elevated (single-track) station at Hamilton
- basic 15-minute headway; every 30 min during off-peak on Green Line

- opened Dec. 1987-2001: Mountain View - Milpitas; Santa Teresa - Baypointe; Ohlone/Chynoweth - Almaden (48.8 km)
23 June 2004: Alum Rock branch (Capitol extension - 10.2 km)
01 Oct 2005: Winchester branch (Vasona extension - 8.5 km)

3 lines (Tasman - Convention Center shared):

Green Line (902): Mountain View - Winchester
Blue Line (901): Alum Rock - Santa Teresa
Orange Line (900 - Almaden Shuttle): Ohlone/Chynoweth - Almaden

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA - Official Site) (Overview)

Extensive report and many photos at nysubway.org

VTA Light Rail at Wikipedia

Lightrail.com

LightRailNow