Selection and design of the electrification of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge railway

THE San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was built by the State of California not only for heavy automobile traffic but also to benefit the 30,000,000 suburban railway passengers per year who are now transported across San Francisco Bay by passenger ferry boats belonging to the railway companies. The railway passengers, who are practically all commuters living in the east-bay cities and working in San Francisco, board the electric trains on branch lines near their homes and are taken to the piers by rail. They then transfer to the ferry boats which require about 20 minutes to cross the bay to the ferry building in San Francisco where the passengers disembark and walk or take street cars to their places of business. When the Bridge Railway is completed, passengers will board the electric trains near their homes in the east-bay cities and will be transported by rail, without transfer, to the new railway terminal in San Francisco near the business district of the city.