page_title: South San Francisco station (Caltrain)
section_title: Current status
hierarchical_section_title: South San Francisco station (Caltrain) / History / Current status
caption_attribution_description: English: The "hold-out rule" South San Francisco station in July 2018 - the southbound train in the distance has to wait for the northbound train to depart, because the island platform is too narrow for a train to safely pass boarding passengers. At the time this photo was taken, a new wide platform was under construction to the south.
context_page_description: South San Francisco is a Caltrain station in South San Francisco, California, served by local and limited-stop trains. The station is on the east side of Highway 101 beneath East Grand Avenue; downtown South San Francisco is across the freeway. It is currently undergoing a substantial modernization and expansion project, scheduled to be completed in autumn 2020.
context_section_description: The station was built before the Bayshore Freeway and retains many of the aspects common to older, unmodernized stations along the Peninsula Commute; the platforms are not ADA-compliant, and riders for northbound trains must wait for the northbound train to come to a complete stop before crossing the southbound track to a narrow boarding platform between the tracks, thus requiring the so-called "hold-out" rule (GCOR 6.30)—if a train is stopped for passengers, an approaching train in the opposite direction on the other track must wait outside the station. In 2012, a southbound Baby Bullet express train passing through the station narrowly avoided striking passengers for a northbound train stopped at South San Francisco. The Baby Bullet express did not have a scheduled stop at the station and had ignored the hold-out rule. 
  South San Francisco is the only hold-out rule station with regular service on weekdays - Atherton, Broadway and College Park have limited or no weekday service - making it a bottleneck for rail traffic.
  Automobiles can reach the station by turning from Grand Avenue north on Dubuque, just east of U.S. 101, and a pedestrian staircase climbs to Grand, above the station. Several SamTrans routes run near the station on Airport Boulevard, but steep ramps and tight turns make it impossible for large buses to access the station from Dubuque. The south end of the parking lot features a large mural on the retaining wall for Grand Avenue entitled "Prometheus Brings Fire to Man" by artist Nicolai Larsen, painted in 1996.
caption: A southbound train holds outside the station while passengers board a northbound train
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