BART to Downtown San Jose and Santa Clara: What’s Planned and When

BART already reaches San Jose: the Milpitas and Berryessa/North San Jose stations opened on June 13, 2020. The next step is VTA’s BART Silicon Valley Phase II, a 6-mile, four-station extension through downtown San Jose to Santa Clara. VTA’s target for opening is the second quarter of 2037, a date its own reports mark “subject to change.” The Federal Transit Administration’s risk-adjusted date is early 2039. Here’s what’s planned, where things stand this fall, and what it means if you’re buying near a future station.

The four stations

• 28th Street/Little Portugal, San Jose. Underground, between US 101 and North 28th Street, north of East Santa Clara Street.
• Downtown San Jose. Underground on Santa Clara Street, with the entrance between Market and First streets. VTA projects it will be the busiest of the four.
• Diridon, San Jose. Underground on the south side of Santa Clara Street between Montgomery and Cahill streets, with walkways to the existing Diridon station, where Caltrain, ACE, the Capitol Corridor, VTA light rail and buses stop today.
• Santa Clara. At ground level, next to the Santa Clara Caltrain station. A maintenance yard on about 40 acres of VTA land at Newhall Yard sits beside it.

VTA will own the extension, and BART will run it, as with the first phase.

One big tunnel

Most of the line runs through a single tunnel about 5 miles long and 53 feet across, which VTA calls the first single-bore transit tunnel in the United States. The VTA board confirmed that design on October 17, 2025. The platforms are built inside the tunnel, and riders reach them through entrances set off the street, a design VTA chose over a two-tunnel plan that, news reports said, would have needed cut-and-cover excavation downtown.

Where things stand, fall 2026

• Groundbreaking. VTA broke ground at the West Portal, the tunnel’s starting point at Newhall Yard in Santa Clara, on June 14, 2024. Excavation of the launch structure there, 83.5 feet deep, was finished in early September 2026.
• The tunnel contract. In June 2025, after nearly a year of talks on cost and schedule, the VTA board voted to start backing out of its tunneling contract with Kiewit Shea Traylor. On June 26, 2026 it reversed course and approved a revised contract with the same firm, signed August 9. Pre-tunneling work was authorized August 14, with spending capped at $400 million until the board votes again.
• Tunneling. Boring is expected to begin in 2028.
• The schedule. VTA is redoing its baseline schedule, with a draft due for internal review by the end of 2026, so the 2037 target could move.

Cost and funding

The official baseline budget is $12.746 billion, set in March 2024, and VTA says a new estimate is in the works. The federal government has said it would cover up to about $5.1 billion, or 40 percent, but only once a full funding grant agreement is signed; as of August 2026, VTA listed the timing for that agreement as to be determined. The largest local shares come from Santa Clara County’s 2000 Measure A and 2016 Measure B sales taxes, with state money and regional bridge tolls filling in. VTA’s August 2026 report showed a $564 million gap still to be funded.

If you’re buying near a future station

• Construction comes first. VTA’s November 2026 update has work at the West Portal in Santa Clara running 24 hours a day, Monday through Saturday, plus utility and soil work near the Downtown and Diridon station sites. Check VTA’s monthly construction updates for the blocks you’re considering.
• The station areas are being planned. San Jose’s Diridon Station Area Plan, adopted in 2014 and amended in 2021, covers the blocks around Diridon. In June 2026 the City of Santa Clara began the environmental review for a Santa Clara Station Area Specific Plan covering 244 acres, which would allow up to 8,300 homes plus offices and shops.
• Dates move. The opening target has shifted several times since 2022. Buy a home that works with the transit that runs today, and treat the extension as a possible future plus.
• Go to the meetings. VTA’s community working groups meet November 17 (Downtown and Diridon), November 18 (28th Street/Little Portugal) and November 19 (Santa Clara), 2026.

Live near rail today

Our Homes Near BART page shows every home for sale near Berryessa/North San Jose, Milpitas and the Peninsula and San Francisco stations, live. Near the future stations, Homes Near Caltrain covers Diridon and Santa Clara, and Homes Near VTA Light Rail covers downtown. Our guides to Diridon and Delmas Park, downtown San Jose condos, Naglee Park and Santa Clara’s Old Quad cover the neighborhoods nearby.

Thinking about a home near the line? Call the Boyenga Team at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606. Commissions are negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what’s included.