The Transbay Joint Powers Authority forecasts revenue service on 17 November 2036. Its September 2026 status report carries that date against a data date of 31 August 2026. The same report dates the award of the civil and tunnel contract at 11 February 2027.
The Portal adds 2.2 miles of rail. The alignment runs underground along Townsend and Second streets, through cut-and-cover and a mined tunnel, into the train box under the Salesforce Transit Center. Eleven transit systems connect through that building once the programme completes.
The Schedule the Agency Publishes
Target execution of the Full Funding Grant Agreement sits at July 2027. The forecast ready-for-service date held from the previous report. The agency set its baseline on June 2035 and now reports roughly 16 months of contingency consumed beyond the maximum modelled allowance.
Three dates carry the procurement. The 40-CT civil and tunnel request for proposals went out in December 2025 and drew ten addenda. Notification of the highest-scoring proposer is due 6 November 2026. Award follows on 11 February 2027.
Design status divides the packages. Utility relocation (10-UR) and building demolition (30-BD) stand at 60 percent complete. Civil and tunnel (40-CT), track and systems (50-TS) and station fit-out (60-SF) stand at 30 percent.
Where the Money Sits
The project budget is $8.255 billion, from the 2023 estimate submitted at Entry into Engineering. The agency updated its capital cost estimate in 2025 to approximately $7.572 billion. The FTA approved the scope behind that estimate in its August 2026 environmental re-evaluation. The $683 million difference stays in unallocated contingency.
The funding plan carries its own arithmetic. The FTA Capital Investment Grant line is $3,384 million, or 44.7 percent of the $7.572 billion estimate. Planned state money totals $1,303 million. Of that, $750 million is a Cycle 8 application to the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program filed on 18 May 2026, with award announcements moved from September 2026 to October 2026. The line marked Funding Gap - To be Planned reads $587 million.
A $587 million gap sits beside $683 million of unallocated contingency in one document. A seller reads a programme with room to absorb cost movement. A buyer reads a gap with no committed source.
The Parcel Calendar
Right-of-way work carries dated stages. Tranche 1 covers five parcels. Four appraisals are complete and two offers have been tendered. One appraisal package awaits the FTA's concurrence on value, expected in September 2026. The agency expects the remaining Tranche 1 stages by the second quarter of 2027.
Those stages reach the properties the tunnel passes under. A parcel inside the acquisition area has a notified buyer and a published calendar.
The Geometry a Buyer Can Price
The platform moves from Fourth and King to the Transit Center. That distance measures 1,456 meters in a straight line between the two station points.
Four hotels sit within 650 meters of the Fourth and King platform: Hyatt Place at 335 meters, The Utah Inn at 415, Luma at 455 and Hotel VIA at 460. Four sit within 650 meters of the Transit Center: The Clancy at 405 meters, the Palace at 507, the W at 576 and the St. Regis at 582.
Those distances follow from the station location and hold whatever the service date does. That is the part of the promise a buyer can underwrite today.
The Price of 2036
An award on 11 February 2027 publishes the tunnel price. The seller of a Transit Center-side parcel holds that date too. A buyer who pays for 2036 service pays for a forecast the agency has already revised once.
The defensible split runs three ways. Pay for the walk to the platform. Pay for the parcel calendar where the tunnel crosses the site. Write the 2036 date into the contract as a condition of closing.