Caltrain electrification & EMUs: steps forward & new lawsuit

[beautifulplanet]

Recently, there were several developments regarding the Caltrain commuter rail between San Francisco and San Jose/Gilroy: an important step forward regarding an upgrade to the infrastructure (electrification), about the respective future rolling stock (EMUs) and a new lawsuit regarding these plans.

Caltrain electrification and modern non-FRA-compliant EMU based on 4 door per car Stadler KISS trainset - conceptual visualization by Clem Tillier based on a photo by Yevgeny Gromov.

As was published yesterday, the city of Atherton and two non-profit groups, "Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund" and the "Community Coalition on High-Speed Rai", filed a lawsuit at San Mateo Superior Court.

Specifically, there seem to be two different reasons for the lawsuit, first about immediate environmental effects of electrification and about future effects once in 2029 California High-Speed Rail might use the electrified line as well as part of "blended system" operations:

Specifically, Atherton seeks to force CalTrain to minimize the number of trees it cuts down while installing power lines, paying for extra barriers to prevent cars from crossing the tracks, and restoring weekday service to Atherton.

[...]

Two nonprofit transportation advocacy groups joined Atherton in the lawsuit filed in San Mateo Superior Court. They fear that by 2040, CalTrain won't be able to serve any new riders because all excess capacity on the shared tracks will go to bullet trains.

source:

Atherton sues CalTrain operator, challenges effects of the rail line's electrification

February 9, 2015

By Jessica Calefati

http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_27493044/atherton-sues-caltrain-operator-challenges-effects-rail-lines

Regarding electrification, already in November Caltrain announced that more funding would be needed than stated in earlier projections. Now recently, the Green Caltrain blog of the advocacy group Bay Rail Alliance had a blog post about phase 1 and phase 2 of the project, and the funding needed:

Electrification Phase 1 that will provide cleaner, faster, more frequent service in 2020/2021, by giving the trains electric power (but only 75% of the diesel trains are planned to be replaced on day 1, because there isn’t money to replace them all)

The proposed Electrification Phase 2 project would provide about twice the peak hour capacity compared to today’s system, by
* expanding the platforms to take longer trains that carry more riders
* upgrade platforms to allow level boarding, which provides 50% speed improvement over and above basic electrification
* replace the remaining diesel trains with electric, enabling cleaner, faster service, and transition to level boarding

Caltrain estimates the price tag for Phase 2 to be $624 million, over and above a cap of $306 million in cost increases for Phase 2 since Caltrain updated it’s 2008 estimates.

This information will be important for the regional decisions about what to cover in 2016 ballot measures.

source:

Caltrain discloses price tag for next-wave capacity improvements

February 8, 2015

By Adina Levin

http://www.greencaltrain.com/2015/02/caltrain-discloses-price-tag-for-next-wave-capacity-improvements/

The Green Caltrain blog entry also included a screenshot of a presentation at a recent board meeting, regarding project cost:

One recent step forward is that Caltrain invited companies to bring forward proposals for the electrification on the infrastructure side of the project, with specific requests to also include measures to reduce environmental effects like implementing centre-mast arrangement to minimise trackside tree-felling:

Caltrain to invite electrification proposals
February 10, 2015
By Keith Barrow

http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/commuter-rail/caltrain-to-invite-electrification-proposals.html

Another step forward is that Caltrain recently got the feedback of a community survey about the desired design features of the EMU trainsets, which is a necessary step in order to proceed with a RFP for the rolling stock at a later point of time:

In September and October 2014, the CalMod team solicited, through an online survey, feedback from the public on key decisions, such as bathrooms, bikes and seat capacity. On February 5, 2015, the results of the survey were presented to the Caltrain Board.

source:

http://www.caltrain.com/projectsplans/CaltrainModernization/Modernization/PeninsulaCorridorElectrificationProject/Electric-Multiple-Unit-EMU-trains.html

The direct link to the presentation PDF:

http://htwww.caltrain.com/Assets/__Agendas+and+Minutes/JPB/Board+of+Directors/Presentations/2015/2015-02-05+JPB+BOD+PCEP+Qtrly+Update.pdf