CALTRAIN ELECTRIFICATION UPDATE REDWOOD CITY TO S F OCTOBER 2022
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ต.ค. 2022
- Significant progress has been made on some portions of the route and not so much on other sections of the right-of-way since my last video at the end of July 2022. The next update will be in early December. A bonus clip is at the end of this video not Caltrain but is rail related.
- ภาพยนตร์และแอนิเมชัน
David, it does my heart good to see the progress of this electrification. Now that I am a handicapped invalid, home bound on oxygen 24/7, there would have been no way for me to travel from New Jersey to California to see this. Your splendid video is the next best thing for me than actually being there. I thank you !! Let's hope that the Caltrain electrification inspires the MBTA in and around Boston {who runs diesel trains under Amtrak catenary and who had the gall to trash their electric trackless trolley system at the height of the recent oil crisis}, MARC in Maryland {who runs diesel trains under Amtrak catenary}, some of the still diesel operated commuter lines radiating out of Chicago, and others to follow suit.
I have spent most of my almost 80 years being a staunch advocate of electric transportation. I vehemently and passionately protested the abandonment of electric transportation in North America, back in the dark era of the 1950's and 1960's. It didn't die a natural death. It was murdered by the corporate greed of Big Oil, General Motors, et.al. I was ridiculed, laughed at, dismissed and called a trolley jolly. And now I've come full circle and they call me a transit expert. I saw electric transit trashed in city after city and on electric interurban lines such as Pacific Electric, The North Shore Line, The Chicago, Aurora & Elgin, to name just a few. I saw fleets of electric street cars junked in Chicago, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, to name a few. And I have now lived to see new, modern electric street cars now running on the streets of Detroit, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Charlotte, Oklahoma City, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Washington, D.C.,, Portland, Seattle, Tucson, Tempe, El Paso, Dallas, to name just a few.
And I have lived to see electric light rail systems now running in many places, including Denver, Minneapolis, Charlotte, Portland, San Jose, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Dallas, Baltimore, Phoenix, Houston, Salt Lake City, Tacoma, Norfolk, San Diego, etc., etc. Vindication is sweet. I get the 'last' laugh.
I have not been in San Mateo in 4 months. It is good to see the wires are now up.
Oh my god yes, please. The MBTA needs to put up some wires for real and not do the stupid battery powered meme. You know, after the T sorts itself out and solves all of the problems that have been plaguing it for the past year.
The elevated ROW is the key to really fast operation.
I rode Caltrain when I was up in the Bay Area and saw the Electrification first hand near Milbrae Station
Personally wanted to thank you for doing a video documenting the Caltrain Electrification Progress. I've been in Nevada and was unable to see any TH-cam until today!
That's a friendly conductor because he allowed you to film from the front of the car unless you a tripod
Well, it looks like they still have a way to go before they can "plug everything in." Nice ride and thanks for sharing!
Caltrain was rather vague in my opinion on the announcement of energization activation down in the south bay in early September. The substation may have been activated via PG&E but the circuit breakers that feed the OCS may have not have been thrown. Just a guess and the AEM-7 may not be needed at this time specially since limited testing can be done with the new train sets that have been delivered.
Great Progress Video! thanks for putting it up!
Looks like quick progress! from another TH-cam video, taken in August, I think about 3 miles of contact wire has been put up south of San Mateo! Oddly enough the east track might have gotten 4.75 miles of contact wire put up, compared to the West tracks only 3 miles.
Even north of San Bruno, More poles look complete and feeder wire is up! (and some messenger wire???) awesome!
With Santa Clara to San Jose contact wire becoming electrified, at the end of August (September 1st really), I'm surprised that the Painted AEM-7 is sitting at 4th and Kings!? I thought it would be down at the San Jose shop, for testing around there.🤔
Last time I rode the Caltrain was 6/30, looks like some major progression was made. None of the lines were setup from Belmont to Burlingame. Wonder if they are going to meet the 2024 deadline. Don't miss the commute, but I do miss seeing this project is moving day to day.
Thanx for the video. Looks like they can't be too far from starting to string up wires. That bell sounds like an old air operated mechanical one not an E Belll.
Great trip & an excellent report -- many thanks!
An elevated trak but let me finished the video, Im watching. 💚🌍
Wow US horn rules really have to change. Nearly nonstop... not needed, really not needed.
They sound amazing. Horns are necessary for safety
@@lalakerspro They barely horn in Europe, so why does the US need to be special?
@@lukasschmitz1799 because here we have idiots who get hit by trains. Plus it's more fun when horns blow
@@lalakerspro I'm sure its more fun for you, but I dont think that people who live next to rail enjoy the noise pollution, it will only worsen their opinion of rail travel.
@@lukasschmitz1799 then they can move
Our grandfathers would be rolling in their graves, at how long it's taking to put up the catenary. They electrified longer sections of class 1 railroads like the Pennsylvania far quicker decades ago.
well... covid did hit everything hard... plus back then US had manufacturing based in country. these days many things comes from china anyways...
That's because the railroads were a subsidized industry back then because they were considered essential for economic development. They were rolling in money, literally! Caltrain is kept perpetually impoverished by design. It is designed to just barely survive. We are investing pennies in our premier commuter line compared to the highways. And this even though Caltrain is infinitely more cost-effective at moving people compared to the "free" highways that actually cost us billions to build and maintain.
We get what we pay for.
Wooooooooooo!
I'm watching. 💚🌍
Question: any hint of start of digging of tunnel to the Saleforce transit centre? is that still in a very distant future or or there advanced planning already done and start of work is imminent?
With regards to electrification, have substations all been built and OCS is the last step, or is the OCS being built first, and substations come later ?
The substations should mostly be all ready. They started with those before the OCS.
The DTX project, now called "Gateway", is an SF city project. Caltrain has no control there. But that is still in planning and engineering/design. They have the route ready and are doing engineering work, but it will still take a while. SF isn't the speediest of cities when it comes to building tunnels. Plus that area where the tunnel is supposed to be is extremely dangerous to dig in. It's a giant highrise district built on Bay fill. One of the skyscrapers is leaning and when they built the Central Subway a few years back they discovered an unmapped underground river.
In other words, they're not in a hurry with that tunnel and we don't really want them to be! It's going to be a complicated and expensive project.
@@TohaBgood2 Thanks for answer. With regards to the leaninfg condo of SanFrancisco, I note that the other towers around the new transit centre aren't leaning. And since the leaning one is at other extremity of transit centre, I would assume putting the tunnel south of transit centre woudln't affect it. (do you know if this would be cut/cover or truly dug deeper tunnel? When I learned of the transit centre, I thoug the tunnel had already been built. And if this isn't "in a hurry", I take it that the high speed train isn't in a hurry either? :-) I assume that when it gets neared to SFO, that the urgency to make the tunnel will grow? Doesn't Caltrain have soje weight in setting urgency to build it?
@@jfmezei Caltrain and CAHSR are basically just observers on this project. The Caltrain right of way ends at 4th and King, as it has for decades now. That’s Caltrain’s terminus and was supposed to be CAHSR’s as well. Anything north of that is fully an SF city invention and an SF city project. Neither Caltrain nor CAHSR have really anything to do with the planning or decision making there beyond consulting the city when asked for input. And the city doesn’t necessarily take their suggestions without scrutiny and filtering through local stakeholder wants.
The entire SOMA area where the Salesforce transit center is located used to be a giant lagoon. It was all under water and that makes soil conditions extremely difficult for a giant tunnel. The recent Central Subway tunnel construction has also uncovered a previously unmapped underground river there. So from an engineering standpoint that is not an easy project to pull off. But given the recent Central Subway experience, we can deduce that SF will probably be able to do it, even if it’s somewhat late and over budget.
@@TohaBgood2 Thanks for explanation when I heard about the leaning tower of San Francisco, I also found out about the transit centre and was very very impressed to see that already built and ready. This is why I am surprised to have seen this get built while the tunnel to it is still at the dream stage. (also found iyut the the building before it was a big tram terminal and trams ran on lower deck of bay bridge until the 1950s.
The track looks good for 150. Take out the crossings!
Is there really no way of getting rid of the bell, at least on commuter trains?
Total grade separation and good fencing.
Hater! Some of us do enjoy hearing a train bell. Unless it's just this type in particular you disapprove of.
Obviously the OP is not a rail fan, but a modern urban commuter with no sense of history and tradition. I remember the Peninsula commute line with steam locomotives that had brass bells and steam whistles!
Ok urban user if you cant take it then go home and cry to your mommy
Is there any plan to deal with all those at-grade crossings?
is there any near term plans to high level all platforms?
Unfortunately, no. It seems that Caltrain was hoping to extract that as a concession out of CAHSR but was summarily dismissed with the help of the Governor's office. So now Caltrain is definitely going to have to pay for it themselves, even though they didn't make any provisions for it.
A lot of our local jurisdictions, cities and counties, thought that they could milk CAHSR of funds without anyone noticing. Some cities in the Central Valley managed to do so and actually got CAHSR to pay for some smaller projects. This culminated in the LA area pols trying a big end run around CAHSR and threatening to kill the entire project if they didn't get money for Metrolink improvements in their districts.
But they did that waaaaay too publicly and incurred a ton of backlash, including people making fun of them on twitter and constituents calling and writing with angry comments. The LA pols basically screwed the pooch for all of them with their public stunt so now the state executive is watching this area and not allowing any shenanigans with the funding.
I forgot what red wood city looked like
What is the clicking sound?
I figured it out before I fell asleep. It's the warning bell. It's the sound of the actuator that strikes the bell.
The excuse I heard about a year ago for the delay is acquiring materials was due to Covid 19. I really can't believe that.
In the east bay my house was rebuilt. It was supposed to take just over a year. It took just over two. Fortunately the cost only rose about 5%. The last item, a dishwasher, didn't arrive until nine months after originally promised. Yes, Covid 19 has caused lots of problems.
Why? Literally all construction projects have seen insane material cost increases. Some things doubled or tripled in price because everyone though that Covid will cause a massive recession and just stopped manufacturing.
The entire industry is experiencing crazy cost increases. It's not like Caltrain has preferential prices on anything.
When will the next update be
Early December
Ok
AEM 7 IN SF is just in storage . i been in it
This project takes ages
We get what we pay for. Invest in Caltrain as much as we invest in highways and you'll see fast improvement.