Close-Up Look at Caltrain's New Electric Fleet
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ต.ค. 2024
- Caltrain’s new electric fleet is still months away from passenger service, but the agency offered an in-person look Tuesday at one of its electric trains. Kris Sanchez reports.
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Better late than never. Should have done this decades ago. 😀
A century ago! The original builder of the Peninsula Corridor wanted to electrify it but ran out of money. That's when it should have happened! We're just correcting a historical wrong here!
We should also just raise the money and extend electrification to Gilroy, then add diesel service to Salinas or all the way to Monterey! We used to have all of these trains but the auto industry killed them off.
Small towns all around the U.S. in the 1910's had electric street cars *(interurbans)* before replaced with automobiles.
That was my exact thought: “Or San Mateo and Santa Clara could have joined BART and this work would have been completed 50 years ago.” 😒
The whole system will be electrified once CAHSR reaches the Bay Area
If anyone wants to know:
The trains are called „KISS“ and are build by Swiss manufacturer STADLER rail.
Interesting that they didn’t say that. Probably because of America First🙄
I grew up with the diesels but now I will grow up with the Electric Trains when I am in the middle of my jr year
@BayAreaRailwayDude Yessir
@BayAreaRailwayDude Thats right
Aren’t the diesels still staying with Caltrain just for the Gilroy service? ( tracks outside of San Jose are owned by UP ).
@@aaronmiller5012 I guess
@@aaronmiller5012 The plans I saw are for the MP36PHI-3CS to be saved for that service, and the F40PH-2CATs and Nippon Sharyo gallery cars are to be retired.
Now let's get the tunnel to the transbay terminal 😁!!
You mean the Diridon Station in San Jose. I can't wait to ride them.
glad to see im not the only one that caught that
Awesome looking trains!!!
Come on, man. The Diridon Station is NOT in SF.
I worked on these Stadler trains when they moved to Salt Lake City.
That's just cruel making us wait til 2024... 😭😭😭
its only one year away so just hang tight.
@@Perich29 yea les gooooo
The station is in San Jose, not San Francisco.
Are you still single?
Hey Metrolink (LA area), are you looking at this?
I am in the fortunate situation that I live near Zurich and will be able to travel in the first 4 of 60 new SBB KISS trains (6-unit) from mid-July, which will be completely delivered by 2026. Most of the trains will expand the existing service.
They reinforce the existing KISS fleet that has been in service since 2010.
Maybe I will be able to use a Caltrain KISS in the future?
By the way: California is about 10 times as big as Switzerland, but has very few passenger trains in comparison. In Zurich's main station, around 2,200 trains run above and below ground every day!
For California and the US, the primary goal should be to protect the environment, not how quickly a goal can or must be achieved.
besides, it is much more comfortable to travel by train than by car on the highway where there are daily traffic jams.
I hope they will be able to do something about the delays. I take Caltrain to work every day, and at least twice a week, there are delays
Well, we'll see how long those cars stay roomy before the traffic inflow means they'll need to pack people like sardines.
BUT, that's a long way off. For now, cheers to Caltrain for the hot new rolling stock!
Tbh, I would prefer that than stuck in traffic
As long as caltrain keeps it clean, I won't mind. BART is gross as heck and I'm not a germaphobe at all. I'm a pee-on-the-seats-phobe
Anyways they already did in San Francisco in 9/24/2022 only one day but that will be awesome seeing
I remember that event
India's railways are 85% electric and will be 100% by 2024. The fastest trains run at a top speed of 115 mph same as Brightline in Florida.
Brightine is 125MPH so try again.
@@dynasty0019 They are all the same class. +/- 15%. New trains being tested in India are 200 kmph which is 125 mph. All top speeds anyway.
classic speed shame from other countries
Well they're just hauling the same British era non-AC cars that they always have, just with electric locomotives.
@@mrvwbug4423 shows how much you know
Diridon is in San Jose
Hey i have seen those before, they are a classic
Welcome Aboard🚅
Last Stop of the World Track SF Giants Stadium
Diridon station is in San Jose, Come on NBC Bay Area
Is it using its own power since Caltrain turned on the wires?
it will indeed will use its own power
In Japan and many countries in Europe these are many decade old stories..... Good catch up USA/California
Better late than never.
Ummmm, not really. There are better lines in Japan and some in Europe. But not all that many. After this upgrade Caltrain will have a 15-minute frequency and run at up to 110mph. That's not exactly a common type of commuter rail. That's actually incredibly good and pretty darn rare around the world.
@@TohaBgood2 I’ll tell you 15 minutes of time can only be regulated at peak times. And then we talk about metropolises like the Ruhrpott. It brings something. But the American is not a train driver. That’s why everything below will be far too uneconomical.
@ Huh?
@@TohaBgood2 ?
i see.
What? Just now. Better late than never ever. America 40 years behind
& Testing new trains that matches 21st century commuter rail standards.
No arm rests?
How much Is the increase Toll Cost
Huh? Toll? This is train, bud.
@@TohaBgood2 THATs My business my friend Zero...My picture the Boy holding apple 🍎
The crossing sequence on this thing will sound so ugly.
But the problem is isn't it thoooo wheelchair and motorized scooter accessible 🤔🤔🤔🤔
The cars are designed so that the doors can be for low level or high level platforms. Low level for now and high level when high speed rail arrives as those are all high level. Only one set of doors is installed at a time. The other location has a plug with a window and allows seats to be mounted next to it. Wheel chairs, bicycles etc. can access the lower level of cars with no steps, or the mid-level with no steps when they convert to high level platforms.
You can see the wheelchair/motorized scooter area on the train at 0:49
Diridon Station is in San Jose lol...
Before you get too excited, check out the "Sprinter" in North County San Diego. It's damn slow.
This is nothing like that. Caltrain is a bona fide reginal railroad upgrading to BART-level frequencies and speeds. This is genuinely a significant line. The first of its kind in the US!
Only one bathroom on the train
I suspect that is per car.
@@tomtaber1102 No, the whole train
It will take another 3-4 years before these new trainsets replace the old fleet (cuz California 🥴) so I hope you're patient ⏳😆
It's not "because California" but "because not careless". The electrification system still needs to be finished and then it needs to be tested thoroughly. After electrification Caltrain will grow to BART-like 15 minute frequency. This is a completely new type of service that Caltrain has literally never run. It's important to get things right.
Seriously, this whole "complain about everything" shtick that a bunch of you are doing is getting tiresome. Just move to Texas and live in a sea of car dystopia with 15x the California property taxes without Prop 13.
@@TohaBgood2 Cuz of California. our politicians are assholes, so are their voters.
@@MacMyKitty What does safety on an electrified line have to do with politicians anyway? What are you talking about?
So 😅
2024 is so close.
Take a picture of the inside with a UV light now. It won't look like that in a week.
Spending more than needs. Why not?
"World-Class Railroad."
No, Japan and Germany have world-class railroads. I agree with some of the comments that we're fiiiiinally playing catch-up. So at least there's that.
Caltrain is a commuter line. As far as those go, Caltrain is fine right now. Not great, not terrible. It's not like commuter trains in Germany and Japan are always the Shinkansen. There is a spectrum in both those countries and Caltrain wouldn't rate all that low over there.
After these upgrades, with 15-minute frequencies and 110mph speeds Caltrain will be far superior to practically all German commuter and S-Bahn lines and Japanese commuter services.
I understand the need for constructive criticism, but it is genuinely misplaced here. Caltrain is doing something objectively awesome with this upgrade and that needs to be recognized and praised. After all, we want the Capitol Corridor, and the ACE, and the San Joaquins, and Metrolink to all look at this and want to do it too! Right?
@@TohaBgood2 I'm really happy for Caltrain's improvements, and it's becoming one of the best transit systems in America, but I'd like to point out by Japanese standards a 15-minute frequency for a commuter service of a city the size of San Francisco is quite...abysmal. That being said 15 minutes is said to be the threshold for passengers being able to wait without having to check a timetable so that is a great!
@@StarboardPitotTube Yes, the 15-minute frequency is the off peak number. At peak Caltrain will likely be under 5-minute frequencies between all the trains. This would include the locals, Caltrain expresses, and CAHSR. The actual final frequency still depends on how much of Caltrain modernization we choose to fund. But the 15-minute off-peak scheme seems to have been already locked in. So that is happening for sure.
The 15-minute off peak frequency is the number that a lot of us locals are focusing on because this is the off-peak frequency of BART lines. So symbolically, Caltrain getting 15-minute off-peak train density is essentially Caltrain becoming just another BART line. This is incredibly significant for the Bay Area. This expands BART-like service to over 4 million people and completes the "ring around the Bay" of high-quality rapid rail.
It may look like just an incremental improvement to Caltrain, but it is an incredibly significant, even revolutionary change for Bay Area transit!
Germany is not world class railroad either.
177 km/h. Our regional trains in Germany run between 160 and 200km/h.
So I don’t know where the Caltrain would be upgraded. When I drive the RRX in the Ruhr area, i.e. the Siemens Desiro HC. They also drive there every 15 minutes. So where is that supposed to be better in America?
In our cities, the light rail, subways, S-Bahn trains and suspension railways sometimes run in 5 minutes. Our buses run every 10 to 30 minutes. Our trains also run every 30 to 60 minutes. With the new initiative of the German government, the so-called „Deutschland-Takt“, says that at every major station, a high-speed train (ICE or InterCityExpress) must drive in every direction every half hour.
The CalTrain train is standard for us, everything below it is presented with us as old and shabby.
Sorry, but the USA cannot be compared to Germany.
We are simply much better in many respects. Whether it’s cars, trains or airplanes 🇩🇪👆🙃
I hate to be sick halfway home when there's a black out. 😆
diesels can't run during a power outage either, a power outage would knock out the signaling systems as well.
2040
🤣
Seats look uncomfortable
They‘ll do the job for a commuter train.
For those saying electrification is being done just now remember it has been historically much better to operate biodiesel locomotives in the us and the freight lobby squashed any attempts to electrify. The northeast corridor in the US is already electricfied and the long distances in the us mean that diesel was historically more reliable as it was self powered and resilient against any outages in the grid.
Excuses.
Just stating facts take that as you will.
Electrifying a corridor doesn’t mean that P40s can’t be used on it again (in the event of power loss). If anything this adds redundancy along with faster service, new train sets, and getting the line ready for HSR.
@@nextseto Yeah that’s why it’s an important project for California transit
@@portcybertryx222 It's true that it was more advantageous from the point of view of stock price not to invest a ton of money in electrification for a slow payout over decades. The cost savings from using purely electric power were not enough to pay off in a short enough time for any of the rail executives to care. They would all retire long before that kind of an investment would pay off.
But it is a myth that electrifying does not save money. It does. All diesel locomotives are actually diesel-electric locomotives with a diesel generator on-board and only the electric motors actually drive the train. It is just more efficient to keep the generators at a power plant, where they can use more cost-effective fuels than diesel, and transmit the electricity via catenary.
This is just a fact of nature - that lugging around a generator is less efficient than not lugging around a generator. And our rail industry came extremely close to electrifying during the 70s when the oil prices made it economically attractive even in the short term. It's not that hard to convert a bunch of diesel-electric locomotives to take power from a wire instead of the diesel generator. But oil prices went back down so they put a temporary hold on that. Then that hold became permanent and we got what we have today.
Cool i guess, but what about the violent crime and drug use on public transport? They will ignore that as usual lol
You are more likely to die in a car crash than you are to get shot on public transport.
Tell us you’ve never ridden CalTrain without telling us you’ve never ridden CalTrain.
Caltrain is actually a lot safer than Bart and Muni oddly enough. I can’t really explain why.
😂😂😂😂😂😂
This Train its from Germany from 2010
Gernany Moneyglitch
In Germany we Say
Mach aus gebraucht neu und der dumme Ami Zahlt 😂😂😂😂😂
Und der dumme Deutsche merkt nicht, dass Stadler ein schweizer Hersteller ist.
I mean the locomotives that it's replacing dates back from the 1970s, so still an upgrade 😆😆😆😆
and then germans doesnt realize stadler is a swiss company
They're new and modified a fair bit from Euro spec to meet US rail standards. The KISS design has been around since 2010 and has received a number of improvements since then. This is pretty normal in the rail industry, they will stick with a basic design for many years with the ability to modify it to meet the requirements of each customer.
How much coal to keep the electricity on?
California doesn't use coal to generate electricity. It is all nuclear, hydro, geothermal, wind, solar and natural gas, the latter especially for peaker plants. They are planning to phase out the natural gas and nuclear as they add storage capacity. It is a decades long process. My provider in the San Francisco area sends me power with no fossil fuel sourced generation, but this isn't the case everywhere in California . . . yet.
California is a unique state where about 50% of generated power is renewable (and growing). It’s actually why it’s also a cleaner state to own/charge an electric car. Trains like this helps hit environmental goals by taking leftover gas cars off the road
California doesn’t use coal power. It’s mostly natural gas and natural power.
These trolls know nothing