New electric fleet set to move Caltrain into a green future
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- čas přidán 8. 06. 2024
- Weekend train service between San Francisco and San Jose was suspended to make way for final tests of Caltrain’s new electric fleet. Max Darrow reports.
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Finally electrified, and no half measures like batteries or hydrogen!
Managed to catch a glimpse of a couple of the new electric trains running this weekend. This feels silly and obvious, but I was shocked at how quiet the new trains are. Bells and horns, sure. But you could hardly hear any drivetrain noise braking in and accelerating out. This is gonna be a huge benefit to the quality of life for the tens of thousands of folks living near the line. Great to see Caltrain getting so close to starting electric service.
There’s no need for the bells and horns either. Trains in Germany don’t use them.
@@mikegaskin5542it’s not just Germany, it’s the UK, Netherlands, Belguim, Norway, Sweden, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, etc that all don’t use bells and horns. Only time they use them is when there’s danger around, i mean a car doesn’t honk at every corner either right? The reason why trains in the US still blow their horns and bells at crossings, intersections and when arriving and leaving the station is because using train as a well integrated means of transportation isn’t there yet, other countries have made trains a norm for transport for most of their citizens while the US favors cars, but this is changing though.
@@mikegaskin5542 FRA rules apply, CalTrain doesn't have a waiver AFAIK. So horns will have to be used unless quiet zones are installed at each level crossing. On a corridor like CalTrain, **all** crossings should be eliminated if it is to be truly mass transit.
Bells are another FRA rule, they have to be used any time a train comes in and out of a station, or starts moving from a standstill.
@@miles5600You can add most of Australia too. A horn means a problem, not a normality (Melbourne weirdly still requires trains to sound a horn when leaving a station).
Seems like only Americans expect a railway track to be the least likely place a train will be found.
@@peterelvery it’s mostly cause laws regarding train safety are very old and outdated in the US, Canada is making major progress with this, a lot of cities in Canada have transit systems that don’t blow their horns when leaving stations nor when coming at a crossing.
In the US California is trying to reduce horns being blown by making certain stretches of the railway silent.
Wont miss the diesel smoke.
It's funny he said "it's time to step into the future" in 1:29. Really it's just stepping into the late 20th century.
If only Big Oil wasn't around to ruin that for us
I always want Caltrain Electrifications and California High-Speed Rail in California and I always love Caltrain Electrifications and California High-Speed Rail in California.😮
Bingo! One step closer in making that a reality... Just need to start closing those electrification gaps between San Jose and the Central Valley segment... That would allow electric trains to operate as far as Bakersfield!
Quieter, faster acceleration like all things electric but most importantly NO PM 2.5 the most deadly form of air pollution nobody wants to talk about... Diesel and coal are two of the biggest offenders and anything we can do to lessen them is critical to our collective health!
Caltrain would have had a greater impact on pollution by keeping their diesel fleet, and running expanded service further south and east of the end of the wires at San Jose. No form of transportation emits more pollution per passenger-mile than a car, even air travel.
But who needs to actually do what’s best for the citizens of the Bay Area, when people are appeased by half measures…
@@GintaPPE1000 One locomotive still makes a ton of pollution, what if they are going to expand service to other cities and have Electrification right from the get-go?
Excited, can’t wait for quieter modern Caltrains in September!
doesn't Cali have rolling blackouts , shortage of electricity
@@copyprint-fz2hb no. the texas grid might be what you're thinking about
@@copyprint-fz2hbthat literally happened for one day when it was 120 degrees two years ago
@@copyprint-fz2hbno we do not have rolling blackouts. Last time my power was cut was during the 2023 winter storms, and it was out for 6 hours, most of which was past midnight.
This is so great. I’m glad to see it finally completed. despite the delays and cost overruns, future generations will be so thankful, and this will help so many people. Now please extend the electrification all the way to Gilroy at least
“First of its kind” is funny considering SEPTA’s predecessors did this nearly 100 years ago…
Not to mention NJ transit in the 80s, or Amtrak corridor improvements in the 90s...
Isn’t Caltrain retaining some diesel trains for the SF to Gilroy services since that track after SJ is UP owned even after the electrification project is finished?
Yes, although the mid term plan is to implement battery electric service south of San Jose.
Yeah, but honestly it’s insane how the railroad system isn’t nationalized. California should be nationalizing that corridor between gilroy and San Jose. There could be so much new housing and new opportunities to create transit oriented and mixed used communities, and lessen the strain on the housing shortage.
A part of me kind of want to fly to SFO/SJC and go for a few joyrides on the new trains once the KISS EMUs are fully in service
Well worth the wait and cost.
So. Cal. resident here. Those old trains I remember as noisy with a rough ride. The design inside reminds me of being inside a hamster cage. I can't wait for my next visit to try them out. Metrolink should do the same.
Welcome to higher speed no emissions trains. I live in the Philadelphia. PA area and our SEPTA commuter rail system is completely electric operated. Electric trains usually can accelerate faster than diesel trains due to the cars having motors on their trucks rather depending on the traction effort of only the engine. I only rode the old diesel trains in your service area once. It was a good service but with the electric operation I feel it will be even better.
From an international perspective, it is mindblowing that it took such a rich advanced part of the US until 2024 to do this.
The Northeast has had it for over 100 years bud. The problem is money, it costs a lot of money to electrify and transit officials don't want to set aside the money to do so, nor do the voters want their taxdollars going to a service they don't use, hell on another video talking about an apartment complex and a mall not having a direct foot path, a person said "I don't want my tax dollars being used for your convenience!" It's sad but it's true, meanwhile places that HAVE the train and where people use it, they are more than happy to spend their tax dollars to improve service, like the Northeast and Toronto
Dude, you do realize that BART has existed since the 70s and that it replaced a massive network of electric interubrans that ran in the Bay Area since the late 19th century, right?
Awesome! I wish I lived there.
I'll be out in the Bay Area towards the end of the month. Maybe I'll get a glimpse of these units.
woah
Nice, now you don't need a locomotive who's sole purpose is just to move all the passenger cars behind it, the pilot cab takes up maybe 10% of the front cab, probably closer to 5% and the rest of the car is passenger seating. Plus getting places faster has to be a good deal. Although I do question the idea to put bathrooms on these trains, it's not like trips are THAT long.
Telling an elderly person to hold it in for an hour is asking much.
When you reach my age (68), you will understand. A toilet is always useful.
@@marcelmoulin3335 You could always get off the train, use the toilet at a station, and then get on the next train. Kind of like how there are no toilets on BART trains and yet depending on how far you go you very well could be going more than an hour.
Kids can really need to pee at any moment.
Trips will be faster with those new electric trains because they can stop and start faster, they take under 60 minutes on the express trains vom SJ to SF and 75 minutes for local service (instead of 100)
Honestly, I think most legislation drafted or passed here in California is meant to make a small group of people (primarily lobbyists) profit at the expense of everyone else
Cool story.
San Mateo could have had electric transit for decades had they voted FOR a half-cent sales tax to fund the building and funding of BART in the 1960s. While welcome, CalTrain's electric service is LONG-overdue.
Reminiscent of an electric train Stadler Kiss, which began operation in Azerbaijan (Baku) in 2015, and in Russia (Moscow) in 2017.
hope they have better luck than the northeast with NJ transit and Amtrak
That’s because the NEC catenary wire infrastructure is old & uses lower tension wires(which causes them to sag in the heat & cause the many delays you might be familiar with), but Caltrain will have the new& improved high tension technique(still old but much better) wires to mitigate that thankfully.
I wish here in Canada, we'd do the same thing as California.
Toronto will have an Mostly Electrified Regional Rail system in the Late 2020s - Early 2030s
4:43😷😊
Please direct CalTrain to Menchie’s Belmont Village the county is free post COVID 19😷🍦
Only 98 years after Sydney Australia, SF gets electric multiple units!!
"it's time to step into the future"
more like stepping out of the 80s
Better late than never.
Why do you think that they were late? Was the project delayed because of the pandemic or something?
@@TohaBgood2By general American standards, they’re doing ok. By Northeastern US and global standards, it’s insane to have been running diesels still.
@@zew1368 This is nonsense. Diesel is by far the most common rail fuel for commuter rail. With only a few exceptions of electrification, most non-urban rail is diesel.
The horns got even louder !!!
They ran anyway. When do they say thank you, San Mateo. The railroad is stolen. 😷🍀
Quiet and clean! ZERO PM2.5 which the old trains spewed like mininiagra's of soot. Also, am I crazy but didn't "we" decide that this was a good idea in the mid 1990's? About the time "they" started arguing whether BART should go all the way into San Jose, or stop just short enough away that additional transit would be needed... (like the argument at SFO, and when I was a kid, at ORD in Chicago)
Shutting down an entire line to just upgrade trains is a crazy move for a public transport line
Lol, what? How do you expect them to do construction and full schedule testing?
Most of the work was done while the trains were running.
Американцы отстают от Европы на 10-20 лет в развитии поездов. Даже в России такие поезда уже ходят 7 лет, а в Азербайджане 9 лет.
The Northeast Us had Electric Train since Early 20th Century
These new trains have onboard battery systems to power them, right? Will idle trains store energy from the electric grid during peak generation in the middle of the day to release the energy back to the grid during the night to help smooth out electricity generation?
I don't think so. That's not the purpose of those trains.
That is an excellent idea! Adding batteries to the train would make them heavier and slow down acceleration and braking though… It would be smart of Caltrain to park some megawatt battery pack containers at their substations and yards so they can smooth their demand and ride through short outages. If it made finance sense, maybe they could get a grant for it.
@@johnpchang They probably do have some regenerative braking capacity because even LRT cars that Siemens makes for places like Edmonton, Calgary, Sacramento, San Diego all have them I believe... Also makes it much less rough on the actual mechanical brakes when using them too!
No because there really isn't much of a benefit to having batteries on an entirely electrified line aside from a few small use cases where you either lose grid power of move from an electrified section. There'd be some merit to putting batteries track side since they can be made as big and robust as wanted without having to worry about weight, but there's little benefit putting them on the trains themselves aside from emergency uses or if there are short sections of a route that for whatever reason aren't yet electrified.
@@travisbeagle5691 agreed
No word on that the trains are swiss
And? The USA doesnt build locomotives anymore; wabtec and progress rail are the venture-capital hollowed out corpses of EMD and GE, and when they're not busy trying to sell battery electric scams to norfolk southern, they're trying to close all their historic shops in the north east so they can use scab labour in the south. The US locomotive market crashed out because the class 1 railroads are so allergic to capital spending that they are still rebuilding their SD40-2s instead of even trying to buy new.
If you want actual modern rolling stock and power, europe is basically your only option now, because we cannibalized our manufacturing base to hurt labour and make a quick buck.
Too late. With BART going to San Jose and VTA providing an express bus from the BART to Caltrain that only has 2 stops along the way, I’ve found it to be faster and less expensive than Caltrain from SF. In fact I’d rather go around the bay than down the peninsula because Caltrain is notoriously unreliable, slow, makes too many unannounced until too late service diversions and issues that make commuting that corridor the worse in the bay. Had they completed this in 2012 we might have a different story but Caltrain waited too long, still has 3 major intersections they claim are dangerous and need to be rebuilt yet spent none of the money on the important issues first leaving it to be a problem later continuing the delays and service issues while begging for more money they’re going to squander away like they have in the past. BART is no better by any means but they don’t hit cars or people on the tracks, the service levels are pretty stable and they don’t tell you half way that you gotta get off and take a bus because some unrelated event prevents trains from continuing. Absolutely not. No. Sorry Caltrain but you’re done with me.
That's what this project is addressing ya goof!
These electric trains yesterday already hit four people
This is why you need to look both ways and not listen both ways.
Yup, you only cross the tracks at a railroad crossing as well
I hope they're electrified lines and not those stupid battery electric trains?
doesn't Cali have rolling blackouts , shortage of electricity
@@copyprint-fz2hb well shouldn't they just fix that then before electrifying more things?
For example stop being morons and reopen their nuclear plants?
Yes, this is true overhead catenary electrification.
Now, in order to run electric service south to Gilroy, on the other hand… they’re talking about battery electric.
@@beback_ Newsom has vowed to shut down the last remaining Nuclear plant in Cali ???
@@copyprint-fz2hb Lol, no. I've never experienced a blackout for my whole life living here. Are you confusing us with Texas?
Welcome to the 20th century
Buddy, the Bay Area has had electric rail continuously since 1903. And BART replaced the old interurbans in 1972. Chill.
@@TohaBgood2 In your backyard? I've traveled by Caltrain to Redwood Shores from Mountain View for 30 years. For the last 2 years I'm enjoying the NE Corridor trains. Wouldn't call them world-class compared to my native Japan, but light years ahead of Caltrain.
@@tvm73836 Don't change the subject. There has been electric rail in the Bay Area longer than in your native country of Japan.
And yes, Caltrain is a commuter rail service that will travel at 110 mph (180 mph). What commuter rail in Japan goes that fast? And I mean for a commuter service not the Shinkansen lines, but actual commuter lines.
I've lived in Japan briefly. The trains are nice, but the whole system is old and tired. The fact that everything is run by corrupt corporations means that they don't do anything right unless the government forces them to. That's why not only the rail service, but the whole country stagnates so much. In the long run, public rail services will always be higher quality.
@@TohaBgood2 💩
@@tvm73836 Cope quietly.
doesn't Cali have rolling blackouts , shortage of electricity
Nope. What's your point? The last time that happened was when Enron and company were gaming the system. It's Texas that has the electric grid issues.
@@roachtoasties will see this July , demand has doubled with all the electric bikes and scouters , wake up
@@copyprint-fz2hb It will use hardly any additional electricity, when compared to BART, MUNI, trolley buses, the VTA (San Jose light rail), etc. Hundreds of trains running at any given moment. Adding a few more to the mix isn't going to bring down the grid.
@@roachtoasties i work in a power plant , every summer me and my co workers gamble on how high the needle goes , and it's getting close to bringing back the rolling blackouts already
@@copyprint-fz2hb Compared to red dystopias like Texas and Alabama California is Star Trek, dude. Chill with your propaganda.
Heck bring back the old coal burners
Maybe the Day Light Special. Now that's one beautiful locomotive. Seeing those wheels on that track with smoke coming from it's stack makes my heart sing. Chooo choooow 😂
Why would anyone want to do that?
@@TohaBgood2 Buddy or Girly those were train's. Seeing the smoke and steam billowing out from that giant mass of steel. The sound of true conductors saying all aboard. Being served fine dining as you cross the country. Just long for days gone by is all I'm doing. Try and let us remember how it was for a while, won't you.
@@paulbegley1464 Dude, what are you talking about? Who in their right mind would want to get cancer on their way home from work from the coal fumes?
We have better options now. Why would we want to go back to stinky dirty trains when we have these full electric beauties?
@@TohaBgood2 Oh you scared little child. Couldn't you have just taken what I said and just left it alone. But no, you just got to pick the scab don't you. And what gets me is I didn't say anything offensive just a wish to see things in the old ways again. And I know that's not going to happen, but yet you just got to pick away. Ever wonder why people get so sick and tired of people like you. It's because you don't try and understand anything
Dude is on the expired shrooms 💀💀
And how is all of that power generated? Not by solar or wind I'm sure.
how are you so sure LOL?
We have been throwing out solar power because we are generating too much of it, lol. Around 45% of the days, we are running 100% clean energy. 51 days so far this year, we have too much solar and have had to throw away energy. Your just believing the lies from big oil and fox.
California's in-state electricity generation sources include:
Natural gas (47%)
Renewables (solar, wind, other) (32%)
Large hydro (11%)
Nuclear (9%)
Renewables include solar, wind, geothermal energy, biomass, and small hydro.
Caltrain gets its electricity from various sources through its agreement with a power provider. As of the latest updates, Caltrain sources its electricity from Peninsula Clean Energy, which supplies renewable energy. Peninsula Clean Energy provides power generated from sources like solar, wind, and hydropower. This move is part of Caltrain's broader effort to transition to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly operation, including the electrification of its train services. The exact mix of energy sources can vary, but the focus is on maximizing the use of renewable energy to reduce the carbon footprint of the transit system.
Even if they're produced by fossil fuel power plants, this is still more efficient and produces less overall emissions than refining, transporting, and burning diesel on each individual train.
Electric trains are also quieter, and have better acceleration/deceleration rates for a faster service on lines with frequent stops.
Seen the new lawsuit and welfare institutions subsidiaries budget based in coal use and bankruptcy and claim of poverty etc?
The same people who rode the diesel trains will ride the E trains. It won't increase the ridership or gas emissions. No problems with having the electric trains, just don't try and say it will make things better. Just hope that the power dosen't go out or PG&E increases the cost again that is passed down to the riders
the trains accelerate faster and will now reduce the time from SF to SJ so it is better
Service will be improved.
They can run more electric trains because they start up and stop much more quickly than the old diesel ones, so more people may be inclined to take the train because they won’t be stuck waiting 30 min until the next one.
I doubt the government would want to pay for electricity from PG&E when they have Hetch Hetchy. SFMTA itself run their trolley buses and light rail from the city's hydroelectric Hetch Hetchy Water and Power System. The same would very likely be true of Cal trains. As everyone else mentioned the trains would be faster, so service time would be quicker. If it means getting to work or an event faster than you'll obviously see an increase in ridership.
@@airops423 You would hope so, but for how long. I can't seeing it being much different than BART especially if the crime increases and garbage is dumped all over the place and the homeless start to move in.
Is Caltrain a train or bus😷
Food poisoning😷
Cypher scoping😷
America Job Center ticket to work we want our jobs back😷balers is why
The HORNS are destroying the quality of life for those who live by intersections!
what came first...the train tracks or your house?
@@chromebomb You're right, but I wonder if it's time for the federal government to update the regulations that force trains to blow their horns at the interval that they do.
Upgrade the crossings and the need for horns will be reduced...
This train has been running on the same tracks for at least 50 years longer than most houses along the tracks. If they didn't want train noise then they shouldn't have built their house next to the train.
You can't NIMBY retroactively. You moved there knowing full well that there was a train there!
@@stickynorth well said and I totally agree.
STADLER EMU’s ruined everything!
Ill miss the f40s, but i LOVE these stadler kiss trains. It feels so good to see modern trains in america! Before these trains arrived Caltrain was about the equivalent of a museum on wheels with those horrendous gallery cars 😂. Not to mention this will have a huge positive enviornmental impact in the area, and it brings caliHSR one step closer to reality.
@@brayg488 even though STADLER are like futuristic, and I don’t want to end up as a hologram
Tell that to Caltrain and see if they share your opinion
@@evanstonbalce9588 this train will not be stopping at, Evenston Balce Airport station
Biggest waste of taxpayer money. Can buy 3 diesel trains for the cost of one electric. Can we have Trump. as govenor?
💀
We aren’t trying to ruin the environment lmao
@@ARandomComment123 Diesel trains have no effect on the environment. You do realize to generate electricity your still buring diesel!
@@aa777flyer diesel trains do have an effect on the environment, and Caltrain is using eco friendly power sources to power their electrification
The only thing that moves is drugs drugs drugs into SF
moved all the people going to and back SF bike party last week
I don't think drugs are trafficked via public transportation when those organizations would rather be discreet.
Homeless drug addicts sometimes use them as shelter, though.
Lol, what are you even talking about? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
What a dumb take lol
Everything just got worse for transport and fuels and government.
Well as long as we have the Democrats in office they will continue to try to save us at our expense, not so much the politicans who will continue to use fossil fuel vehicles
Because they departed from a technology that no other countries really use? European countries have had electric locomotives for decades now. The 25kV electric trains can in theory regenerate electricity back into the power grid which is a game changer because it really does reduce the amount of non-renewables that need to be spent. This is also better than batteries which use their own emissions to manufacture.
🧢
I just don't understand people like you.
@@Awesome_Aasim Not entirely accurate. Most European intercity and commuter rail is still diesel. A couple of countries have indeed made the switch to electric completely and some are nearing 50% electrification.
I don't understand why people feel the need to lie about this. You can easily look up online what percentage of rail is electric by country. And surprise-surprise, the majority of the US's passenger rail ridership is actually electric because subways, light rail, and electric commuter rail always have orders of magnitude more ridership than intercity or light commuter lines.
(Most of the passenger rail ridership in the US that isn't subway/metro is LIRR, Metro North, Metra, BART, and the DC Metro. The myriad of four-times-per-day diesel commuter rail lines carry tiny numbers of passengers by comparison, the same as in Europe and everywhere else.)