Caltrain passes key milestone in modernization effort

Caltrain's plan to electrify and modernize Peninsula commuter rail service received a critical and historic approval from the federal government yesterday - clearance to run the most modern equipment available in the world. The Federal Railroad Administration issued a waiver of longstanding rules that prohibit what is known as "mixed traffic" - operating standard American trains and lighter rail equipment on the same tracks.

Sean Elsbernd, Caltrain board
chair and San Francisco supervisor, said, "This landmark ruling clears the way
for American railroads to enter the 21st century using modern railroad
technology in common use throughout Europe and Asia."

Caltrain’s success in
achieving the waiver provides a blueprint for high-speed rail systems around
the country.

The Caltrain waiver effort,
led by 35-year veteran of the rail industry Robert Doty, director of the
Peninsula Rail Program and former director of rail operations for Caltrain,
focused on the enhanced safety features that are central to Caltrain’s
electrification and modernization program.

To avoid collisions,
Caltrain will use an enhanced signal system that includes federally mandated
Positive Train Control. The signal system is designed to prevent trains from
colliding with each other, with other vehicles or with fixed objects.

In addition, the program
calls for equipment that uses the latest Crash Energy Management technology.
Like the crumple zones on modern automobiles, lighter CEM equipment safely
distributes or "manages" the energy from a collision, protecting the passengers
onboard the train.

Of this new, enhanced
approach to safety, the FRA said, "collision avoidance … is the first line of
defense in assuring passenger rail safety, and that collision management,
achieved through the operation of vehicles designed with CEM, is the second
line of defense that effectively reduces the severity of an incident, should it
occur."

The waiver is critical to
Caltrain’s transition from its current diesel equipment to a fully-electrified
system:

• Caltrain’s current signal
system would be enhanced with federally-mandated Positive Train Control.

• Caltrain could begin
replacing its diesel-based rolling stock with electrified locomotives and
passenger cars, a transition that will take years and require the simultaneous
operation of both kinds of equipment.