Issue date: April 21, 1999
The overseers of Caltrain have a golden opportunity to drive the commuter line firmly toward modernization if they vote next month to make the $300 million-plus in planned upgrades compatible with the ultimate goal of electrifying the trains. Shackled with older locomotives and track and some lightly used stations, Caltrain currently takes more than an hour for runs between San Francisco and San Jose. Menlo Park commuters can reach San Francisco in one hour or less, and Tamien station in San Jose in about 40 minutes.
These times could improve by 10 or 20 minutes if major upgrades were made to the line, such as replacing old track, bridges, signals and retiring the diesels to make way for faster, cleaner electric engines.
All of this will take money -- lots of it. System improvements identified by Caltrain staff will cost up to $343 million, an amount now available from contributions made to the system by the state, federal and three county governments. The $376 million needed for electrification has yet to be found.
The big question faced by Caltrain staff and overseeing board members is whether to commit to electrification now, so that all planned improvements conform to that power source. In a preliminary vote last month, the Caltrain board voted a tentative yes to planning for electrification, and we hope they will back that up with a final vote May 6.
Is it prudent to spend nearly $1 billion on a railroad that now carries only 26,000 riders a day, a small fraction of the daily commute?
The answer is simple. The Peninsula's choked highways are only going to get worse, as space has run out to build more capacity.
From Menlo Park, BART does not look like an alternative to Caltrain. The 8-mile extension from Colma to the airport and then to Millbrae is costing $1.5 billion -- so far -- which works out to close to $200 million per mile. And people from farther south on the Peninsula still need to get to Millbrae to use it. It will be many years and several billion dollars more before BART can possibly make it to Redwood City or Menlo Park.
Meanwhile, Caltrain can run express trains -- which BART can't -- and its standard-gauge track will allow it to connect with other rail lines throughout the Bay Area and California. (BART runs on non-standard gauge.) With electrification and improvements costing less than $1 billion, Caltrain is worth the money. Improve it now, and riders will come.
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