California Transit Nerd

straight BEMUs are pretty power limited if you want range.
The diesel battery hybrids offer better performance
Using the flirt 4 520kw gensets is 2MW of diesel power then get enough batteries to provide ~600kw which will max out the 2.6MW a pair of powered trucks would consume
EMUs can put down more

doubling VV again to 186$ a parcel would bring in an extra 30M but that doesn't scale which is a issue.

A 6 car flirt XL which likely can’t be coupled for crash safety reasons here is good for about 400 seats excluding bathrooms, bike or luggage space
That’s less than 3 bi levels cars and more likely 2 once the required amenities are fitted. Most Metrolink trains are 4-6 cars

The assertion that CAHSR is not going to get finished is backed by no evidence and ignores the political reality that the project is supported by 67% of voters, the powerful Building Trades, and the governor. If CAHSR is doomed, why does CA keep passing legislation to make CAHSR easier to build?

This article gets some very basic facts wrong about high-speed rail. $110 B is the cost for the entire 494 mile SF-LA project, which includes over 20 miles of tunnels - not just the Central Valley Section, which is estimated to cost around $30 B. Vox overstates the cost by more than 3x.

Metrolink has no good reason. While they don’t directly own any track the counties do own quite a bit
Cost while it’s a challenge Southern California has piles of money for highway expansion which would be better spent on Metrolink
Which really means it’s about political will and agency interest

Really we should run Cahsr to Irvine and wire up to Mission Viejo. South of there the San Clemente bypass might take a few routes and most Metrolink service stops

BNSF will let them though and as already agreed to CAHSR adding a 4th main and wiring up 3/4 between LA and Fullerton
UP runs on Caltrain and so the segments that are publicly owned could also be wired up
Overall AVL, SBL, OC, IEOC, 91/PC and the frequent core of VC fall under those categories

while it’s got a bit more power than the charger the early ones were major lemons. I’ve hear from some people in the know the later ones are significantly better in term of reliability
Overall though it still only has 3MW of traction at the wheels

Great report. Transit projects go through extensive public outreach and democratic approval. After the public is on board, unaccountable 3rd parties slow them to a crawl with bad faith demands, subjective standards, and unclear or ad-hoc process. Transit agencies need more control over permitting.

UP has tried and failed before to find shortlines for Caltrain.
I’m assuming freight access would remain and we’d improve the clearance to allow wires and double stacks but they move from being the primary freight operator to someone who can transit it and a shortline handles local jobs

We can modify their agreement if we buy out the coast line which we should do
UP should be happy with just though trackage rights giving up local freights to a short line

UP already is limited in the height of loads they can run up the coast or via Santa Clarita.
I’d also say it’s pretty rare for a load to be over 20ft tall which would make it taller than double stack containers

Metrolink doesn’t but the counties do and it’s looking like now all counties will just defer to Metrolink given LA metro has started to step back from working on AVL improvements

I happen to have a AC transit transbay pass but paid for by work but it definitely is an odd thing for many to have.

There isn't clearance in a few spots around SLO (mix of tunnels and bridges) for double stack high cubes so they don't send double stacks down the coast.

I saw that...
Ah yes a F125 dragging 6-7 coaches with 3MW of power at the wheels is going to win vs a EMU of the same length that can have 6MW and be lighter per car

Found this update from last year but its a little short on details
scta.ca.gov/wp-content/u...

I don’t see why it can’t be both there should be plenty of capacity between Vallejo to Davis

Their best option for direct fleet growth is UP express gets new equipment and that gives them 12 more cabs and 4 intermediate cars so they can make 11 2 car and 4 3 car
I doubt they’d want the dozen RDCs being sold by someone in Vermont given the amount of work to make them T4 or T4 battery hybrid

Problem is their fleet requirements are very northeast and I’m not away of anyone over there interested in a diesel battery hybrid and they’d struggle to find a buyer for their fleet
Modifying the existing units to be hybrids isn’t really possible without insane work because they are hydrologic

At least some plans have had them running to Fairfield but that’s under the assumption that’s where that’s interchange with CC
You could send some to Napa and some to Davis or Sacramento

I’d avoid cutting service when it’s half hourly.
90mph and or maybe a slightly more elevated couple of curves or running the train more unbalanced are all options that should have a fairly low monetary cost

No but we know SR-37 to become 2+2 is in the 20B range
I’d say do it specifically in a way we can run 15 min east west and 15 min capital corridor north of Vallejo probably all the way to sac

Or speed the service up which is possible

East west has a significantly lower bar to clear and could replace a project in the planning stages that’s got an insane price tag
RSR bridge replace still isn’t even a concept yet.

Really good paper from Circulate SD.

The current 3rd party system encourages opaque, lengthy bilateral negotiations with no objective standards for designs or approvals.

Unsurprisingly democratic places with low construction costs don’t do it this way.

www.circulatesd.org/powerlessbro...

90mph is an easy card they could use but not sure it would fix that.

SMART should really have a plan that lays out the required improvements to run 20 or 15 min service. I know they can’t get more of the same equipment new but at least with a plan they can point to it and ask for funding. Just like east west over SR-37

Reporting live from @circulatesd.bsky.social's press conference about their new whitepaper, The Powerless Brokers - about 3rd party issues slow down transit projects. @colinparent.bsky.social is talking about #SB445 and the need to invest in the LOSSAN corridor.