The Great Platform Construction Extravaganza

Redwood City in August 2000

One of the arguments against level boarding is that it would involve a massive reconstruction of just about every single station platform along the entire peninsula rail corridor without interrupting rail service.  On the face of it, that sounds like a very expensive logistical challenge, simply too hard to take on with all the other modernization efforts currently underway.

Would you believe that Caltrain has already done it?  Over the last 15 years, no fewer than 37 station platforms have been built from the ground up.

Following Caltrain's forward-thinking strategic plan, these new platforms were all built for future compatibility with level boarding rolling stock, after a hard-fought waiver of CPUC General Order 26D.  This regulation had previously limited platform heights to 8 inches, causing lengthy station dwells and slowing Caltrain trip times, which thankfully have improved by several minutes over the last decade.

Um, never mind, scratch that entire last paragraph!  All of these new platforms will have to be re-built all over again to achieve level boarding.

Station	Qty	Opening	Cost	Comments
Bayshore	2	Mar 2004
San Bruno	2	Apr 2014		part of grade separation project
Millbrae	3	Jun 2003		part of BART to SFO project
Burlingame	2	Jun 2008	$20.5M
San Mateo	2	Sep 2000
Hayward Park	2	Nov 1999		built for future third track
Hillsdale	1	Oct 2005	$2+M	new northbound only, with southbound improvements
Belmont	1	Oct 1999		part of grade separation project
San Carlos	2	Oct 1999		part of grade separation project
Redwood City	2	4Q 2000
Menlo Park	2	Aug 2000	$3.3M
Palo Alto	2	Feb 2009	$35M	(cost shared with Cal Ave)
California Ave	2	Feb 2009	$35M	(cost shared with Palo Alto)
San Antonio	2	Apr 1999
Mountain View	2	Dec 1999
Sunnyvale	2	May 2003
Lawrence	2	Mar 2004
Santa Clara	2	Dec 2011	$40M	(cost shared with San Jose)
San Jose	2	4Q 2012	$40M	(cost shared with Santa Clara)
TOTAL	37

Caltrain has demonstrated that they know how to build a large number of new platforms over a time span of a decade or so, which is why it's particularly important that the new EMU rolling stock (which will last three decades) be pre-configured for a future level boarding platform interface.  It would truly be a shame if an effective level boarding solution--fully compatible with high-speed rail--were to be precluded through bad procurement choices made today in 2014.

Here's hoping that Caltrain's 2014 strategic plan will reflect a new vision for level boarding and a new understanding of its advantages for reducing trip times, improving service punctuality, increasing train average speeds, and increasing the overall throughput capacity of the peninsula rail corridor.

The Hybrid DMU, Unicorn of the Rails

The hybrid DMU is a diesel multiple-unit train with a twist: it has on-board energy storage to enable energy recovery, similar to an electric train that feeds power back into the grid when slowing down.  Just as in a hybrid automobile, this energy store helps to start the train rolling again, and reduces energy consumption in stop-and-go operations.  Peninsula cities and stakeholders, ever more astute on rail matters, perceive three important benefits in the hybrid DMU:

1. It keeps high-speed rail out.  In discussions of Caltrain electrification and the slow beating-around-the-bush process that is leading up to the certification of the electrification EIR, high-speed rail has become the central issue. Electrification is viewed in some quarters as the camel's nose under the tent, so a renewed push is underway to ensure that all the alternatives other than electrification have been duly considered.
    
2. It keeps unsightly high-voltage poles and wiring at bay, preserving views and presumably residential property values in some of the most affluent areas in the nation.
    
3. It spares Caltrain, the perennially funding-starved agency, the burden of spending $785 million of scarce capital dollars to string wires over its tracks.

The hybrid DMU is viewed as a synergistic technology that solves all three issues in one fell swoop, in a classic Silicon Valley win-win-win.

There's only one little problem: it doesn't really exist.

Okay, almost.  There do exist a handful of hybrid DMUs in Japan.  These advanced technology trains, instantly knowable to any city staffer via a simple Google search (keyword hint: 'hybrid DMU'), operate in Japan.  The fleet numbers three cars on one line, and ten cars spread among four other lines.  Each car seats about 45 and tops out at 60 mph.  Their power output is less than a Chevy Tahoe hybrid's.

The Law of Diesel Trains

To understand why the hybrid DMU will never work for the peninsula corridor, look no further than the laws of physics.  What Caltrain needs is a singular focus on better service: quicker trips, more frequent stops, higher capacity, and less waiting for the next train.  That requires big, fast trains with one key quality: punchy acceleration, precisely the reason why the EMU (electric multiple unit) powered by high-voltage overhead lines was invented and perfected.  To achieve high acceleration, the laws of physics dictate high power and low weight.

A diesel train makes all its power on board and sends it to electric motors that drive the wheels; it is essentially a rolling mini power plant.  The nicest and newest rolling mini power plants used by Caltrain today generate 3,600 horsepower for a million-pound train.  In metric units, that's about 6 kW/ton, and as any Caltrain rider can attest, it doesn't exactly pin you to your seat.  The problem is that rolling mini power plants are heavy, and if you want more power, you'll need to haul around even more weight.  This is the Law of Diesel Trains, directly derived from Newton's Laws of Motion.  More weight does little to help with acceleration, so diesel basically can't scale up.

The EMU, on the other hand, doesn't schlep around a rolling mini power plant.  Its electricity is generated off-board by a real power plant, of the PG&E variety.  The electric grid, hooked up to gigawatts of generating capacity, can provide essentially limitless power to a train.  That endows a typical EMU (of the sort available off-the-shelf from many manufacturers) with a power-to-weight ratio of about 12 kW/ton, or double the giddy-up of a diesel train.  For short bursts of acceleration, high-voltage EMUs can briefly exceed their continuous power rating and draw even more power, hitting up to 18 kW/ton.  For those still keeping track, that's triple the acceleration of Caltrain.  For reference, BART cars achieve a respectable 15 kW/ton.

So what do the Japanese know about hybrid DMUs that we don't?  Most importantly, they do not claim zippy acceleration as a benefit.  The hybrid DMU does three things for them: save about 10% on fuel, cut down nitrous oxide emissions, and cut the noise of an idling train down to an electric whisper. Beyond those benefits, the 'D' in DMU makes it follow the Law of Diesel Trains.  The Japanese hybrid DMUs manage barely 5 kW/ton, probably because they haul around not just a mini power plant, but also big heavy batteries.  Here in the US, more stringent crashworthiness standards would make such trains even heavier and their performance even more anemic.

The inescapable conclusions are thus:

• Hybrid DMUs provide only about one third of the acceleration required to enable meaningful Caltrain service improvements. A simple technical litmus test for future Caltrain rolling stock is the power-to-weight ratio, required to be at least 12 to 15 kW/ton.  Hybrid DMUs don't qualify.
• Hybrid DMU technology has never been scaled up beyond the size of a bus.
• Hybrid DMU technology inherently cannot be scaled up to achieve higher power-to-weight and acceleration in large (600 - 1000 passenger) configurations.

The mystical powers ascribed to hybrid DMUs by peninsula stakeholders rightfully earns them the nickname of 'Unicorn of the Rails.'  It's time for them to realize that by undermining the choice of EMU technology and promoting hybrid DMUs, they are also undermining the future of Caltrain--intentionally or not.  Caltrain can be faulted for many things, but their choice of high-voltage EMU technology as the path to modernization is unequivocally correct and technically justified, regardless of what happens with high-speed rail.

Final EIR for Caltrain Electrification

The day has finally come! Caltrain is about to certify the environmental clearance documents for the electrification project, achieving a key milestone on the path to "shovel readiness."

Note that electrification is different and separate from HSR, although it is closely related and serves as a key enabler of HSR. The present certification has to do with Caltrain's own long-standing plans to convert from diesel power to clean, fast and quiet 25 kV overhead electric power, regardless of HSR. For those who remember, the Draft EIR was published in 2004, and the idea of electrification dates back to the 1980s.

The final EIR is posted here.

The question on everybody's mind must be, why electrify before new HSR tracks are added and grade separations are built? The 185-page volume containing responses to public comments gives the following justification, among other reasons:

over three-quarters of electrification’s projected costs are expenses that do not depend on the specific track alignment; these include vehicles, power substations, and maintenance yards. Therefore, even if the entire track alignment were relocated as part of building the ultimate four-track, grade-separated railroad, in the worst case only about one-quarter of the total electrification cost for that segment of the route may be wasted. But such waste would be minimized. Design plans or conceptual plans for the ultimate alignment would be used in the detailed planning for electrification to reduce the amount of additional electrification work needed as the ultimate alignment was completed. In addition, virtually all of the OCS equipment (with the exception of the foundations, OCS conductors and any underground duct banks) can be re-used, thereby further reducing any waste and associated costs.

Congratulations for passing this important milestone.

Caltrain Does the Right Thing: Nothing

For a few months after the passage of Proposition 1A in November 2008, it seemed as if Caltrain was conducting business as usual on its capital improvement program. They are finally showing signs of waking up to HSR and its implications for the numerous capital projects in their pipeline. (photo by PBO31)

In April, Caltrain placed the renovation of the South San Francisco station on hold. This $50 million project, fully funded and at the 90% design stage--the shovel doesn't get any readier--was shut down at the last minute over uncertainty in the plans for HSR and the future configuration of the Union Pacific freight yard located there. The project will resume when more is known about detailed HSR plans for the area, probably within the next two years.

Further south and for the better part of the decade, Caltrain had plans to replace century-old, seismically unsafe, low-clearance bridges just north of downtown San Mateo. These antiquated bridges, crossing over Poplar, Santa Inez, Monte Diablo and Tilton avenues, are so low that even the Google Street View camera car nearly crashed into one. The work on this $27 million project was to start this summer. Not only would these four bridges need to be rebuilt and expanded for HSR, but they are also located in an area where the future vertical alignment of the tracks is highly uncertain, depending on how the new tracks are routed through downtown San Mateo. A San Mateo resident rightly complained about the disconnect. Recently, Caltrain announced they were opting for a better approach, consisting of a basic seismic retrofit and continued maintenance to extend the lifetime of the bridges just long enough to find out what will happen with HSR.

As part of their announcement, they stated: Caltrain is assessing its extensive capital program to better coordinate with high-speed rail and to make certain that today’s investments are not deemed obsolete in the near future.

Better do it right than do it twice.