Caltrain is proposing to use EMUs (non-FRA compliant) instead of electric locomotives because it recognizes additional performance, flexibility, and reliability gains associated with EMUs. It has been a part of BayRail's vision to use European-style, non-FRA compliant EMUs. We applaud Caltrain for adopting this alternative and successfully obtained a waiver…

Third rail, like that used by BART, has a large number of disadvantages and is generally only used for urban subways. The main disadvantage is the huge safety problem: while overhead electric wires are safety out of harm's way, a 600 to 1000 volt energized rail at ground level is…

No more dangerous than any existing power line. The wires which power the trains will be over twenty feet in their air, well above the tracks. The poles which hold the wires up do not have and sort of ladders or handholds. The wires and supports will be inspected regularly…

No, the wires over the Caltrain line will actually be less intrusive than the hundreds of power, telephone and cable wires over our streets already. Modern rail overhead wiring involves a steel pole every 100 feet or so, with three wires hanging between them. From the side, adjacent to the…

Trains must be able to carry a load of 600 or more people and their belongings, repeatedly accelerate them from 0 - 60 mph in under a minute, and travel hundreds of miles without needing to spend more than a few minutes to refuel. Within existing laws of physics, it's…

According to the Project 2025 report by Caltrain, electrified-multiple units will cut 10 minutes from the travel time of a limited stop train that makes 15 stops.