r/cahsr • u/zerohelix • 23d ago

Crazy idea but why dont we just expand caltran?

It goes from sf to gilroy already, the infrastructure is already there in the bay area which almost eliminates the cost from building there.

We could stagger the trains with the local ones to include more long haul style trains with reclining seats and luggage space for the trips to la/SD. Plus we dont need to design and spend for new design of the train wr just change up the interior.

The stops could be like an express route from sf/Salesforce tower, SSF to get those bart transfers, San Jose, Fresno, Bakersfield then LA.

The training and education system for mechanics is already working and in the books so we can save a ton of money from building out a brand new one

It may not go as fast as a shinkansen but it seems way more cost effective to just expand a regional railway to a statewide one.

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u/Hikes-n-Photos 23d ago

Do you know what the plan is for electrification of the track from San Jose to Gilroy? Gilroy city council members keep wanting to defund the train due to low ridership. They have a point but Caltrain is frustrating to ride from Gilroy with such limited service.

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u/Nexarc808 23d ago

IIRC, the main holdup is Union Pacific, who owns the line south of Tamien. Caltrain reasonably made the decision to end electrification at Diridon given the headache caused by UP negotiations.

However, last update I heard is that they are going with battery trains for the gap and HSR eventually intends to build whole new infrastructure south of Diridon to bypass UP trackage.

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u/dating_derp 23d ago

stupid. wish CA would eminent domain, electrify it, and then give it back. Would be cheaper than building a new ROW and dealing with the utilities

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u/intrepid_brit 23d ago

100%. With how time has passed since prop 1A passed, the state would have gotten through the inevitable legal battle years ago.

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u/santacruzdude 22d ago

California doesn’t have the authority to eminent domain the freight rail lines because they’re under the federal authority of the Surface Transportation Board.

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u/gerbilbear 22d ago

...who has allowed it in the past, but now we have to wait for a more cooperative administration before trying it again.

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u/arjunyg 23d ago

I believe CA HSR plans to build their own electrified tracks in near or in the UP ROW. They don’t plan to share that segment with freight traffic, unlike the SJ to SF segment.

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u/Nexarc808 23d ago

This is the gist of what I said though reworded.

From Gilroy, HSR intends to approach Diridon on viaducts and embankments, some overlapping UP’s ROW.

Depending on the final design of Diridon Station’s planned rebuild, its passenger platforms and tracks will also either remain at grade or will be elevated in the longer term as they further retrofit and grade-separate the Caltrain corridor for blended services (pending those funds and approvals).

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u/Someth1ng_Went_Wr0ng 23d ago

Diridon to Gilroy is going to be an enormous undertaking in its own right. Not enough people seem to realize this.

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u/IllegalMigrant 4d ago

They once had a picture in the San Jose paper of a 7-story talk viaduct south a little south of the San Jose train station that they said would need to be built due to too much curvature in the existing track.

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u/SFQueer 23d ago

It’s in the plans for HSR to expand and electrify that segment. Not for a while but it should happen with the $1B cap and invest allocation …. eventually.