Caltrain Electrification

Hearing some reports of a on-track vehicle versus train incident at Millbrae today... no other info and I see nothing on the internet about it yet.

jwhite07 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 10, 2022 2:48 pm Hearing some reports of a on-track vehicle versus train incident at Millbrae today... no other info and I see nothing on the internet about it yet.

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/n ... o/2835196/

Pakenhamtrain wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 7:14 am https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/n ... o/2835196/

Video shows that the NTSB was onsite for the investigation.

Caltrain will begin energization testing of the catenary at the south end the next three weekends: Oct21-22, 29-30, Nov 5-6. Testing will be 2am -8am and Santa Clara, Diridon, and Tamien stations will be closed during the night.

Great to see progress!

There are delays in hanging wire . Many cat poles yet to be installed and the various hardware going on the poles.

rohr turbo wrote: ↑Fri Oct 21, 2022 1:07 pm Caltrain will begin energization testing of the catenary at the south end the next three weekends: Oct21-22, 29-30, Nov 5-6. Testing will be 2am -8am and Santa Clara, Diridon, and Tamien stations will be closed during the night.

Great to see progress!

Will de former Amtrak electric loc used for this kind of test?

SRich wrote: ↑Wed Nov 02, 2022 6:09 am Will de former Amtrak electric loc used for this kind of test?

I don't think so. Sounds like this is just wire testing; AEM-7s will probably be used at the next phase of testing. That will be very cool to see.

https://www.caltrain.com/projects/elect ... em-testing

Searching again for "Caltrain electrification update" and I got confused by a lot of documents being labeled "Caltrain Electrification Update January 6, 2022" - they are on different dates.

The most recent one is datelined October 6, 2022 so I'll look in it.

The foundations are complete for all four segments, and the poles and wires for Segments 3 and 4. For Segments 1 and 2, 52 poles were installed in August and 161 poles remained, while for wire, 64 KLF were installed in August and 762 KLF remain. KLF = thousand linear feet.

So the poles should be done by this month and the wire by August next year.

The 10 traction power facilities are 93% done with no work on them in August.

• Carshells for Trains 17-19 in production
• Trains 6-10 in production at Salt Lake City
• 14 th trainset anticipated arrival fall 2023
• 19 th trainset anticipated arrival fall 2024

Construction | Caltrain

From Palo Alto southward, the overhead cable system is in place and the traction power substations are almost completely done. My previous post's document warned of testing of the electrification last October.

The poles are mostly done between South SF and San Mateo, and much less done between Belmont and Atherton. The wires are a little bit done between South SF and San Bruno, and absent everywhere else north of Menlo Park.

lpetrich: does that kLF include contact wire, traveler, and other as well as all pole wire(s) ? Then you have the connections to substations and power lines. Somehow missed it . Is there any figure on what the MAX apeed the CAT is being built for?. Thinking about Ca HSR

west point wrote: ↑Sun Dec 11, 2022 2:06 pm lpetrich: does that kLF include contact wire, traveler, and other as well as all pole wire(s) ? Then you have the connections to substations and power lines. Somehow missed it .

That breakdown is not in that progress report. It's likely in some detailed design document somewhere. Some document here: Electrification Document Library | Caltrain

I'll try to estimate what's what in the wire. The total length of wire is 1.5 million "linear feet" or 284 miles. The route length is about 49 miles, so that means 5.8 wires. But in SF, the route runs through tunnels: (25th St.) 0.16 mi, (Thornton Ave.) 0.45 mi, (Bayshore Blvd.) 0.67 mi, (total) 1.28 mi. Omitting the tunnels gets the ratio up to 5.9 wires. So the route has on average 6 wires along its length.

From top to bottom, the wires are:

• Catenary or messenger wire
• Droppers (vertical)
• Contact wire

That is roughly 3 wires per track, or 6 wires for a double-track route, which is about right.

Route-length estimate from US-101/SR-67 route, from Google Maps.

Is there any figure on what the MAX apeed the CAT is being built for?. Thinking about Ca HSR

I'd have to look in the design documents for that.

Documents page > Environmental reports > 2014 PCEP Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) > Chapter 2: Project Description > 2.0_ProjDescription.pdf

States that the route's top speed will be 79 mph, and that is the limit for lack of cab signals.

I had to look in CHSRA's site for the expected speed for HSR service.

San Francisco to San José - California High Speed Rail

The alignment includes high-speed rail stations in San Francisco, Millbrae, and San Jose; construction of a light maintenance facility (LMF) on the east side of the Caltrain corridor in Brisbane; and improvements for safety and speed to allow for operations at a maximum speed of 110mph.

I don't know how much of that is now being built into the SF - SJ corridor.

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/veh ... ric-trains

Caltrain begins testing of first electric trains

The electric trains will begin service in fall 2024 and will feature on board displays with digital trip information, increased storage capacities, Wi-Fi and power outlets at every seat.

Caltrain has begun testing its electric trains. Initial tests will be conducted between Santa Clara and College Park Stations on the Santa Clara Drill Track. Test runs will expand to the main track, between San Antonio and San Jose Diridon stations this summer.
...

Here are two videos (not mine) of the first test runs under catenery power. Sure looks pretty!

The Statler cars seem to have traveled over the poor track s curve easily. Although at a slow speed.