Caltrain (California, Bay Area) electrification sooner than expected?

[bikkuri bahn]

One can only hope...

Caltrain plan would fast-track electric rail

 

The overhaul of California's high-speed rail project could bring the Bay Area $1 billion to electrify Caltrain and lay the path for bullet train service between San Francisco and San Jose sooner than anticipated.

 

The Chronicle has learned that officials with Bay Area transportation agencies are in negotiations with each other, and with the California High-Speed Rail Authority, to craft an agreement that would fund an advanced train-control system, electrify the rails on the Peninsula and eliminate some of the rail crossings - perhaps as soon as 2016, five to 10 years earlier than previous estimates.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/12/MNQJ1N64G0.DTL#ixzz1mJaT2VU8

[Mudkip Orange]

There's a lot of geometric constraints on the existing Caltrain line that preclude proper HSR operation, but given that the Peninsula NIMBYs are pretty much the only Democrats that oppose this thing, there might be some logic in building the whole damn system, running mixed trains at 100km/h north of San Jose, and only four-tracking the Peninsula once the rest of the thing is a done deal.

 

Hopefully this also means ERTMS instead of that crazy-ass CBOSS thang.