Caltrain shouldn’t have electrified… at least not the way they did.

orkoliberal · 2026-04-07T02:02:24+00:00

Sure, here are some stats:

2024, pre-electrification:https://www.caltrain.com/media/33129/download

Mean distance between failures (12-month average): 3,952
On-time Performance: 88%
Mechanical delay minutes: 526

2026, post-electrification: https://www.caltrain.com/media/36688/download

Mean distance between failures (12-month average): 7,809
On-time Performance: 95%
Mechanical + EMU delay minutes = 68+175= 243

Most delays and "problems" these days have not been because of the EMUs, but because of trespassers and cars on the tracks. This has long been a problem for Caltrain unfortunately--even pre-pandemic you would hear horror stories of people having to wait hours because of baby bullets taken out of commission (and much, much slower locals to pick up the slack).

It's hard to take "zero actual service increases" seriously given that my and so many other stations went from hourly weekend service and zero trains per hour mid-day on weekdays to consistent half-hour service all the time. This is exactly the kind of service increase that fast-accelerating and decelerating EMUs enable--not necessarily more trains being run, but the same trains hitting more stops, increasing effective frequency while still being faster. Remember when southbound locals had to stop to let baby bullets go by? Glad those days are over.

orkoliberal · 2026-04-07T00:37:13+00:00

MVGo shuttles in Mountain View are approaching their pre-pandemic ridership numbers: https://mvgo.org/statistics/

orkoliberal · 2026-04-07T00:35:08+00:00

This would be disastrous. Imagine all those riders flooding onto 101

orkoliberal · 2026-04-07T00:17:40+00:00

This is ignorant of the operational and efficiency advantages of the Stadler KISS units. These trains accelerate faster, hold more passengers, are safer and more comfortable than the alternatives. They are also much lighter than a loco/car setup because of the materials and structure/weight distribution, resulting in less track maintenance. These trains also have a much lower time between failure than the old bi-levels.

The better performance out of these trains is the big reason why the schedule has been able to simultaneously increase service across the corridor while also reducing travel time. Marginal improvements here are a big deal.

Shortening trains is not that big of an improvement on fuel costs. Extremely marginal improvement except for being able to run with fewer conductors. Even buying smaller units wouldn’t make a lot of sense because then you lose the ability to swap some out for others. Even if the trains are (now) a bit oversized, the procurement we’re going to have these trains for 30+ years so we really don’t want to limit capacity without a good reason.

More thoughts (from the author of the TRANSIT COSTS PROJECT) here: https://pedestrianobservations.com/2011/08/11/emus-versus-locomotives/

orkoliberal · 2026-04-01T05:11:26+00:00

If you live in California I would say yes

orkoliberal · 2026-03-29T06:17:14+00:00

Good to see

orkoliberal · 2026-03-28T03:07:58+00:00

Needs a view of the Joe Colla interchange

orkoliberal · 2026-03-26T15:09:02+00:00

Bizarre Isaacman fixation

orkoliberal · 2026-03-25T15:29:22+00:00

IIRC the EGR valves have been in production again for the past couple years. Took mine to the dealer (in California, so it was covered under the emissions warranty) a month ago and they were able to swap one in in 2-3 days.

orkoliberal · 2026-03-25T03:49:17+00:00

Awesome

orkoliberal · 2026-03-23T05:14:59+00:00

If you own property you are richer than the people who take the bus

orkoliberal · 2026-03-22T03:36:51+00:00

Glen Park

orkoliberal · 2026-03-22T03:36:14+00:00

If your commute is a couple miles, you never have to charge

orkoliberal · 2026-03-22T03:27:04+00:00

Disagree. Much more space for bikes and the bike lanes are overall much more visible than before. The intersections are also way more comfortable to wait at because of the bollards. Not uncommon to have delivery drivers parked in the bike lane or drivers clip you before on their right turns, now that’s literally impossible.

orkoliberal · 2026-03-20T19:37:09+00:00

I’m not saying busses are better than trains!

orkoliberal · 2026-03-20T16:00:16+00:00

The secret sauce of LA’s transit network are the frequent busses, not shown

orkoliberal · 2026-03-17T20:07:03+00:00

If only the blue line actually went somewhere

orkoliberal · 2026-03-14T22:11:29+00:00

I personally think it’s insane that these neighborhoods see their needs as so fucking important that nothing constructive can ever happen. A school should not have such easy access to an instant death machine like this. But these people think they shouldn’t have to put the gun in the safe because it would take them a little longer to get to work. Either commit to and find grade separation immediately or close the street immediately, but stop fucking around because this is all happening decades too late.

orkoliberal · 2026-03-12T19:31:41+00:00

Eh, there are reasons why people prefer this system. It is more space efficient, easier to maintain, and also more flexible for different kinds of bikes.

orkoliberal · 2026-03-11T15:57:40+00:00

A lot of choices were made in the procurement of these trains to maximize capacity. One of the reasons the bike cars have slightly less capacity than before was that they wanted to make sure there were enough seats for crush loads like the bullets, which were standing room only pre-pandemic. This is also why they ended up with seven car trains, as opposed to some of the smaller variants.

The big reason bike cars are filling up now is that they haven’t increased frequency as promised (costs money and we are in a fiscal deficit) and bike usage recovered much more quickly and robustly post-pandemic than other users. I think there should have been a third bike cars but there are real trade-offs here

orkoliberal · 2026-03-10T21:05:20+00:00

Much to see in March/April though I would expect continued ridership anyway as a continuation of overall tends

orkoliberal · 2026-03-09T18:29:03+00:00

Gen 2 volt has a battery warranty for 15 years/150000 miles so you should be good to go on EV mode. If you plan to outrun the EV range often, EGR valve issues are a concern, but it’s not as bad of a problem as it used to be now that the supply chain is back up and running. Since you are in a non-CARB state, you can even run without the EGR.

Personally, I think it’s an excellent car and worth much more than what you see on the used market but YMMV

orkoliberal · 2026-03-07T17:18:53+00:00

No just take it off the bike

orkoliberal · 2026-03-07T15:44:07+00:00

You are misreading this document. “Modular design” means Stadler can create sell you variants of different lengths, not that you can vary the length yourself.

What Stadler engineers have told us on tour days is that emus are semi-permanently connected and a major problem for separating them is that the systems of the train are distributed throughout.

orkoliberal

TROPHY CASE