User:Mliu92/sandbox/Caltrain Modernization
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Caltrain Modernization Program (CalMod) is a $1.9 billion project that will add a Positive Train Control system and electrify the main line of Caltrain, a commuter railroad serving cities in the San Francisco Peninsula and Silicon Valley, as well as transition from its current diesel-electric locomotive powered trains to electric multiple units (EMU).
CalMod is divided into two sub-projects: the Communications Based Overlay Signal System Positive Train Control system (CBOSS/PTC) and the Peninsula Corridor Electrification Project (PCEP). CBOSS is designed to fulfill federal safety mandates for passenger rail and is part of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) waiver to use EMUs on tracks shared with freight traffic. PCEP will allow Caltrain to improve service times via faster acceleration and shorter headways, reduce air pollution and noise, and facilitate a future underground extension (DTX) into downtown San Francisco's Transbay Transit Center because the current diesel trains cannot serve underground stations. EMU procurement is part of PCEP.
When complete, CalMod will electrify 49 miles (79 km) of tracks between 4th and King station and Tamien Station. Funding for the project comes from various federal, state, and local sources, including from the California High-Speed Rail Authority, which plans to share Caltrain's tracks in the future. Construction contracts for electrification were awarded on July 2016 and groundbreaking was expected to occur in March 2017, but was delayed when the United States Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao indefinitely deferred federal funding just before construction was about to begin. Also in early 2017, Caltrain removed the contractor responsible for implementing CBOSS for failure to perform on-budget and on-schedule. Caltrain plans to complete the project by 2020, after which it plans to use double-decker EMU Stadler Rail trainsets on the electrified route. Some of the diesel locomotives will be retained for service south of Tamien and, potentially, on the Dumbarton Rail Corridor.