One of the puzzling things about the CHSRA has been its inability to work with existing partners. For example: Caltrain and the CHSRA are supposed to be sharing track and stations (as part of the “blended” plan) — but there has been almost no cooperation between the two agencies. Those new EMU trains that Caltrain will be getting with electrification are being designed without any input from CHSRA. Same for the new Caltrain signal system.
And now that mystery got a lot weirder. Amtrak and the CHSRA have announced they will be doing a joint procurement on train sets:
Amtrak and the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) are joining forces in the search for proven high-speed rail (HSR) train sets currently being manufactured and in commercial service that are capable of operating safely at speeds up to 220 mph on both Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC) and on California’s developing HSR corridor.
“This is about investing in 21st Century state-of-the art high-speed rail,” said California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Jeff Morales. “We are pleased to join with Amtrak and look forward to continued collaboration in the future. This is a natural fit since Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and California will be the bookends for American high-speed rail.”
Perhaps Jeff Morales isn’t familiar with North American geography? California and the Northeast Corridor are several thousand miles apart.
Seriously, it is really hard to come up with a rational explanation for this plan. The NEC is a 100-year-old legacy infrastructure, whereas the CHSRA is nearly a clean-sheet design. Why make California’s system backwards-compatible with a legacy rail system thousands of miles away?
My understanding is that the NEC requires tilting trains to get anything like the best out of the sharp turns on the route. This isnt the case for CSHRA as far as I know.
Additionally, I havent heard anything about the NEC getting an FRA waiver. If not, this would mean that the CSHRA’s brand new freight-separated system would be stuck with massive overweight trains.
BBnet3000 – Amtrak is almost certainly going to apply for a NEC waiver, at the very least. If they don’t succeed, there’s plenty of time for CHSRA to pull out of the deal (it’s only an RFI[nformation], remember, not an RFP[roposal]).
Again, the CHSRA has cooperated with practically everyone. Ask Metrolink.
Caltrain, on the other hand, has very carefully not cooperated with anyone.
I suggest you stop drinking.