Caltrain has hit an iceburg. Due to declining tax revenues, the agency faces a $30 million deficit next year.
One might think this would be an ideal time to modernize the system, and to fix long-standing labor productivity problems. But nope, the only solution up for consideration is massive service cuts.
And just how archaic are Caltrain operations? Consider this NY Times blog posting from last year:
Today’s Barbary Coast column is about a primitive form of communication. No, not something from an ancient civilization. It’s the system in place to identify the trains, tracks and departure times at the otherwise very modern Caltrain terminus at 4th and Townsend Streets in San Francisco. Instead of flat screen TVs or digital displays, the station uses wooden signs called “dog bones” that must be manually changed with the help of a long stick. It’s a throwback to the old days, but there’s a question of cost. It takes three employees to make sure this task is covered. Remarkably, when they designed this building a decade ago, architects were ordered to incorporate the manual signs. They are built into the metal superstructure. Caltrain would not say how much these workers are paid.
Systemic Failure 
[…] was inspired to write all this because of a post at the Systemic Failure blog. The Drunk Engineer takes pleasure in pointing out that transit agencies are really social […]
Yeah, just because a route has history does not mean it has to be run as an old timey railroad. Other than this though, most of their cost issues have the FRA to blame (for instance, why they arent running DMUs).
Id love to see Caltrain be integrated into BART. Im not talking about changing gauge, for now it would have to stay as a separate system (like the A and B divisions of the NYC subway). Ultimately, id like to see the primary BART system converted to standard gauge, though that may be a lot to ask for in our lifetimes…
A lot about Caltrain makes sense compared to BART. The simple, cheap stations, for one. The standard gauge. The biggest problems are the terminal station, which is not going to get fixed any time soon (if it could eventually be integrated into BART, you could have a Peninsula -> East Bay train via the/a Transbay Tube), and the FRA regs that keep them using dated technology. If they could get DMUs (and eventually EMUs), that would be a huge cost reduction. Ideally if they could get the line seperated from freight, they could get one person train operation as well, like BART.
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