Caltrain is now installing overhead catenary, as part of the electrification project. The next step will be to test/validate the electrical systems.
Overhead catenary systems (OCS) is a mature technology, with a large and established market of products and services to test line voltage. Being in Silicon Valley, one might expect Caltrain to use the most advanced of these technologies — or not:
The traction power substations and an overhead contact system (OCS) must be verified to be mechanically and electrically compatible with the new bi-level electric multiple unit vehicles (EMUs). Rather than bringing two new systems online simultaneously, PCEP staff determined it would be in the PCEP’s best interest to first test the traction power system and OCS using a used electric rail vehicle. This staged approach will greatly reduce the likelihood of exposing the new EMUs to possible 25 kilovolt-ampere (kVa) traction power abnormalities.
Staff recommends the purchase of two used electric locomotives: one that will be utilized for testing and the other that will be utilized for replacement parts. After the purchase from Mitsui is complete, a separate contract with Amtrak will provide overhaul services for the electric locomotives, as well as storage, acceptance testing and commissioning, training, and transporting the locomotives to CEMOF.
The budget for the work associated with both contracts is $1.5 million.
Upon completion of the electrification system testing, scheduled for 2020, the Caltrain will dispose of the used locomotives.
So the plan is to spend $1.5 million refurbishing two 40 year-old AEM-7AC locomotives, and use them one-time to do a “smoke-test” on the electrical system — and then throw them away! It is hard to imagine a more expensive and ridiculous way to do line testing.
AEM-7AC being recycled for parts
No, the plan is to spend $270,000 purchasing the two used AEM-7ACs, and then another $340,597 for Amtrak to overhaul, test, store, ship and provide training … for a total of $610,597 … plus up for staff to have up to $150k in change order authority, if needed … for a total of as much as $760,597.
Since the PCEP budget for this was $1.5m, and if little or none of the change order authority is used, it may come in at under half the budgeted amount.
It is likely there will be expenditures beyond the $600-760k refurbishment — disposing of the locomotives, misc overhead, paying crew to drive the locomotives around for historical reenactment, etc. Until we hear otherwise, I’m sticking with the conservative budget estimate.
I can’t think of a single example of Silicon Valley infrastructure that uses the “most advanced technology” for anything.
For such a low cost, I think it’s a wise investment that decouples dependency on EMU availability from OCS and associated testing.
Note that until the EMU gets certified, it probably can’t used for testing until it leaves Pueblo test track. I could be wrong.
According to the latest PCEP Progress Report, PGE power connection is scheduled 04/27/2020, “Segment 4 Completion” 05/22/2020. The first EMU arrives Pueblo later this year, and scheduled to be delivered to JPB in Spring 2020. Most likely, the EMU will be ready before the OCS.
Did you notice that thet there’s an asterisk next to delivery of EMU to Caltrain? It reads: Changes caused by the purchase of additional 37 traincars and offsite EMU testing have necessitated a reevaluation of
the program schedule. This effort is currently in process.
So the spring 2020 date is a placeholder. From project management point of view risk analysis, that’s still pretty close. Also, given that EMU production fell behind schedule, I think someone made the right call to use some contingency funding to derisk the critical path.
There’s money available for contingency and it’s smart to use it to keep schedule on track because delayed launch date still costs money.
I don’t think this post correctly reflects the purpose of the blog, but I guess we’ll see what happens when new dates are posted.