Looks like the news agency needs to do some fact checking. Most of those cars are not 30 years old. They were brand new starting at about 2001+ Not sure when they received the bulk of the order though. I know they started getting the first few sets in early 2001.

Alot of their full train problems are do to not long enough trains which can't be longer due to how the stations were built. Platforms are too short and too close to crossings to do a longer train. I am very glad to see the trains are full and being used though. With electrification I don't see how that will fix the problem. Given the power problems in the bay area and most of California I hope they have some big generators to make those trains move when there is no grid power in the area.




mook Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Interesting view of the federal funding mess for
> Caltrain.
>
> [www.citylab.com]
> nias-rail-drama-nobodys-a-winner/517488/
>
> tl;dr: the funding delay (complete blockage
> likely) hurts Caltrain, eliminates 10K related
> jobs across the country, and hurts the Bay Area
> economy/environment, but does nothing to HSR which
> is moving ahead for now without new federal
> funding. While electrification of Caltrain would
> help HSR get to SF, lack of it doesn't stop the
> project which can run to San Jose anyway.
> Fundamentally, while each helps the other, they're
> separate projects with separate goals on separate
> schedules.