Why is BART inherently better than an electrified and grade-separated Caltrain?

The above question was made In a Reply to my SF KCBS online Comment (08-29-13) about the latest female pedestrian death-by-Caltrain at Charleston Rd in Palo Alto, Ca, the third this year here, by KCBS reader, Matt Laroche  

My Reply to Matt about why BART Around the Bay makes more sense is, as follows:

-One seat (no or few transfers) to get to most Bay Area near-track venues. 

-More difficult for suicide prone/depressed people to access tracks, since more of BART tracks are above or below ground level. Caltrain grade crossings are generally short and the track is easier to access, e.g. fewer suicides per rider/per station, per track mileage,etc

-Frees up precious SF land that a no-Caltrain (sob, sob for Caltrain aficionados) solution affords by consolidating upper Peninsula trackage onto BART for SF Mayor Lee's desired construction in high-value SoMa area.

--Eliminates over $2Billion in scarce (currently unfunded) transit $ by no longer require tunnel to TransBay Terminal(TBT), nor one way docks or turnarounds that Peninsula-only Caltrain requires....BART is already planned in the TBT with turnarounds...and can use the now-planned Caltrain docks/stations for the increased volume--with standard BART equipment. 

--Avoids the costs of a whole duplicate unique, boutique, Caltrain Peninsula train system, with its unique stations, capital needs, maintenance equipment, parts, and specially trained workers and administrative staff (admin staff eliminated!), by standardizing around BART as a holistic intra-regional core mass transit rail system, much as freeways serve cars in the road system.  

--The approximate $8 Billion to close the last 28 mile gap, based on the current cost to extend BART into SJ, including intracity higher cost elements.  Federal funds for rail gap closures are far easier to attain than new heavy rail starts. 

--Safer, not just for suicides, but when/if HSR comes up, because BART requires a different track width, its closed circuit, closed loop single track width prohibits sharing track with the statutory nightly freight trains, the 2 speeds of Caltrain Local and Express (75mph), and the higher speed HSR, i.e., three train operations and entities running 4 different train sets on the same train tracks, especially the 2-track only sections is a prescription for real disaster.  BART likely heavy passenger utilization is thus not in that deadly mix, per the recent HSR and Express train accidents that have occurred in Europe and China and other Asia countries, despite rail safety equipment (positive train control (PCT)) and procedures.   

Give it some quiet-time thought for a while. Think about BART capability as a future backbone rail bay area transit efficiency project politicians need to start to study asap given the 15 year effort to make this one-seat transit solution to connect so many bay area venues while automatically adding huge two-way bay area circular capacity to the one, safe regional rail system that all counties are now paying taxes to support, indeed, both trains. 

-Only BART's intra-regional single-seat transit mobility offering, covering the South Bay and Peninsula where Caltrain exclusively runs now, will make a very real difference in reducing and mitigating expected SF Bay Area automobile, truck, motorcycle, etc congestion on our roads -- make freeway and intercity roads that much safer.  Recall that famed Pulitzer Prized New York author, commentator, lecturer was killed in a car accident en route from Stanford University back to UC Berkeley, in part, I am convinced, because no efficient, single seat rail transit system capability existed, as exists in New York, Boston, Washington, and other cities around the world. The SF Bay Area deserves an effective and efficient, interconnected, single inter-regional, grade-separated, non-congestion-causing, safer, electrified (already is!!!!) backbone heavy rail system as BART has demonstrated works for us already.  

-BART will be getting new cars by the time Caltrain can be replaced for use on a future SJ to SF trackage. 

-BART has many miles of parallel pedestrian and bicycle trails.  With BART right-of-way, a safe, non-street 60 mile bikeway and trail can be built adjacent to it to connect to SF and SJ's expanding bike routes as well as with many intersecting trails that reach to the Bay, the Ocean, and City trails. Caltrain cannot do that because it is only on the Peninsula, but also these heavy trains, including future electric Caltrains (if that wasteful spending continues) raise too much dirt and dust onto any adjacent trail--as each Caltrain passes (one can see this today), unlike BART, for example, South San Francisco or El Cerrito's BART/Bicycle/Pedestrian proven configuration. Thus, BART supports Sustainable Living and Smart Growth Walkable Communities strategy (and access this funding). 

[end, for now]

  

Today's death at Caltrain Palo Alto, California's Charleston Road Caltrain Commuter train tracks of an elderly pedestrian has some people commenting on the web that the victims are "stupid".  This is callous.  It clearly indicates that such comment authors have little personal experience nor feelings about the causes and impacts of such deaths by (Democrat monopoly) government-run and subsidized outdated surface trainsets in our midst. I ask the writers to please not be so insensitive, if they can help it.

I go to some of these Caltrain death scenes afterwards to politely "picket" to raise awareness of the need to replace this inherently dangerous, unhealthy, (GHG and brake particulate) and 100k cars of daily cross-traffic polluting, noise-making, congesting, HSR placeholder trains on the 1863 vintage street-level trackway--when the Peninsula was absolutely rural.  Relatives and friends of Caltrain's deceased victims--and some related to at-risk potential victims come up to me to express the reality of this deadly, outdated trains on them.  Caltrain deaths are not a matter of being "stupid". Far more.  

Caltrain just spent another of our $1M to re-time signals at this and other intersections "for safety". Grossly Insensitive Peninsula Democrat elected officials, many of who served on the Caltrain governing board during their careers, simply cannot bring themselves to review this dangerous train in our midst that has killed so many and will continue to until it is replaced. The worse of the worst is the hypocrite, San Bruno PG&E Blast Headline-a-week GrandStander Par Excellence, State Senator Jerry Hill, who refuses to do anything, but authorize more $$ to perpetuate this Caltrain killer train monster rather than move to consider safer BART down the Peninsula.  This week Hypocrite Hill's bill to solidify electrification of Caltrain's/HSR-funded ($600Million+) outdatedness went to Gov Jerry Brown, a rail zealot at any cost. This is like "perfuming the pig" or developing a new horse-buttock attachment for a horse drawn buggy to catch its fecal outflow to make streets cleaner and "safer".  The latest $1M "safety" improvement did is lengthen cross traffic and parallel road (Alma) idle wait times and GHG exhaust from delayed vehicles--but nothing to stop this carnage. Indeed, this is the third death here at Charleston in the past year, the 9th this year on the Caltrain trackage, and the 197th since 1995 when my count started.  
Not one of the Democrat politicians who "care" so much has ever lifted even a pinky to investigate bringing safer BART down the Peninsula to the current planned, and safer, terminus at Santa Clara University, despite the sales taxes we pay now for BART.  

Note: BART has suicides, but far fewer and far far fewer deadly accidents than this incredibly dangerous 75mph Caltrain "mini-bullet train" that kills so many on its trackage so fast, in addition to the regular, slower "local" Caltrain runs. BART's top speed is about the same as Caltrain's Express trains--but separated from people! 

It is time now to start planning to replace Caltrain with BART, the last 28 miles from Millbrae south to SCU/SJ in this innovative "Silicon Valley" and stop these stopgap ineffective "safety" improvements. Caltrain has to go away and replace it with the (not perfect, but better) BART Around the Bay (my blog name, too), electric, street-separated, quieter, safer, and mutually beneficial "one-seat" (no transfer) high capacity rail solution around our Bay--true, intraregional mass transit from/to the Peninsula, East Bay, South Bay (soon) and all those sports, education, business/downtowns, shopping centers et al --without a car. Democrat voters have the upper hand to elect responsible new politicians who truly care about our safety, transit capacity effectiveness and modernization to serve us and our growth. 

Considerations for Future BART...BART Around The Bay.

Recall that BART was originally planned and legislated to be around the Bay.

The following Comment was submitted to the Future BART page on Friday, 06-14-13:

BART's Future Plans to consider the long-range ultimate, back to the future, BART Around The Bay as originally envisioned must be resurrected due to the humongous benefit this Complete BART solution provides for bay area transit users and BART's cost-effective efficiency.

Accomplish this wise BART expansion at relatively low cost by replacing Caltrain in the Peninsula Corridor, 15 miles of which from Millbrae to SF has not even upgraded Caltrain to the standard and basic BART grade-separation, electrification, and frequency configuration that BART has.

Investing in Caltrain in the Peninsula, and its Dumbarton Rail resurrection in the Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge as yet another intra-regional rail line is a huge WASTE of taxpayer transit subsidy dollars, dollars that can be better used to optimize BART around the whole Bay.
Note: HSR can fund its own needs in or near the Caltrain corridor just as BART can up the Peninsula.

That is, either directly in the Peninsula Corridor or adjacent to it, like the Millbrae, new San Bruno segment.  Building three heavy rail systems in the Peninsula is a waste of precious transit dollars on the most expensive type of transit system to both build and operate.  Really, only one heavy rail system is needed north of San Jose --that is, BART.  HSR can stop at SJ--where Plan Bay Area documents that future growth will occur.
Please see my other blog posts here in: BART AROUND THE BAY for more detail of the advantages of studying closing the last 28 mile BART gap from Millbrae to the planned SJ/Santa Clara terminus, especially rather than more diluting rail investment in the suboptimal Caltrain.

BART efficiency and redundancy in a Complete BART one-seat two-way travel around the bay that could send trains in the opposite direction to bypass one track or tube problem area failure elsewhere,  or a future Bay Bridge failure (earthquake), provides a united single backbone arterial high capacity rail system, BART, satisfies the essential transit riders' need for one-seat reliability, cost efficiency, and emergency capabilities--rather than throwing another $5 Billion+ into the wasteful, deadly, disjointed, Caltrain on the Peninsula. This $5 Billion spending of precious transit dollars for Caltrain would wastefully duplicate and delay BART service and investments already, but would be better spent on this original and ever more pressing need for Complete BART around the SF Bay.

Note, too, that Santa Clara County and San Mateo have both voted to sales tax themselves specifically for BART purposes. Santa Clara County residents are paying .375% in two ballot measures that passed, the latest in 2008 by about 67% approval in Palo Alto and Mountain View despite neither community being on a Future BART plan, BART Around The Bay -- yet!

CA HSR Contract issued to TPZP, with serious issues. Better to spend taxes and jobs on key CA road alternatives

This comment was posted to the Orange County Register website report of today's award of the first major contract for CA HSR in the Central Valley to Tutor-Perini-Zachary-Parsons consortium for the stretch from Madera to Bakersfield, CA.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/authority-511625-bid-board.html

Typical HSR issues in that so many if not most WW HSR projects involve bribery or other corruption. Google HSR and Bribes and Corruption.  Seems like nothing new with Calif's HSR, from the pre-selection of SR152 route alignment, secret link with making it (and other CA"Trade corridors" routes) into Toll roads to help fund HSR operating cost (ala Paris-Lyon France HSR). A review of the now-ruled unconstitutional and illegal Nov 2008 Ballot Measure 1A( 3rd Appellate Court Case C060441, 1/28/11) campaign contributors is the who's who of rail project beneficiaries, including member companies of the TPZP consortium and other CA HSRA contracts.. A 2002 SJ Mercury News discusses Rod Diridon Sr's HSR shenanigans while on the Board (now USHSRAssoc Chair and Tax-gigolo funded "Mineta Transportation Institute Exec Director platform).  All the ballot numbers were wrong/fraudulent.  Even if this is built, the ballot "guarantees" nor intra-venously union-funded Democrats (and a few Repubs--Swearingen) in charge of, or pushing, this blue sky project have any civil or criminal penalty risk at all. Snake Oil at the expense of the taxpayer and govt. integrity.  A trip from SF to LA may take 6 hours or whatever, and no one goes to jail. The project is built on fraud.   Nevertheless, a recent SF Examiner article revealed the long history of Tutor-Perini cost overruns on many of their projects, with Mr Tutor making the same claims for "quality.  Overruns will happen here as well--with no repercussions, just as Parsons Brinkerhoff (a 2008 campaign contributor, like Parsons et al) already got a contract $96 million addition in May 2013.   What a waste of tax monies and union labor when they could be so much better for regional transit and highway improvements in:
Southern California  (Metrolink, Coaster, Red Line, I-5, SRs 14, 18, 58, 74, 76, 79, 90,138, US395),
Northern California (BART around the Bay, SR152-no tolls, SRs 20, 36, 37 (urgent!), 65, 84, 102, 130,  148, 238 etc) and
Central Valley (I-5 to 6 or 8 lanes from SR99-South to SR99-North or SR138 Grapevine, SRs 43, 46, 48, 58  65(Urgent) (from SR99 to Porterville), 140, 148, 65 (Roseville), 102, I-80,  etc).

Until the Calif Republican Party can update its brand and platform to serve the public, especially the Calif.car-loving motoring public/voters, including opposing any more toll roads/lanes (to fund HSR, especially), buying out all existing Toll Roads for all to use, then the CA Democrats can and will get away with all this!  Mr. Tweed, Democrat, might have been quite pleased with CA HSR.

Today's BART TransBay Tube delays cries out to restart planning to bring BART Around The Bay...up the Peninsula ... the last 28 miles from coming future end at Santa Clara University to current Millbrae station.  Imagine the HUGE benefits of the "one-seat" (no transfers) BART to any major Bay Area venue, employment centers. BART is safer, more frequent, no cross-traffic congestion, electrified already (it is Stupid to electrify 15 miles of the deadly Caltrain parallel to BART's existing track north of Millbrae into The City and TBTerminal. Save $$$, too and eliminate Dumbarton Rail & its supports in the Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge (more on my BARTAROUNDTHEBAY blogspot.).  This a.m.'s TBTube problems would have been mitigated by BART travel south (Richmond->Fremont->future SJ/SC-then up the last 28 miles to Millbrae) for the bidirectional, redundant BART flow capability. One intra-regional arterial rail system that balances backbone heavy transit needs with green electric BART.

Today's issues with the BART Tube accident, which required 300 feet+ of BART third rail repair, as well as with other BART maintenance and incident recovery needs provide another set of key reasons for the urgency of having BART Around The Bay.
This reason is in addition to greatly reducing the 1 to 1.5 consistent and predictable Caltrain track deaths by accidents and easy suicides each month that severely delay Peninsula commuters that my blog has addressed, but Bay Area Democrats could not care less.  Democrat Bay Area monopoly and its dogma has so far prevented replacing Caltrain with the logical inter-regional reach and efficiencies and environmental benefits of One Bay Area BART!

Rail funding is easier to obtain to close a major regional rail gap (over time), than a New Start or Rail Extension.  BART is fundable at the current cost per mile, of about $200M/per mile through suburban environs, and, depending on each city agreement with BART, up to $400M per mile through the most dense urban downtown passages (Burlingame, San Mateo, Menlo Park, and possibly Palo Alto (to save the Palo Alto tree University-Alma area).  

Certainly if the funds allocated to the HSR waste and fraudulent project can be redirected from the outdated Caltrain Killtrain, then the monies can certainly provide real, urban, backbone intraregional rail mass transit redundancy for not only the current 500,000+ daily riders on BART, but the more than 50,000 Caltrain riders induced by the unified BART gap closure around the Bay, especially with new BART cars et al.

Another Caltrain Death 5-15-13

Wedensday, May 15, 2013, yet another death on Caltrain's Peninsula tracks, the second in one month, the eighth this year, 36 since 1/1/2011, and 196th since I started my count, courtesy of excellent reporting by the Bay Area News Group's San Jose Mercury News and Peninsula Daily News.

This death, in San Bruno, was a totally unnecessary accident on the outdated, Express Caltrain's dangerous street-level tracks, that run parallel to BART tracks are far superior in efficiency, Bay Area reach, safety, run more frequently at similar top speed (up to 79 mph) and are already grade-separated, and electrified with Positive Train Control enhancements--all of which Bay Area Democrats and their Spend, Spend, Spend union puppeteers want to spend tax monies on Caltrain trackage to duplicate--even though BART already covers the first 15 miles from San Francisco to Millbrae!  What is wrong with this picture?!

BART only needs to extend 28 miles south from Millbrae to Santa Clara University while San Jose/Santa Clara and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority ("VTA") continue their work to reach Santa Clara University from the South and East Bay.  

I suppose San Francisco Bay Area Politicians that comprise an inflexible, arrogant, un-innovative, Democrat monopoly of majority elected public officials that reach from almost all city councils, county bodies, then up through regional decision-making bodies, including all state and federal legislative officials are simply unable to break away from their special-intere$t, campaign funders of high-density developers, contractors, consultants and the human-subordinating Sierra Club, masking itself locally as self-proclaimed "Friends of Caltrain" human life-taking advocates.

Sadly for those who may either take their own life in a moment of despondency, mental illness, or simply by accident of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Caltrain is now primarily and simply the "Blended Solution" placeholder for High Speed Rail, killing at least one person each month. This "placeholder" strategy is derived by 2012 on-air interviews of both Governor Jerry Brown and South Bay, CaHSR Chairman "Emeritus" (as he arrogantly labels himself), now US HSR Association Chairman, where they each stated that they have been working to get HSR into California for "30 years."  Caltrain was revived with taxpayer funds from Souther Pacific 30 years ago. No coincidence.   Pity for so many who have died on Caltrain tracks during this time and yet not one "Caring" Democrat has stepped forward to articulate the need to move beyond the Caltrain "Killtrain" during that time to the  reasonable and more appropriate, safter, integrated, electrified, more frequent, lower-profile, sleeker, less obtrusive BART trains...around the Bay.
Note: Gov. Jerry Brown was interviewed by Bob Schiefer on a 2012 Sunday's  Face The Nation.  Rod Diridon Sr. was interviewed separately on a KBAY radio's 6:00am Sunday show in 2012.

Indeed, worse yet that not even one of the Peninsula, San Francisco, nor San Jose Democrats has stepped forward to restart talks with BART to initiate and fund the study to get the final gap closure, replacing the Caltrain "Killtrain", with a load balancing, one-seat (no transfer) two-way around the Bay BART loop.  The Democrats are clearly bought and paid for by their few $pecial interest constituencies (what else is new for Democrats?).

Neither State Senator Jerry Hill nor Congresswoman Jackie Speier have taken up the cause to initiate a study to replace the Caltrain "Killtrain" with BART, despite their often run before news cameras and other media to proclaim their latest headline-grabbing proposals.  About the Caltrain's ongoing deaths, monthly and over the years, including the years when they both were on the Caltrain governing board, and each of whom served as its Chairperson. Where are these righteous elected officials when it comes to the obvious, regular deaths and dismemberments under Caltrain locomotive wheels and rails? Hello?
Where are other, mostly Democrat, regional opinion leaders?

Hill jumps before cameras to stand up for the (only) 8 who died in the San Bruno pipeline explosion, 1 who died in a Party Bus accident, and the 5 who died in the San Mateo Bridge Limousine fire.   Speier jumps before cameras to fight rightly for finance reform, military rape and assault rectitude, gun-control, and, runs on the platform of deaths around and in her each year, harking back to the Democrat-schmoozing George Jones, Jonestown Guyana, cultish, mass killings and killing of her late boss Congressman Leo Ryan up to 2012's election-year announcement of her past abortion.

In some of the safer Peninsula communities, such as Palo Alto, San Bruno, Burlingame, etc, one can suspect the likelhood that, on average, each year more people die by Caltrain than by illegal gun use.

What will it take to stop the Caltrain carnage of 12-16 people per year, especially when BART is so readily available, frees up Caltrain station land in SF and south, and improves regional and Peninsula rail arterial traffic, congestion relief, safery, and trainsit efficiency?  How many more must die before the $5Billion now being sought to upgrade the redundant, deadly Caltrain, can instead be redirected to close the final BART gap Around The Bay?

Hello?  Does anyone care enough to look forward to more modern rail transit and save lives as well?

05-10-2013 More on the tragic latest Caltrain death between Burlingame and San Carlos, adjacent to Burlingame High School, SF Bay Area.

Please, please, start a study to replace this Caltrain "Killtrain" with BART--one, unifying, one-seat ride" major, already electrified, already grade-separated, single, balanced and SAFER two-way rail system around the SF bay.  This is the sixth death this year 194th since 1995, 34th since 1/1/2011. How many more must die before the public, and voters, and current Caltrain riders who suffer these frequent unplanned delays to work/home, entertainment venues, pressure Peninsula (all Democrat) to start the 10-yr process to replace the Caltrain Killtrain with BART...that's another 160 deaths until BART can extend south to the new San Mateo Event Center & TOD housing, Hillsdale Shopping Center, Stanford University, then to the planned future BART station at Santa Clara University--One efficient, frequent, cleaner, safer rail system to serve all more reliably and fewer deaths (and fewer suicides). Quick-to-Grandstand Senator Jerry Hill and Congresswoman Speier are intransigent and don't care about these deaths--I've tried. Replacing Caltrain will also save transit $$#$, provide better service to future TransBay Terminal, can work adjacent to High Speed Rail into the TBT, and free up scarce SF SoMa land for better uses as Mayor Lee desires.  More, on my BARTAroundTheBay Blog to advocate to get rid of Caltrain for one Bay Area arterial rail system like so many major cities around the world have now.  It is time for the illustrious SF Bay Area to join world-class rail transit connectivity.