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  New Vision for Caltrain
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  • Caltrain Metro arrives at the station.

    (550k)
  • Caltrain "Baby Bullet Blue" Express arrives to meet a Caltrain "Local" Metro

    (480k)
  • "Baby Bullet" Express should run every 20 minutes
  • "Local" Metro should run every 10 minutes

    Note the low floor entry, no more high stepping!

  • A direct cross platform transfer without having to walk up or down. An important feature for people with bicycles, physical challenges, and for our old and young population.

    Note the green poles of the fully Electrified system.

  • An Electrified system will help with air quality and eliminate harmful engine exhaust to riders and nearby communites.
  • An Electrified system will reduce noise to nearby neighborhoods.

    This is an opportunity to upgrade Caltrain to serve the growning needs of San Mateo, San Francisco, and Santa Clara Counties!

    • 3D Images Envision Caltrain Metro & Express

    A major goal of BayRail Alliance has been to convince government officials and the public that Caltrain is the future of rail transit on the Peninsula. For San Mateo County officials and business leaders, BayRail Alliance debuted a series of three dimensional images and animations depicting a potential future Caltrain system. BayRail presented these at the Transportation Summit hosted by Samceda, the San Mateo County Economic Development Association, on April 12. The Samceda Summit featured a panel discussion on "BART, Caltrain, Or Both."

    One of the 3D images presented by BayRail depicted an electrified, aerodynamic express train bypassing a local train at a four track Caltrain station. An animated map depicted the movement of express and local trains along the Peninsula, "Some people looked at the images and were amazed of how sleek and modern Caltrain looks in our vision," said BayRail board member Dan Krause.

    The 3D renderings are a component of BayRail's campaign to promote a vision for Bay Area conventional rail. As a part of that vision, BayRail is advocating a vastly upgraded local train service named Caltrain Metro, which features frequent trains at least once every 15 minutes all day, level boarding, new electrified multiple-unit (self propelled) rail cars, and grade separation of every road crossing on the Caltrain line. In addition, BayRail is promoting further improvement of the planned Caltrain Express (a.k.a. Baby Bullet). These trains would have all the same characteristics of Caltrain Metro, but with a top speed of over 100 mph on their own dedicated track along most of the corridor.

    The complex job of turning BayRail's proposal into 3D images belonged to David Vasquez, a professional computer artist. His previous work included images for proposed Muni Metro extensions to San Francisco's Chinatown and to the Richmond District, as well as of proposed dedicated bus lanes along Van Ness Avenue. In the renderings, Vasquez portrayed transit vehicles, stations, and trees, and blended these elements into photo-realistic surroundings. "We are extremely pleased with the images," said John Tseng, President of BayRail Alliance.

    In the near future, BayRail plans to develop a full-scale presentation and add more 3D images of Caltrain Metro and Express, to show how these services will integrate with the proposed Dumbarton rail and California High Speed Rail. "We hope to present our vision to various community and business groups as well as to public officials. We are going on tour to help inform the entire community of the great resource we already have-Caltrain," Said Krause.

    [article from the May/June 2002 of our "Staying on Track" Newsletter]

    This file last modified Friday, 09-Feb-2007 13:15:06 MST

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