Passenger Trains > Caltrain Electrification

I'm planning a visit to the Bay Area next month, and wonder what kind of evidence is there regarding the Caltrain Electrification.  I understand there are two electric locomotives stashed in the San Jose area.  How many if any of the overhead support structures are in place?  Have any of the substation units been installed?
 

Most of the wire supports are up.

Regards, Jim Evans

Go to <calmod.org/construction/> and there are many links there with information including a gallery of pictures of the facility in SLC where the. 19 seven car trains are being assembled. 

The two electric locomotives were were bought from SEPTA I believe and will be used as backups and for testing the cantenary as it is activated most likely.  Also under construction is a 1.5 mile test track in the Santa Clara area.

They don’t update the site quite as often as I think they should but obviously I don’t control that.  The site shows the original train order of sixteen six-car trains but that has been upgraded to nineteen seven-car trains with an additional order.

its a pretty good site if you don’t expect updates more than every two months or so.  

The two AEM-7s came from Amtrak, not SEPTA.

I stand corrected, you are right.  I saw a couple of pics of them on the way to California and after they arrived but am having trouble locating them now.

If you are flying into San Jose and you have a window seat on the left side, you can see them sitting on a track at the maintenance facility, CMOF (AKA Fort Caltrain) on the North end just before you land. I saw them last Tuesday when flying in.Not sure if you can see them from ground level.

In the South end of the systemthey have some bases installed but no supports. There is a report referenced elsewhere on TO that they are running quite a bit behind.

Attached shows the engines when they were in Oakland.

Jim B

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Poles are now up trackside in San Carlos and Belmont, but no catenary yet.

Boy, those things are tiny!!!

You can see catenary structures from South San Francisco to Belmont with some gaps.  There are a variety of structures, most are designed to support wire on a single track, some support wire on two tracks, and a few at Millbrae are three track bridges.  As to color, it seems that a majority are galvanized steel, some are beige and others are a dark green, the latter being mostly in areas with a large number of trees close to the ROW.  At San Bruno there are short stretches of the 25 kV feeder installed.

Kimball Wrote:
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> Boy, those things are tiny!!!

They look a little bigger when they're next to a P42. Those P32BWH's are tall machines. At least when you put them next to other Amtrak power.

Thanks for all the responses!  As someone who has worked on trolley wire installations at OERM, and followed the Gold Line project in the San Gabriel Valley, I am glad to see that the electrification that was first discussed over 100 years ago is finally taking shape.

Always wondered why the trackage between San Francisco and San Jose not got electrified. After all they did electrify the lines between Oakland and Alameda.
And they both had some pretty heavy commuter traffic.

Last Wednesday the two locomotives were visible from ground level as you passed by the facility, but it will depend on what is parked on which track on any given day.

The degree of completion for the poles depends on where you are on the system.  In some areas the supports to hold the wires are attached.  A few of the cables at the end of a catenary section that will anchor the weights are installed here and there.  In other places they are still digging holes and pouring concrete for the poles.  Just depends on where you look.

So is Caltrain going to run 25KV 25 Hz on their system?

25KV 60 Hz as far as I know. I think parts of the NEC are 60 Hz now so the should be able to handle it.

The G's probably needed 25 Hz.

Jim B

"single-phase alternating current at 25 kV with a frequency of 60 Hz" -- Wikipedia

The San Francisco earthquake and the flood that formed the Salton Sea go in the way of peninsula electrification.

AEM-7s can handle both 25Hz and 60Hz, and both 11/12kV and 25kV.. NEC has both 25Hz (CP Gate on the Hell Gate Line to Washington DC + the tnire system around Philadelphia is 11kV 25Hz) and 60Hz (CP Gate to Boston - CP Gate to west of CP Mill River is 12kV, and thence to Boston is 25kV. Also NJT Hoboken Division M&E is 25kV 60Hz as is NJCL South Amboy to Long Branch).

Jishnu.

jimB Wrote:
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> 25KV 60 Hz as far as I know. I think parts of the
> NEC are 60 Hz now so the should be able to handle
> it.
>
> The G's probably needed 25 Hz.
>
> Jim B

Will the Amtrak electrics see service as backup power once the project is completed?

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

I have watched throne of those locomotives pull 
8-10 cars on the NEC at 110 mph. They will do nicely