[orulz]

I'd like to see Metra do what it can to keep the costs low for all railcar acquisitions until a real electrification program is underway. Buying brand new coaches just feels like a waste. Any electrification program should go straight to EMUs, as Caltrain has. The low-speed acceleration benefits are substantial enough that, in commuter service, it's basically pointless to go to the trouble of electrification without immediate plans to convert to EMUs. And if you can buy those EMUs just as you are retiring your old coaches, that saves you money on electrification - you get to subtract the cost of what it *would* have cost to replace your diesels and coaches.

So, to save money for now, buying Caltrain's fleet as they retire them. The oldest ones are about 35 years old, and the newest are about 20. They should be cheap but still have some life left. Their gallery cars and diesel engines are basically exact copies of what Metra is already running. Metra has a lot of experience in keeping them going. Yeah it ain't modern but it saves money on retooling maintenance shops, building up a new spare part inventory, and retraining employees on a new type of equipment. This is meant to be a stopgap, anyway. You want your equipment to be fully worn out by the time you buy EMUs.

At the same time, speed up the progress of electrification (from a starting speed of 0.) Start with RI as planned; all three branches. (yes, three; that includes SWS.) Gradually roll out electrification to the entire network over the course of the next 25 years, and as the Gallery fleet ages out, retire it and replace it with shiny new EMUs.