Quote:
Originally Posted by mwadswor
Hey, does anyone know if there's a reason the Caltrain and CAHSR trains won't be set up to share tracks when needed, eg to run an express Caltrain service? After the electrification is done, Caltrain trains won't have to be FRA compliant will they? So there shouldn't be a regulatory reason to keep them separate, should there?
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I don't believe that has been officially decided one way or the other yet (whether Caltrain will be able to share tracks for express service). There isn't any federal regulation that would preclude it, and there isn't any technical reason that would preclude it, only local/regional/state bickering and fiefdom-protecting that would do the job. The CHSRA has been pretty vocal about "needing" four of the six slots at the Transbay Terminal (chalk that one up to fiefdom-protecting), but I haven't heard much about the actual tracks on the peninsula (recently).
Everything would point to at least HSR trains using the Caltrain tracks at times (since it's likely some express trains will have to pass locals somewhere on the peninsula), so hopefully we'll see the reverse as well.