I wanted to jump in here and thank everyone for the feedback on this! When I filmed the video I had the intention of showing some of the issues that are frustrating for regular users like myself, and had no clue there was going to be vandalism of the power to the train, triggering the massive delay on Monday. That was exacerbated by the fact that there have been ongoing issues with the Positive Train Control system and then all the delays that causes. It was nice to see that the issue was not due to the actual train breaking down, it was a circumstance outside their control. I will say my Thursday commute was pretty uneventful other than being about 15 minutes late on average, I made all my connections so I am happy! Sometime next month I will shoot a revisit and hopefully things will go better.
Im from finland, and have not been on these train and probably will never be, so i have zero experience about these CalTrain´s KISS units, but i´d like to voice my opinion on this matter anyway. all new trains have what some call "teething problems", which just means that they are brand new and the new technology that has been standing still has started moving and aquiring normal wear and tear, what they are not used to. these problems happen with every new train in europe and usually go away within the first year or so, finland bought 80 flirt-trains in batches from stadler in 2008 to 2015 and they had their issues, and now all of them work like a charm. give the new trains some time, stadler is a very good manufacturer and the trains they have provided all around europe work very well.
That's honestly good to know! I do genuinely hope they can fix the issues with people tampering with the electrical infrastructure, but that is more of a city this is happening in and them catching the people doing it issue than Stadetler made a train that had a bad morning :). When I rode on Thursday, we were late about 15 minutes both ways, but I made it to class with plenty of time so I was happy!
I'm from Spain and I'm telling you that going electric is the best thing you can hope for and Stadler builds excellent train. That said, every new system, especially where those systems are new and you have little experience with them teething problems are unavoidable and happens with new rolling stock (and in any other area) all the time - regardless of the type. Where I'm originally from they are in an advance electrification process of the whole system. The 1st electric line that was opened suffered from many problems when it started service, those decreed as time passed and after a few weeks all went well and the service was much better than before. When they finished electrification on other lines it went smoothly as they were more experienced with the system. In Spain, an other countries, that use electrified systems for year, new trains or new electrified system that goes online is smooth or with a short transit stage due to experience . It's the same in the US with local systems like BART, Subways or the NEC, things work well now but there were problems when they started. CalTrain will work well as time passes and you'll enjoy better and faster service. As for the train sets, nothing is perfect and internal design depends on what the investment and for shorter regional services a fast an efficient service is more important than a few amenities. Around the world regional services, like Cal train, do not have bathrooms at all or have just one as with short trips it's not as important. There are buses and metro lines that can take as long without bathrooms and with a regional train larger capacity is more important. As for Gilroy, the problem is that they cannot electrify this section as it's owned by freight but they should have bought electric battery/catenary units from the start to provide direct services and they should allow for longer connections. They are planning on replacing the current diesel train with electric battery/catenary units but that will take years as Stadler has a long backlog.
Having heard the stories of my family and friends who have been to Europe and used their fast electric trains, I am SUPER jealous! My main issue is the number of times units have been taken out of service because the bathroom wasn't functioning, the crew could not get into a cab, door issues, things like that which inevitably cause massive delays. In the past when they ran baseball trains, the units that had 1 bathroom/car still had lines when you had a ton of baseball fan who chugged one beer too many before jumping on. What was the biggest cause of the massive delays was the fact that they are trying to run an overly ambitious schedule where they try to run more trains than they have crews available, and that is an issue. Even on good days, trains now run consistently 10-15 minutes late, but at leas they are running consistently until they scale the schedule back a little. You are totally correct, there will be issues in the beginning, I just wish they were a bit more conservative with the rollout and then scaled it up as needed as I know there were lots of frustrated riders who were late because of that.
@@MakeItWithCalvin I agree that they probably should have done a slower rollout. A big change like this takes time stabilize and no matter how many tests you do it will never be like the real thing. Usually new services starts with a lower frequency to adjust to the new system while finding all the problems and kinks. Maybe they felt pressure to provide immediate improvements after such a long construction time for a pretty short rail segment.
@@AL5520 I do think you are onto something there. Especially in the tunnels leading into San Francisco, lots of off-peak trains were delayed due to single tracking since they were installing the overhead line equipment in there. Also, I know they lost a lot of staff over the pandemic due to various reasons, so that did not help either. The old schedule during the off peak hours had 1 local making all stops, followed by 1 limited that skipped selected stations going down. That worked great, especially for people like me who run the whole length of the line. Now it is 3 locals/hour but that causes a ton of congestion, especially if there is a person needing assistance, any signal issues. 2/hr off peak would have been the wiser move until they got all the bugs ironed out. Plus, more buffer time for the inevitable delay!
gosh glad to know U had so much fun! wallpaper would look nice! two tones are far nicer then snow blind walls!! no time for Diner! well! imagine this! good luck !
New drinking game. Take a shot every time Calvin says dumpster fire. LOL!!!! But seriously, I'm sorry brother. They totally screwed the pooch on this one.
Dude you know I am fried when I just drop "dumpster fire" constantly in a video! They really screwed up and it was at the worst time possible after all the hoopla and fanfare of the new equipment.
Terrible emus they keep breaking and soft launch didn’t help them work the glitches. The new schedule is super aggressive and makes the delays worst. Only had one train I rode that was on time this week and all other trains I rode were late. Last week was so much better the delays weren’t as easy to become severe. Monday there was a fire due to vandalism in San Mateo that caused a power failure waited 90 mins for a train to even show up.
I agree the new schedule is way too aggressive! The issue is there is ZERO buffer time if there is a delay. Case in point my train from Gilroy, 805, was down ~5 out of Gilroy. When we got to Diridon the crew then jumped on 405, which conveniently was at the OTHER END OF THE PLATFORM. They did their brake check, and pulled in about 10 mins after we got off. When I got off at Millbrae, they were down 15 min and I had to RUN to my BART connection! I genuinely hope they can iron the bugs out because lots of people rely on the system but if it is not going to run reliably, no one is going to ride. Ridership is creeping up again but issues like this will alienate their riders.
Yeah, the main issue is they are trying to run more trains than they have crews available, and that means there is zero buffer time if the train gets delayed for any reason. If they hold a public meeting, I may make the trek up from Salinas to hold the board accountable because this is not right to the riders, or the crew.
@@MakeItWithCalvin have you heard of the shore line east. They put a lot of electrification for a commuter rail that would run from stamford to new london in conneticut. but after that section was electrified, they still could not regain passengers and service was cut.
Not until now, I had it mixed up with the one between Chicago/South Bend. I did a little research and it sounds like it was death by a thousand cuts for them. It's always a shame when they invest heavily into something only to turn around and have ridership vanish due to various reasons.
That's good! It is an interesting setup for sure, but looks like it has a strong rider base given the route it runs. I am happy to report that my Thursday trip to school was relatively uneventful!
I wanted to jump in here and thank everyone for the feedback on this! When I filmed the video I had the intention of showing some of the issues that are frustrating for regular users like myself, and had no clue there was going to be vandalism of the power to the train, triggering the massive delay on Monday. That was exacerbated by the fact that there have been ongoing issues with the Positive Train Control system and then all the delays that causes. It was nice to see that the issue was not due to the actual train breaking down, it was a circumstance outside their control.
I will say my Thursday commute was pretty uneventful other than being about 15 minutes late on average, I made all my connections so I am happy! Sometime next month I will shoot a revisit and hopefully things will go better.
Im from finland, and have not been on these train and probably will never be, so i have zero experience about these CalTrain´s KISS units, but i´d like to voice my opinion on this matter anyway. all new trains have what some call "teething problems", which just means that they are brand new and the new technology that has been standing still has started moving and aquiring normal wear and tear, what they are not used to. these problems happen with every new train in europe and usually go away within the first year or so, finland bought 80 flirt-trains in batches from stadler in 2008 to 2015 and they had their issues, and now all of them work like a charm. give the new trains some time, stadler is a very good manufacturer and the trains they have provided all around europe work very well.
That's honestly good to know! I do genuinely hope they can fix the issues with people tampering with the electrical infrastructure, but that is more of a city this is happening in and them catching the people doing it issue than Stadetler made a train that had a bad morning :). When I rode on Thursday, we were late about 15 minutes both ways, but I made it to class with plenty of time so I was happy!
I'm from Spain and I'm telling you that going electric is the best thing you can hope for and Stadler builds excellent train.
That said, every new system, especially where those systems are new and you have little experience with them teething problems are unavoidable and happens with new rolling stock (and in any other area) all the time - regardless of the type.
Where I'm originally from they are in an advance electrification process of the whole system. The 1st electric line that was opened suffered from many problems when it started service, those decreed as time passed and after a few weeks all went well and the service was much better than before. When they finished electrification on other lines it went smoothly as they were more experienced with the system.
In Spain, an other countries, that use electrified systems for year, new trains or new electrified system that goes online is smooth or with a short transit stage due to experience . It's the same in the US with local systems like BART, Subways or the NEC, things work well now but there were problems when they started. CalTrain will work well as time passes and you'll enjoy better and faster service.
As for the train sets, nothing is perfect and internal design depends on what the investment and for shorter regional services a fast an efficient service is more important than a few amenities. Around the world regional services, like Cal train, do not have bathrooms at all or have just one as with short trips it's not as important. There are buses and metro lines that can take as long without bathrooms and with a regional train larger capacity is more important.
As for Gilroy, the problem is that they cannot electrify this section as it's owned by freight but they should have bought electric battery/catenary units from the start to provide direct services and they should allow for longer connections. They are planning on replacing the current diesel train with electric battery/catenary units but that will take years as Stadler has a long backlog.
Having heard the stories of my family and friends who have been to Europe and used their fast electric trains, I am SUPER jealous! My main issue is the number of times units have been taken out of service because the bathroom wasn't functioning, the crew could not get into a cab, door issues, things like that which inevitably cause massive delays. In the past when they ran baseball trains, the units that had 1 bathroom/car still had lines when you had a ton of baseball fan who chugged one beer too many before jumping on.
What was the biggest cause of the massive delays was the fact that they are trying to run an overly ambitious schedule where they try to run more trains than they have crews available, and that is an issue. Even on good days, trains now run consistently 10-15 minutes late, but at leas they are running consistently until they scale the schedule back a little. You are totally correct, there will be issues in the beginning, I just wish they were a bit more conservative with the rollout and then scaled it up as needed as I know there were lots of frustrated riders who were late because of that.
@@MakeItWithCalvin I agree that they probably should have done a slower rollout. A big change like this takes time stabilize and no matter how many tests you do it will never be like the real thing.
Usually new services starts with a lower frequency to adjust to the new system while finding all the problems and kinks.
Maybe they felt pressure to provide immediate improvements after such a long construction time for a pretty short rail segment.
@@AL5520 I do think you are onto something there. Especially in the tunnels leading into San Francisco, lots of off-peak trains were delayed due to single tracking since they were installing the overhead line equipment in there. Also, I know they lost a lot of staff over the pandemic due to various reasons, so that did not help either.
The old schedule during the off peak hours had 1 local making all stops, followed by 1 limited that skipped selected stations going down. That worked great, especially for people like me who run the whole length of the line.
Now it is 3 locals/hour but that causes a ton of congestion, especially if there is a person needing assistance, any signal issues. 2/hr off peak would have been the wiser move until they got all the bugs ironed out. Plus, more buffer time for the inevitable delay!
gosh glad to know U had so much fun! wallpaper would look nice! two tones are far nicer then snow blind walls!! no time for Diner! well! imagine this! good luck !
Oh, I had a BLAST. And I say that super, super sarcastically.
New drinking game. Take a shot every time Calvin says dumpster fire. LOL!!!! But seriously, I'm sorry brother. They totally screwed the pooch on this one.
Dude you know I am fried when I just drop "dumpster fire" constantly in a video! They really screwed up and it was at the worst time possible after all the hoopla and fanfare of the new equipment.
Terrible emus they keep breaking and soft launch didn’t help them work the glitches. The new schedule is super aggressive and makes the delays worst. Only had one train I rode that was on time this week and all other trains I rode were late. Last week was so much better the delays weren’t as easy to become severe. Monday there was a fire due to vandalism in San Mateo that caused a power failure waited 90 mins for a train to even show up.
I agree the new schedule is way too aggressive! The issue is there is ZERO buffer time if there is a delay. Case in point my train from Gilroy, 805, was down ~5 out of Gilroy. When we got to Diridon the crew then jumped on 405, which conveniently was at the OTHER END OF THE PLATFORM. They did their brake check, and pulled in about 10 mins after we got off. When I got off at Millbrae, they were down 15 min and I had to RUN to my BART connection!
I genuinely hope they can iron the bugs out because lots of people rely on the system but if it is not going to run reliably, no one is going to ride. Ridership is creeping up again but issues like this will alienate their riders.
Well said! I've heard that the EMUs are starting to run late instead of being on time
Yeah, the main issue is they are trying to run more trains than they have crews available, and that means there is zero buffer time if the train gets delayed for any reason. If they hold a public meeting, I may make the trek up from Salinas to hold the board accountable because this is not right to the riders, or the crew.
caltrain= shore line east, the sequel. the second failed electric railroad.
It would honestly be sad if that was the case...
@@MakeItWithCalvin have you heard of the shore line east. They put a lot of electrification for a commuter rail that would run from stamford to new london in conneticut. but after that section was electrified, they still could not regain passengers and service was cut.
Not until now, I had it mixed up with the one between Chicago/South Bend. I did a little research and it sounds like it was death by a thousand cuts for them. It's always a shame when they invest heavily into something only to turn around and have ridership vanish due to various reasons.
@@MakeItWithCalvin the one between Chicago and South bend seems to be doing okay though. I have taken that one before and I like that line.
That's good! It is an interesting setup for sure, but looks like it has a strong rider base given the route it runs. I am happy to report that my Thursday trip to school was relatively uneventful!