Transit Briefs: Caltrain, MTA Metro-North, Denver RTD, Sound Transit, SEPTA

Caltrain

Caltrain in September 2024 launched fully electrified service between San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., after a phased roll-out of its Stadler Rail-built KISS bilevel EMUs (electric multiple-units).

The new trains use regenerative braking. The technology works “by driving an electric motor in reverse to recapture energy rather than losing it as heat during braking,” according to Caltrain, whose fleet “is designed to return that power to the Overhead Contact System (OCS), which feeds it to the nearest traction power facility. From there, it can be used to power other trains on the system or returned to the grid.”

Regenerative braking on the new trains is generating and sending back to the electric grid approximately 23% of the energy consumed by the system, Caltrain reported Jan. 23. “The new electric trains are outperforming Caltrain’s original projections, which is welcome news for a public agency that holds sustainability as a core value.”

Originally estimated to cost approximately $19.5 million annually, Caltrain’s electricity use since its EMUs’ launch averages 207 MWh on weekdays and 175 MWh on weekends, according to the agency, which said it has now revised cost estimates to $16.5 million annually. With Caltrain expecting approximately $6 million per year in energy credits from the California Air Resources Board’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard Program, the first year of its electric train service will have lower fuel costs than the previous diesel locomotive-powered service, the agency reported. Currently, Caltrain said it is providing that power to the grid free of charge as there is no legal requirement for the agency to be reimbursed for the energy generated.

MTA Metro-North Railroad

MTA Metro-North’s on-time performance has hit an all-time high, exceeding 98% in 2024 and marking the fifth consecutive year that performance was greater than 97%. On all three of its commuter rail lines east of the Hudson River (download map below), Metro-North ran more than 98% of its trains on time. The Hudson Line’s on-time performance was 98.7%; Harlem Line, 98.3%; and New Haven Line, 98.2%.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the record on Jan. 23, according to the New York MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority). Additionally, as part of her 2025 State of the State, she proposed investments to the Hudson Valley’s rail service that would increase capacity, reduce delays, improve safety, and cut potential travel times by up to 15 minutes each way for certain trips. She also outlined $25 million in the 2026 Executive Budget. The proposal includes planning, evaluation, and design for a set of rail infrastructure capital improvements between New York City and Poughkeepsie, including projects such as a second track at Spuyten Duyvil; interlocking, signaling and trackwork at Croton Harmon; and capacity improvements at Poughkeepsie Yard.

MTA also reported on Metro-North accomplishments in 2024:

• Ridership continued a “solid” post-COVID recovery, increasing 12.1% from 2023 (60,141,495) to 2024 (67,389,907). October was the most successful ridership month of the post-pandemic era, MTA said, with 6,548,501 riders, up 16.2% from October 2023 (5,637,482).
• The service performance in 2024 was accomplished even as MTA Construction and Development oversaw the replacement of multiple sections of the Park Avenue Viaduct—the two-mile-long elevated steel structure that carries four Metro-North tracks between 97th Street and the Harlem River lift bridge, and serves all Metro-North trains traveling into and out of Grand Central Terminal, totaling 750 trains every weekday.
• “The Metro-North Penn Station Access project continues to roll forward with steady progress,” MTA said. Demolition and construction activities are under way at the project’s four bridge sites, including the erection of two new spans at the Bronxdale Avenue Bridge in Parkchester. Crews are testing signals at switches near Hunts Point, and they are moving forward with station entrance foundations at each of the project’s four new stations: Hunts Point, Parkchester/Van Nest, Morris Park and Co-op City. When completed, Metro-North riders will have a transfer-free trip between Penn Station, Westchester and Connecticut, and four new fully accessible stations in the Bronx, and significant reduction in commuting travel times between the Bronx and Manhattan.
• MTA made three stations on the Harlem Line fully accessible in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act: Scarsdale, Hartsdale and Purdy’s. Building on this success, MTA said it is currently moving forward with accessibility upgrades at three Metro-North stations in the Bronx. Completely new station platforms, amenities, and two new elevators will be installed at Williams Bridge and Woodlawn. The Botanical Garden station will be rehabilitated, and the station elevators will be upgraded.
• In Garrison, where the tracks along the Hudson River are subject to flooding, the MTA team raised the track more than 20 inches from its lowest point. Since the work was completed, Metro-North has not incurred any train delays from flooding in this area, the agency said. Another problem area for flooding was on the Upper Harlem Line. MTA said crews raised a signal house more than four feet, elevating vital circuitry out of harm’s way, using only recycled materials, which minimized the cost and impact to the environment. All signal houses will now be at least four feet above ground, according to the agency.
• On the New Haven Line, crews modernized and enhanced signal systems. According to MTA, integrated network and train simulation tools enable the railroad to optimize the routing of trains. All New Haven Line peak run times were reduced by at least one minute with the fastest run time from New Haven to Grand Central Terminal down to 90 minutes.
• Reportable injury rates for both customers and employees trended lower in 2024. According to MTA, the reportable customer injury rate per million customers decreased 31.5% from 2.00 in 2023 to 1.37 in 2024; the reportable employee lost time injury rate per 200,000 work hours decreased 17% from 1.94 in 2023 to 1.61 in 2024.

Denver RTD

Building upon an informal relationship in place for years, RTD’s Transit Police Department in December entered a formal working partnership with BNSF Railway Police, enabling RTD’s officers to access BNSF property to enforce grade crossing and trespassing laws through arrest, citation, or other lawful means, Denver RTD reported Jan. 23.

The railroads’ properties parallel each other through a large portion of the Denver metro region. BNSF’s police department includes five officers in Colorado, three of whom are in Denver; RTD’s police department has dozens of officers.

A new letter of authorization “provides a framework for the two entities to share information, gain access to properties and respond to incidents,” Denver RTD reported.

Cooperation between the two departments enables greater police response, according to BNSF Railway Deputy Chief Jeff Matthews, whose territory encompasses Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and a portion of Oklahoma.

Sound Transit

The Seattle Times on Jan. 24 reported that HNTB Corporation will receive $1.5 million to “help solve frequent light rail stalls” at Sound Transit. The transit agency’s interim CEO, Goran Sparrman, “declared this week that ongoing service disruptions were an emergency, and on Thursday, Sound Transit’s governing board unanimously ratified that finding — which allows the CEO to fast-track spending on the HNTB design work.”

According the newspaper, “[t]rain stalls and power outages have undermined light rail’s most hyped virtue, its reliability compared to sitting in traffic. Trains were delayed or blocked during 6% of all service hours, during 166 incidents from January to November 2024.”

Sparrman told the Board that “This is another step on how we are taking Link reliability issues extremely seriously and how we have no time to waste, in getting to the reliability and dependability that our customers expect,” The Seattle Times reported.

His “staff report said failure to act immediately to design light rail improvements ‘will threaten proper systemwide performance and could compromise safety protocols,’” according to the newspaper. “A bigger, long-term contract for repair work will be sent to open bidding and exclude HNTB, the report said.”

A recent light rail delay, the newspaper reported, occurred on Jan. 23, “when a stalled train’s control panel shutdown at International District/Chinatown Station caused half-hour delays and single tracking downtown.”

SEPTA

Cubic Transportation Systems Inc. on Feb. 23 landed a $211 million contract from SEPTA for the design, installation, and operation of the transit agency’s new fare payment system, SEPTA Key 2.0.

“SEPTA’s current fare payment system is outdated and overdue for an upgrade,” SEPTA Board Chair Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr. said. “It was designed more than a decade ago, and as this technology continues to rapidly evolve, SEPTA must make this critical investment now.”

“A consistent and modern fare payment system is fundamental to SEPTA’s success,” added SEPTA interim General Manager Scott A. Sauer. “It is one of the pillars of our system, along with safety, reliability, and cleanliness. This state-of-good-repair project is necessary to achieve continued ridership growth.”

A customer outreach campaign was conducted to help guide the direction of SEPTA Key 2.0. SEPTA released its request for proposals in spring 2023 and completed a review of the bids it received.

Design and implementation of SEPTA Key 2.0 are expected to begin immediately, with an estimated completion date of 2029.