The first several weekdays with a fully electric train fleet have already seen two power outages and major delays, both caused by instances of equipment vandalism and theft.
Caltrain celebrated its electrification launch on Saturday, Sept. 21, but just two days later, an hourlong outage led to even longer delays and cancellations after someone tampered with the overhead contact system at the San Mateo train station. The next day, the theft of impedance bond cables — which ensure the higher voltage and lower voltage currents do not interfere with one another — near the 22nd Street station caused another outage and subsequent delays. Disruptions continued on Wednesday as the agency worked to replace the equipment.
Electrification is widely supported as a critical step toward reducing carbon emissions, not to mention boosting ridership with shorter travel times and greater trip frequency. But the incidents highlight new vulnerabilities that did not exist with diesel locomotives.
Bond cable thefts were an ongoing concern during the construction phase. More than 100 incidents of theft and vandalism were reported, the majority of which were related to the cables, typically stolen for their copper components.
Caltrain Chief Modernization Officer Prayana Shrestha has said during several Caltrain board meetings that redesigning the cable installation would be costly, though the financial burden incurred would still be lower than ongoing replacement and repair costs due to theft.
But the thefts aren’t just a fiscal concern or a nuisance for commuters. Those tampering with them can be seriously injured or die when doing so on a fully electrified system.
“We are redesigning the impedance bonds to make them harder to tamper with and make them more secure,” Caltrain spokesperson Dan Lieberman said.
He added that no injuries or deaths were reported as a result of either incident this week and that engineers and staff are still learning how to respond to the new challenges.
“It’s reasonable to say there is also a learning curve in the new system, and we expect there to be more general improvements, as everyone becomes more familiar with all the equipment,” Lieberman said.
(2) comments
"More than 100 incidents of theft and vandalism were reported, the majority of which were related to the cables, typically stolen for their copper components." ... and now they are now trying to solve the problem.
BP - you pulled out the most relevant point, but this is how government runs. Now they can rehire the same unions to redesign things. Going forward, perhaps the cables can be electrified so that anyone who messes with them would get a few thousands jolts, not life threatening, but life jolting.
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