Anika Begay
The two new trains are operated by CalTrain. California Governor Gavin Newson and House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi were on hand for the inaugural ride, which took place Saturday. The trains began regular service the following day, running between San Jose and San Francisco.
It’s been nearly 20 years since the idea of electric trains was first proposed in California. But officials have insisted that the new trains will be quieter and faster than the diesel trains currently in operation, while also offering a better experience for passengers. The two trains will be joined by 17 more that are expected to be in service by mid-September.
The United States is woefully behind the rest of the world in electrifying its rolling stock
CalTrain said the new trains will be 20 percent faster because they can accelerate and decelerate more efficiently than diesel trains. The new trains will also help make life easier for people living along the rail corridor by reducing air and noise pollution.
It should come as no surprise that the United States is lagging behind the rest of the world in rolling out electric trains. India is on the verge of electrifying 100 percent of its rail lines, while China is approaching three-quarters of its network. More than 57 percent of the European Union’s rail system is electric. The United States, which has historically prioritized personal cars over high-volume passenger trains, now boasts two electric trains, with more on the way.
There are many reasons for this extremely slow adoption, but one of the most obvious problems is the opposition of the Association of American Railroads, the industry’s main lobbying organization. The group argues that it would be extremely expensive to adapt the rail system in the United States to electric trains, especially since much of the current track system is built to accommodate diesel engines. These costs outweigh the potential benefits of an electrically powered rail system.
It even published a policy paper (now conspicuously absent from the group’s website) laying out the case against rail electrification. The existential threat of climate change is not enough to change the minds of the nation’s rail executives.
And it’s not that the problem isn’t obvious. U.S. railroads are among the world’s largest consumers of diesel fuel, consuming about 4.2 billion gallons in 2018 alone. Some experts have cited railroad monopolization as a major reason electrification efforts continue to be stymied. The major operators, CSX and Norfolk Southern in the east and BNSF and Union Pacific in the west, “zealously resist the deployment of capital that would improve infrastructure. As a result, they are unwilling to fund electrification and focus on cutting costs and service to earn higher profits,” Maddox Thomas wrote in Brown Political Magazine last year.
State-run suburban rail has an opportunity to seize the zeitgeist and do the right thing in the absence of cooperation from freight operators. CalTrain’s new models are just a drop in the bucket, but they should go a long way in demonstrating that electric trains can be a win for the community and a win for the environment.
