Caltrain to remove rail cars from service
According to today’s announcement on the web site:
During a recent train car inspection, Caltrain discovered hairline cracks on the bolster for a truck, which supports the rail car’s suspension. As part of Caltrain’s continuing concern for safety, Caltrain staff then inspected all similar gallery equipment, which are the fluted stainless steel cars. Cracks were discovered on 14 of the cars…
The removal of the cars requires Caltrain to shift the size of its trains. Trains that had operated with five-car gallery sets will only have four cars, which may require some passengers to stand during their trip. Some of the cars removed from service were wheelchair accessible with an onboard wheelchair lift. To continue to accommodate its customers who use wheelchairs, Caltrain has removed the luggage racks from the luggage cars. In those instances, conductors will board passengers in wheelchairs via a manual wheelchair lift located on platforms.
Other than being able to carry 32 bicycles, Caltrain has already outgrown the gallery cars. In April, Caltrain ridership has grown over 15% from the same month last year.
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