SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California state legislator is seeking to bar resale of diesel-powered trains for reuse following Caltrain’s sale of equipment for use to launch a commuter rail service in Lima, Peru.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that state Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) introduced the bill on Monday. Just a single-sentence summary of the legislation currently appears on the state legislature website, but it would presumably impact only future deals like the one between Caltrain and Lima — not that transaction itself, which has already been signed by both parties and received a waiver from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District [see “Caltrain equipment is bound for Peru,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 16, 2024].
Cortese, in a statement quoted by the Mercury News, said “Are we not all fighting to decarbonize the same air? As a world leader in decarbonization in our transportation sector, we need to lead on this.”
Sam Sargent, director of strategy and policy for Caltrain, pointed out that even with the reuse of the diesels, the sale would have major environmental impacts in Lima. He said a U.S. State Department study said the process would remove 20,000 metric tons of pollution from the air, take 4,000 cars off the road, and generate 150,000 to 250,000 passenger trips on weekdays.
Said Caltrain spokesman Dan Lieberman, “We’re generally of the opinion that any policy that results in more people getting out of cars and into sustainable modes of transit, like trains, is a good policy and one worth pursuing.”
The air quality waiver was required because at least some funding for the Caltrain electrification project that made the Peru-bound equipment was awarded on environmental grounds, and such funds require the equipment being replaced to be disabled to prevent its future use. The involvement of the U.S. State and Commerce departments in the Caltrain-Lima deal may have helped gain the necessary approval.
More evidence that if Californians don’t reign in their out of control liberal government, the state will become an even more economic wasteland as people flee the state for more reasonable and less extreme climes. Gov “Greasy” Newsom is already trying to set the record for most U-Haul rentals in a year and for all time…LOL
And what of the waste of resources used to destroy useful equipment? It is better not to make a mess than to create another one. Reuse things until no longer reusable is a wiser choice. And, we would not be beholding to countries that wish us harm.
Cortese = Typical Leftist Idiot
Not every jurisdiction can afford Non-green-erectric trainsets.
Maybe helping cut down on car and bus traffic in Lima (I’ve been there) will be a net benefit on the moron-cortese fight against the non-existent threat of human caused climate change? No?
SAD
Just sad
Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) needs to get out more. The second and third world needs better transportion options, period. The Cal Train trains are a savior and the people of Lima are grateful for this step up. The alternative is to destroy the trains rather than share? Vote this guy out. He’s been drinking the Kool-Aid in the bubble in the bubble in San Jose for too long.
My question is were any federal funds used to purchase this equipment? If so, the equipment should go to other agencies that need the equipment.
“Are we not all fighting to decarbonize the same air?“ Uh, no. Just because everyone in your particular echo chamber agrees with you doesn’t mean you speak for everyone.
I hate to add to the negativity, but this illustrates why I shudder when I see people claim to be railfans on youtube (probably social media in general), but then immediately turn their noses at something that isn’t electric and built in the past 10 years. Caltrains locomotives (I’m guessing F40PH’s), have served this country well for decades (as well as Canada), and are more than capable even after all these years. I swear these politicians and their supporters only consider emissions and literally nothing else. Not the material loss of the locomotive or the materials used to build it; not the historical cost considering the long stories of these engines; not the potential cost savings of selling perfectly good equipment to other nations who need them, instead of wasting time, money, and probably real-estate to scrap them.
I also say this as someone who’s traveled to Peru (especially Lima). Recent political events aside, I’m confident the people of Peru would give these old girls a good home. But in typical California fashion instead of giving them affordable and reliable used equipment (that would likely be easier to train on too) they’d apparently rather force Peru to waste their time and resources on new equipment that may not fit their needs.
Forgive me for the venting. I was born and raised when the F40PH’s were still a huge part of Amtrak’s fleet. This kind of callous attitude toward equipment reuse (and arguable preservation) infuriates me. If I’ve said anything that seems out of line I’m willing to clarify.
ELLIOTT YEN – Thanks for your thoughtful post. You begin and you end with unnecessary apologies. You start by saying “I hate to add to the negativity …”. You aren’t in the least negative. You are highly positive in that you care for the train riders and the rail workers in Peru. Who have a fraction of income and the standard of living (and yes, a fraction of the heat emissions) of the people of California.
Let me add a bit about Peru. I’m certainly not patting myself on the back, as I don’t at all participate myself nor do I contribute any money (beyond my annual tithe to the parish as a whole). The Catholic parish in wealthy Brookfield, Wisconsin that I belong to sends dentists and dental hygienists to a parish in the poorest area of Peru. Our parish built a huge vocational school for those people. Each year, our parish missionaries come back with loving stories about how these fourth-world Peruvians are great people who are striving to improve themselves.
If there’s a Heaven, the poor of Peru will congregate there. If there is a Hell, it’s crowded with the rich and the privileged of California and their stinking Communist politicians.
Let me conclude by saying that the interview in this month’s TRAINS MAGAZINE with the proponent of CalHSR is disgusting. He should have been made to answer for the stupendous waste of money, the gargantuan carbon footprint, and the incalculable heat effect of this nowheresville project.
Hooray for them, they shifted from diesel to electric, and I applaud them, it is the naive behavior of thinking that they can control how they are used after they don’t own them anymore. And its worse when they find out they can make a great “deal” by keeping them intact, which tells me that when it comes down to it, the only green they really care about is the one they can put in their pockets, not the ones that grow on trees.
Well said and most of us agree!
The proposed legislation is a save face attempt after their hypocrisy was exposed. The political dummies never considered that they might get sold to someone else in the world, they never considered the fact anyone else could use them outside the US.
Why do things that improve human life when we can dECaRboNize, eh?
Caltrain equipment getting a second life is little different than US class 1s rebuilding tier 1 locomotives to avoid more strict tier 4 emissions (see December 6 News photo: Factory fresh from Wabtec “…giving NS more than 950 such rebuilds…”). Or stringing catenary using proven technology.
Cortese, in a statement quoted by the Mercury News, said “… As a world leader in decarbonization in our transportation sector, we need to lead on this.” Is this guy serious? California is a huge carbon emitter and Teslas or solar panels are hardly making a dent. California imports huge amounts of electricity generated by fossil fuels from neighboring states. It remains hugely dependent on fossil fuel transportation.
GREGG – You must know that telling the truth is illegal in California. I don’t know where you live, just hope for your sake it’s one of the other 49 states.
Unless California wants to pay for an electric rail line in Peru, then Peru’s line will be diesel. But, oh wait, California itself is batting only .500 in building electric lines. Caltrain, yes, a success. CalHSR is a fiasco. So far and into the foreseeable future is that all CalHSR has accomplished is greatly increasing the state’s carbon footprint by diesel earthmovers and diesel trucks carrying steel and concrete. Oh and BTW, curing cement powder, hauling the materials such as water, sand and aggregate, and the curing of concrete once emplaced, all give off tremendous amounts of heat. Here is Wisconsin, concrete is poured in the depth of winter. Why? Because concrete curing gives off heat, lots of it. Seeing photos of the gargantuan amount of concrete wasted for California’s nonexistent HSR line makes me sick to my stomach.
Scrapping rail equipment that could run is, let me put it this way, a horrible sin. Which will accomplish nothing as other equipment will have to be manufactured.
GREGG, California is one of the world’s worst polluters and one of the world’s biggest sources of heat into the environment. The state’s reaction is to proclaim its own (nonexistent) virtue and to lecture everyone else. California can go to H+E+L+L. I live in Wisconsin, which is a far cleaner environment than California without California’s self-proclaimed environmental virtue.