Thousands of railroad ties that have appeared stacked in piles next to the tracks running between Gilroy and San Martin aren’t something for commuters to gawk at on their way to work.
Union Pacific is in the process of replacing 27,000 problem railroad ties between the Tamien Caltrain Station in San Jose and Gilroy. The work has been going on for almost two weeks, explained Board Member Perry Woodward with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), and is expected to take two more.
The benefit of replacing all of the ties in one go (versus replacing them as the need arises) is two-fold, said Woodward.
“There will be less go-slow orders,” said Woodward, referring to the fact that passing trains must reduce their speed when encountering problem ties.
As every commuter that has ever ridden a train can attest, trains slowing down at periodic intervals can only mean one thing: throw the timetable out the window.
Union Pacific’s wholesale replacement of ties will hopefully eradicate dismal moments of station platform clock watching.
“People will be able to rely on this train arriving on time,” promised Woodward.
Furthermore, Woodward predicts that as the Caltrain service becomes more reliable, more people will be tempted to hop aboard.
“We’re trying to encourage people to ride Caltrain,” he confirmed.
In fact, Caltrain and the VTA are so keen to get people out of their cars and onto trains that they hosted an open house Saturday to help residents know more about the Caltrain and VTA service from Gilroy.
Caltrain is “not the same way as it was 10 years ago,” promised Woodward.
