Is the US finally getting all-aboard with electric trains?

For the first time, two new all-electric passenger trains are operating in the US, which is woefully behind the rest of the world in electrifying its rolling stock.

The two new trains are operated by CalTrain. California Governor Gavin Newson and House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi were on-hand to take the inaugural ride, which took place on Saturday. The trains were put into regular service the following day, running along the route between San Jose and San Francisco.

It’s taken almost 20 years since the idea of electric trains were first proposed in California. But officials insisted the new trains will be quieter and faster than the diesel-powered trains in current operation, while also providing a better experience for passengers. The two trains will be joined by 17 others that should be in service by mid-September.

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 the people who live along the rail corridor by reducing air and noise pollution.

It shouldn’t come as any shock that the US is lagging behind the rest of the world in introducing electric trains. India is on the cusp of electrifying 100 percent of its rail lines, while China is nearing three-quarters of its network. Over 57 percent of the rail system in the European Union is electric. The US. which has historically prioritized personal cars over high-volume passenger trains, now can boast that it has two electric trains — and more on the way.

The reasons for this extremely slow adoption are plentiful, but one of the most glaring problems is opposition from the Association of American Railroads, the industry’s main lobbying organization. The group says it would be extremely costly to retrofit the rail system in the US for electric trains, especially since so much of the current track system is built to accommodate diesel engines. These costs outweigh the possible benefits from an electric-powered rail system.

It even issued a policy paper (that is now conspicuously missing from the group’s website) laying out the case against railroad electrification. The existential threat of climate change is not enough to change the minds of the nation’s rail executives.

And it’s not like the problem isn’t obvious. US railroads are some of the largest consumers of diesel fuel, slurping up some 4.2 billion gallons in 2018 alone. Some experts have cited railroad monopolization as a primary reason electrification efforts keep getting waylaid. The major operators, CSX and Norfolk Southern in the east, and BNSF and Union Pacific in the west, “fastidiously opposed to deploying capital that would improve infrastructure. As a result, they are unwilling to fund electrification and focus on cutting costs and services in order to reap higher profits,” Maddox Thomas wrote in the Brown Political Review last year. 

State-operated commuter rail has an opportunity to seize the zeitgeist and do the right thing in the absence of cooperation from the freight operators. The new CalTrain models are just a drop in the bucket, but should go a long way in proving that electric trains can be a win for the community as well as a win for the environment.