Caltrain Chooses New Operator to Replace Amtrak

[jstolberg]

The Caltrain board on Thursday is expected to sign a new five-year, $398.6 million deal with Missouri-based TransitAmerica to operate Caltrain service at the start of 2012, taking over the expiring contract from longtime partner Amtrak.

Caltrain executives say they are getting "the best bang for their buck" by picking the second-cheapest operator -- a firm they say was so impressive it "blew their socks off"

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_18801381

Veolia was the low bidder. Amtrak came in third.

[neroden]

The article is remarkably uninformative, and reads like it was written by Veolia shills. But then, isn't the Mercury News the one which publishes anti-passenger-rail hit pieces regularly, or am I confused?

No mention of Veolia being responsible for the Chatsworth crash? No responsible board would consider them at this point, they have the worst record in the industry.

Good to know that Caltrain rejected them.

[kaitoku]

It's practically an opinion piece masquerading as a new report. Agree with the decision not to choose Veolia- they mucked up Melbourne's rail system and were sacked for it. The 150 years experience is b.s.- the parent company is that old, but it was involved mainly as a water utility in France until the 1980's when it began to diversify. Don't trust French companies with their promotional materials- they tend to be 'exagere', like Alstom claiming their AGV model to be innovative in adopting an EMU layout, when Siemens already has one and Japan has been running HSR emus for 40+ years.

And yes, the Merc is owned by the Media News Group, which is known for being anti-passenger rail, and specifically anti-HSR. No surprise. The SF Chronicle and Sacto Bee are more favorable to HSR.

[Wingnut]

Wow, Amtrak just keeps losing commuter contracts. Are they even trying hard?

[lensovet]

well it's not like they need the business given how well they are doing lol