Why is using gallery car sets with 40 bike spaces for express service risky?
With the 90-train weekday schedule, Caltrain had no choice but to use the gallery car sets on the additional express train runs. This is a prospect that is not without risk. The risk is to schedule reliability (on-time performance). Since the original launch of Baby Bullet service in June 2004, Caltrain has maintained an on-time performance of about 95%. This has led to increased ridership which translates into revenue that the system so desperately needs. The gallery cars have only one door per car, which makes loading and unloading much slower than with the newer two-door Bombardier cars. This has the potential to slow service. A longer stop at each station – referred to as “dwell time” – could significantly slow the Baby Bullet expresses. Simply put, it is much more difficult to make schedule with gallery cars than with the newer Bombardier equipment. The essence of the Baby Bullet express service is speed through efficiency. To achieve that speed, the service is tightly scheduled.
