Emergency repairs cause Caltrain delays

REDWOOD CITY, CA

It is crowded on a normal day for Caltrain's rail car - but now /*Caltrains*/ is saying it is going to be even more congested. Delays are expected because they had to take 14 railcars out of service. That is going to leave passengers with less room to ride.

Caltrain discovered this mechanical problem last Thursday - 14 cars had cracks in the part that connects the railcar to the wheel assembly. Those cars have been pulled from service.

This will also impact wheelchair lifts. Trains are going to have to resort to using the slower manual wheelchair lifts - which could cause some delays.

The normal five car trains will be reduced to four cars. At a time when high gas prices have more and more people taking public transit, it may create some extra congestion.

"To be honest, I consider the commute enough of a hassle on a daily basis that when something like this is going to happen, I don't know I'm not sold on public transportation in general right now because of the fact that it takes me - I have to drive, I have to take a train and then I have to take a third piece," said Mark Bogen, San Carlos.

Caltrains isn't sure how long it will take to fix the rail cars and they also aren't sure why the suspensions on the railcars aren't working.

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