A Response to Daniel Monroe's Comment

I'm bending the rules slightly here by going beyond the 1500 character limits for comments in this thread, but Daniel Monroe's point is well taken.

Thanks, Daniel.  The Chatsworth legal debacle did not come to mind as I read the discussion about Veolia contract rejected for a more expensive one. And, I certainly agree that Veolia has a legal as well as moral reponsibility to take "ownership" of a deplorable situation for which it was responsible.  

Futhermore, Caltrain has acquired a fatality reputation, with a dozen deaths this year alone, so far. ("Suicide by Caltrain") They would do well to mitigate their liability exposure as much as possible.

Nonetheless, here is what Mike Rosenberg had to say about the choices made by Caltrain:

"But Veolia -- which claims to be North America's largest private transportation provider and operates commuter rail lines in Boston, Miami and Austin -- submitted an offer for the same job that was 12 percent cheaper than TransitAmerica's plan. Veolia's five-year estimate totaled $374.5 million and was the only proposal Caltrain received that would cut cost from the current Amtrak deal."

I was under the impression that one reason Caltrain did not renew it Amtrak contract was their too expensive personnel overhead. Isn't budget cutting and cost management a major issue for Caltrain, insofar as they claimed they were flirting with bankruptcy not that long ago? 

Here is Veolia's web site.  They are indeed world-wide.

http://www.veoliatransportation.com/index

Veolia recently merged with Transdev, which is in the multi-modal transit business. That is to say, the new company doesn't see itself as merely a railroad operator (as does Amtrak), but more as a transit operator, regardless of modalities.

Veolia's website, now including Transdev, lists a whole range of transit modalities; i.e.,  "sustainable mobility solutions for bus, rail, streetcars, paratransit, shuttles, taxis, ferries and more."

It has been my contention that one major Caltrain failing is that they are pursuing the wrong business model; they believe themselves to be railroad operators, rather than participants in a multi-modal Bay Area-wide public mass transit system.  It may be wishful thinking on my part to believe that perhaps Veolia would have brought a totally different and far more transit/commuter/customer perspective to Caltrain's operations.