The shot heard round the legislature

Caltrain supporters may have to bite the Baby Bullet

By Rachel Brahinsky

In just two years Bay Area commuters will be riding from San Francisco to San Jose on a bullet train.

Sort of.

A soon-to-be-built express train, which will carry Caltrain passengers between the two cities in about 45 minutes, has been dubbed the "Baby Bullet train" by state senator Jackie Speier. And though transit advocates were thrilled Speier found $127 million in the state budget for Caltrain, the military moniker has drawn explosive criticism.

"In light of Sept. 11, calling something bullets and guns is a bad idea. I just don't think we should be using violence and guns to connote speed," said Bruce Balshone, a member of a citizens committee that advises Caltrain. "Also, this is not a speed train. The bullet train in Japan moves 200 miles an hour. The only thing about this train is it eliminates stops," he said.

Problem is, funding Caltrain isn't a sexy proposition. Hence the naming pickle, Speier said.

"There may not be much to a name, one way or another, but ... no one offered to bet their reputations or public funds on the Caltrain Express or the Caltrain Bay Flyer," Speier wrote in a letter to critics last month.

"The Caltrain Express was a name that I initially used when talking about this subject," she wrote. "It didn't persuade anyone because people literally didn't pay attention to the name – it wasn't interesting. I switched to 'Baby Bullet train' and it was like a shot heard round the legislature."

Seems Speier missed the point: with more gun imagery, her critics may not be mollified. To her credit, Speier is working to bring actual high-speed trains to the area by promoting a $9 billion Los Angeles-San Francisco bullet train bond measure for the fall.

On the subject of the Baby Bullet, Speier pointed out that the final naming decision is up to the Caltrain governing board.