Well, to start off how about buying off-shelf, standardized components. Allowing international competition also would help. At least it is the case for Caltrain

Well, to start off how about buying off-shelf, standardized components. Allowing international competition also would help. At least it is the case for Caltrain and BART. Caltrain reinvents the wheel with their control system: http://caltrain-hsr.blogspot.com/2013/01/cboss-falls-behind.html http://caltrain-hsr.blogspot.com/2013/01/cboss-falls-behind.... That would decrease the cost and time to implement few times.