CalTrain - San Francisco's Commuter Railroad

Caltrain is a commuter rail service in the San Francisco bay area. Trains travel in between San Francisco and San Jose with some continuing as far south as Gilroy. Constructed in 1863 by the San Fransisco and San Jose Railway Company, the line was purchased by the Southern Pacific Railroad just 7 years later. In the 1980s, the California Department of Transportation stepped in to take on some of the financial burden and keep the commuter trains running. A brand new fleet of 20 EMD F40PH locomotives and more than 60 Bilevel “Gallery” cars, built by Nippon Sharyo was purchased by the state in 1984 and in 1985, the service was officially rebranded as “CalTrain”. Today, CalTrain is one of the busiest commuter operations in the nation, averaging about 65,000 riders each weekday as of 2019. On a normal weekday, nearly 50 trains a day in each direction make stops at the line’s 29 stations. CalTrain has changed and grown a lot over the years, but the railroad is currently undergoing its biggest transformation thus far. The diesel hauled passenger trains are in the process of being replaced by a brand new fleet of self propelled Electrical Multiple Unit cars, built by the company Stadler. In order to power the new equipment, the entire corridor between San Jose’s Tamien Station and the San Francisco 4th and King Street Station is being electrified with brand new 25 kilovolt overhead electrical wire. The Caltrain Modernization Program, or CalMod for short, is expected to be completed some time in the first half of 2022. While some of the diesel fleet will be retained for service to Gilroy, the original 20 F40 locomotives dating back to 1984 will all be retired along with the Gallery Cars. Let’s take a trip to the San Francisco Bay Area for a look at the venerable F40 locomotives in action as they dutifully haul their trains up and down the peninsula. At the time this was filmed, the electrification project was well underway. You will see several scenes of completed overhead catenary and electrical poles as well as others where construction of the new electrical infrastructure had not yet been completed.

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