Caltrain

Caltrain
Southbound train at Palo Alto in 2014
Overview
Owner	Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board
Area served	Santa Clara Valley San Francisco Peninsula
Transit type	Commuter rail
Number of lines	1
Number of stations	31 (list)
Daily ridership	18,600 per weekday[1]
Annual ridership	5,443,800 (2023)[2]
Headquarters	San Carlos, California
Website	caltrain.com
Operation
Began operation	1985 (as Caltrain) 1863 (as Peninsula Commute)
Operator(s)	Southern Pacific (1870–1992) Amtrak (1992–2012) TransitAmerica Services (2012–present)
Reporting marks	JPBX
Infrastructure manager(s)	Union Pacific (Tamien–Gilroy)
Character	commuter railroad with level crossings; limited freight service
Number of vehicles	29 locomotives and 134 passenger cars (in revenue service)[3]
Train length	1 locomotive, 5 or 6 passenger cars
Technical
System length	77.2 mi (124.2 km)
No. of tracks	2+[4]
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	Overhead line, 25 kV 60 Hz AC[5] (2024)
Top speed	79 mph (127 km/h)
System map Caltrain highlighted in red Show interactive map Legend Bay Area Rapid Transit to the East Bay Muni Metro Embarcadero station via pedestrian tunnel Transbay Transit Center planned Downtown Rail Extension planned 0.0 mi 0 km San Francisco 1.7 mi 2.7 km 22nd Street under I-280 Oakdale proposed 3.9 mi 6.3 km Paul Avenue closed T Third Street (Muni Metro) 5.0 mi 8 km Bayshore San Francisco San Mateo County 8.4 mi 13.5 km Butler Road closed 9.1 mi 14.6 km South San Francisco 11.6 mi 18.7 km San Bruno Fare zone 1 Fare zone 2 13.5 mi 21.7 km Millbrae 15.0 mi 24.1 km Broadway weekends only 16.1 mi 25.9 km Burlingame 17.8 mi 28.6 km San Mateo 18.9 mi 30.4 km Hayward Park 19.8 mi 31.9 km Bay Meadows closed 20.1 mi 32.3 km Hillsdale 21.7 mi 34.9 km Belmont 23.0 mi 37 km San Carlos 25.3 mi 40.7 km Redwood City Fare zone 2 Fare zone 3 27.6 mi 44.4 km Atherton closed 28.7 mi 46.2 km Menlo Park San Mateo County Santa Clara County 29.9 mi 48.1 km Palo Alto 30.6 mi 49.2 km Stanford game days only 31.6 mi 50.9 km California Avenue 33.9 mi 54.6 km San Antonio 34.7 mi 55.8 km Castro closed 36.1 mi 58.1 km Mountain View 38.6 mi 62.1 km Sunnyvale Fare zone 3 Fare zone 4 40.6 mi 65.3 km Lawrence Amtrak to Auburn ACE to Stockton–Downtown 44.1 mi 71 km Santa Clara (via ) Silicon Valley BART extension planned 45.5 mi 73.2 km College Park CEMOF 46.7 mi 75.2 km San Jose Diridon to Winchester to Alum Rock 48.9 mi 78.7 km Tamien Fare zone 4 Fare zone 5 ↓ weekday commutes 52.2 mi 84 km Capitol 55.5 mi 89.3 km Blossom Hill Fare zone 5 Fare zone 6 67.3 mi 108.3 km Morgan Hill 71.0 mi 114.3 km San Martin 77.2 mi 124.2 km Gilroy California High-Speed Rail 2031 Santa Clara County Monterey County Pajaro/Watsonville planned Castroville planned Salinas under construction Amtrak to Los Angeles All stops are accessible except for 22nd Street, College Park and Stanford This diagram: view talk edit Show route diagram

Caltrain (reporting mark JPBX) is a California commuter rail line serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). The southern terminus is in San Jose at Tamien station with weekday rush hour service running as far as Gilroy. The northern terminus of the line is in San Francisco at 4th and King Street. Caltrain has 28 regular stops, one limited-service weekday-only stop (College Park), one weekend-only stop (Broadway), and one football-only stop (Stanford). While average weekday ridership in 2019 exceeded 63,000, impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been significant: in August 2022, Caltrain had an average weekday ridership of 18,600 passengers.^[1]

Caltrain is governed by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (PCJPB) which consists of agencies from the three counties served by Caltrain: Santa Clara, San Francisco, and San Mateo. Each member agency has three representatives on a nine-member Board of Directors. The member agencies are the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and the San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans).

Historically served by diesel locomotives, Caltrain is electrifying 51 miles (82 km) of its route between 4th and King and Tamien; diesel trains will remain in service for trains to Gilroy.^[6]