Caltrain to Reduce Service for Electrification Construction
Written by Carolina Worrell, Senior Editor, Railway Age
Caltrain announced on Nov. 28 that it will temporarily reduce service from Monday, Dec. 5, through Sunday, Dec. 18 to accommodate electrification construction that includes signal cutover work at 16 grade crossings, requiring a 24/7 single-tracking window between Belmont and Mountain View.
On weekdays, Caltrain service will be reduced to 68 trains per day, down from the current 104 trains per day, including suspension of Baby Bullet service. Weekend train service on December 10 and 11, 17 and 18 will be replaced by bus service between Belmont and Mountain View. Riders can transfer to SamTrans bus service through the affected area, which will increase travel time for riders by 60-90 minutes. The weekend bus bridges will serve all regular weekend stops between Belmont and Mountain View stations with timed train connections on both ends.
During this period of construction, Caltrain says, train service will also end early on weeknights and weekends to accelerate work being performed on the entire railroad. The last northbound train each evening will depart Tamien Station at 9:01 p.m. and the last southbound train will depart San Francisco Station at 9:22 p.m.
On Monday, Dec. 19, Caltrain, which is owned and operated by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board and provides rail service from San Francisco to San Jose, with commute service to Gilroy, will revert to the regular weekday and weekend schedule.
The December temporary schedule is available here.
More information on the Caltrain Electrification project, “the first undertaking in North America in a generation in which diesel trains and their infrastructure components are transitioned to an electrified system,” is available here.
