by Kevin McKinney/photos as noted
Construction of main line electrification in the U.S. is a rare thing. The last such milestone was in January 2000, when Amtrak added wires to 157 route-miles of the former New Haven Railroad Shore Line between Boston and New Haven, Conn., completing the end-to-end electrification of the Northeast Corridor begun by NH as early as 1907 and extended by Pennsylvania Railroad in the 1930s. In California, after more than a decade of effort, August 2024 marked the “soft launch” of electrified service on Caltrain’s San Francisco Peninsula commuter service. On August 10, local and state dignitaries rode a special train on a round-trip between San Francisco and Millbrae. The following day, two seven-car electric trainsets entered revenue service, covering a small portion of Caltrain’s schedule.
The official start occurred on Saturday, September 21, when 100 percent electric operation was introduced along with a new, expanded schedule.
From Southern Pacific to Caltrain
It was no secret that Southern Pacific wanted out of the passenger business long before Amtrak was conceived. That wish finally came true on May 1, 1971, when the national public entity took over the financial burden of running intercity trains. SP would have preferred a clean break and freight-only status, but instead had to put up with operating several routes that were made part of the Amtrak basic system. And another thorn remained: the San Francisco–San Jose, Calif., “commute” service, as SP called it, and the pesky commuters who were costing SP a loss estimated at $5 million a year.
ABOVE: For railfans, Southern Pacific’s H24-66 Train Master diesels were stars of the Peninsula “commute” show in the 1960s and early 1970s. This June 1969 view from Fourth Street Tower looks north toward SP’s Mission Style San Francisco station at Third and Townsend streets as Train Master 3033 departs with Train 134.
In November 1976, the railroad surprised everyone by offering to buy 1,000 eight-passenger vans to carry its 8,000 commuters in each direction in carpools on parallel highways 101 and I-280. After the vanpool plan was rejected, SP applied for total abandonment of the service the following year, a motion that was also rejected. Who would have guessed then, at such a low point, that 47 years later the line would not only still exist, but would feature electrified high-frequency service?
Progress comes slowly, and sometimes it doesn’t come at all. But fortunately, San Francisco–San Jose service finally received public subsidies from California’s state DOT (now known as Caltrans) in 1980. The railroad at first had balked at a subsidy. As Southern Pacific Vice President Alan D. DeMoss put it, “If the public insists on playing choo-choo they can buy part of our right-of-way and get out of the way.” DeMoss also said, “We are having a heck of a time competing with the truckers as it is. We cannot tolerate even more interference with our freight operations.”
ABOVE: The shape of things to come: on September 24, 2022, Caltrain parked two of its new Stadler KISS EMU trains at the Fourth and King streets station in San Francisco for a public preview. Catenary supports are in place, but installation of wire has yet to begin. —Caltrain photo
It took more than a decade to happen, but in 1991 the San Francisco–San Jose line was acquired by the newly formed Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board. Electrification was proposed the following year, envisioning electric locomotives pulling relatively new bi-level gallery cars. It wasn’t the first time the idea had been proposed. Southern Pacific had actually considered electrification of the line 70 years earlier, in 1921, but backed off as government-funded highways began to proliferate.
Caltrain ridership grew as service improved, including a 30-mile extension from San Jose to Gilroy introduced on July 1, 1992. The computer revolution later put San Jose and surrounding communities, now better known as Silicon Valley, on a growth path. Increasingly, Caltrain was developing balanced ridership, with people living in San Francisco commuting to Silicon Valley while traditional commuters continued to commute in the opposite direction to The City. Weekend and off-peak ridership also increased.
ABOVE: A train arrives at Palo Alto station on September 21, 2024, the first day of fully electrified Caltrain service. —Caltrain photo
Toward an Electric Future
Today’s electrification stems from a combining of interests between Caltrain and the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) in March 2012. After looking at alternative paths between San Francisco and Los Angeles for its proposed high-speed rail service, CHSRA decided that using Caltrain’s route would be less expensive and far less disruptive. The two entities agreed to “blended” operation, and Caltrain would receive funding for electrification from CHSRA and other sources. CHSRA’s contribution totaled $798 million of what was ultimately a $2.44 billion project.
It was not until July 2016 that Caltrain was able to award a $697 million contract to Britain’s Balfour Beatty for the standard North American 25kV at 60 Hz electrification, and a $551 million contract to Switzerland’s Stadler for 96 electric multiple-unit (EMU) cars, with an option for 96 additional cars. Stadler broke ground in Salt Lake City, Utah, in October 2017 on a facility to build the trainsets…
