Caltrain ridership up 47% after electrification

Dive Temporary:

• Caltrain, the commuter railroad that serves the San Francisco Peninsula, noticed ridership surge almost 47% fiscal 12 months over 12 months because it changed diesel-powered trains with electrical trains, in keeping with a Sept. 22 information launch. 
• July 2025 noticed ridership improve 78% in comparison with the identical month the 12 months prior, the second consecutive month it carried over a million riders.
• Electrification lowered journey instances, enabled extra frequent practice service and elevated total capability on the system by 30%.

Dive Perception:

“We’re blessed to have launched our electrification program,” Caltrain Government Director Michelle Bouchard stated in an interview. It was an extended course of, she stated, relationship again to a 1996 coverage dedication to impress the railroad. 

The mission obtained underway in 2016 with the awarding of the primary contract. It required putting in overhead catenary wire alongside 51 miles of the route together with procuring 23 seven-car electrical practice units from Stadler and upgrades to Caltrain’s central upkeep facility. 

The whole value of the mission got here in at $2.72 billion, together with implementation of the federally-required security expertise often called constructive practice management. The San Francisco County Transportation Authority contributed $41 million from its half-cent gross sales tax for transportation and the One Bay Space Grant program.

For Bouchard, the mission was important to reimaging the aim of a commuter railroad within the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic that despatched ridership plummeting as many day by day commuters labored from house. “This is a chance to recast ourselves as not only a railroad for one single goal,” she stated.

With electrification, Caltrain doubled weekend service and ensured that at the very least one practice in every course serves each station each thirty minutes or much less. The mission additionally delivered environmental advantages, with its electrical trains returning 23% of their vitality to different trains or the grid by new regenerative braking expertise.

“The final 5 years have introduced the commuter rail business with what looks as if adversity, however I see alternative in it,” Bouchard stated. “The service we’re offering is important, not solely to our clients, however to the economic system.”