Caltrain launches new electric train fleet in San Francisco

Stepping into the carriage, a fresh train smell immediately hits the nostrils. It’s like leaving a car wash. Evergreen and fresh.

A robotic female voice announces that the doors are closing and you are sealed inside the most advanced train on the market. Every seat has an electrical outlet. Space under the trunk or scooter. Paired seats like today’s Caltrains still exist, but they are well spaced.

There is a live screen on the wall inside each passenger car, showing the passenger’s destination, similar to the latest BART cars. The only oversight on the train may be the bins/recycling bins, which are relatively small in size for a train with a maximum capacity of 2,169 passengers.

Wisnet security cameras are present throughout the car, but the digital eye doesn’t affect the polished interior. Connecting the train cars is a white tunnel, similar to the narrow corridor on Princess Leia’s Tantive IV ship at the start of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.

Once a can of disaster, the Caltrain bathroom is now suitable for astronauts, and the generous space and multiple steel handles help keep it in place over the occasional bumps in peninsula orbit.

Up front, in the conductor’s cockpit, Caltrain engineers were giddy about giving these all-electric trains a ride. The new console replaces most of the buttons with a screen and features cruise control, a new convenience. Trains can reach 110 miles per hour, but don’t expect those speeds when the train is on board. There’s enough oversight and cameras inside the console to make sure drivers don’t pick their noses without anyone else’s knowledge.

Stadler – like the Stadler factory in Salt Lake City that builds EMUs – adorns the train’s nose in black lettering as the team’s new nickname.

Not everyone rides Caltrain, but if you live along the South Bay or near the Soma train station, then you’ll be familiar with that iconic horn. Once a button, the horn is now a switch that plays as the train approaches a four-way intersection.

The fleet began production in 2019, and in 2017, the Caltrain electrification project broke ground. The first electric trains arrived in the Bay Area in March.

The new trains are expected to be available for public use for the first time in 2024, marking a critical transition in the South Bay transportation system. Its current fleet of diesel-electric locomotive-powered trains is yesterday; electric multiple units (EMUs) are coming in tomorrow.

Until then, as EMUs continue to show up on the peninsula for track testing, anticipation grows as train enthusiasts begin to catch a glimpse of the stylish fleet on the track.