Caltrain Caltrain (reporting mark JPBX) is a commuter rail line in California, serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). The southern terminus is in San Jose, California, San Jose at the Tamien station with weekday r ...

is a

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

transit system that serves the

San Francisco Peninsula The San Francisco Peninsula is a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area that separates San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. On its northern tip is the City and County of San Francisco. Its southern base is Los Altos and Mountain View, ...

and the

Santa Clara Valley The Santa Clara Valley (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Valle de Santa Clara'') is a geologic trough in Northern California that extends south–southeast from San Francisco to Hollister, California, Hollister. The longitudinal valley is bordered ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It is operated under contract by

TransitAmerica Services TransitAmerica Services, Inc. is an American passenger rail service provider headquartered in St Joseph, Missouri. The company was established in 2002 as a joint venture between Herzog Transit Services and Stagecoach Group. In 2004, Herzog bough ...

and funded jointly by the

City and County of San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of 2024, San Francisco is the fourth-most populous city in the ...

San Mateo County Transit District SamTrans (stylized as samTrans; officially the San Mateo County Transit District) is a public transport agency in and around San Mateo, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It provides bus service throughout San Mateo County, California, S ...

(SamTrans), and

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, more commonly known simply as the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), is a Special district (United States), special district responsible for public transit services, Congestion management agen ...

(VTA) through the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (PCJPB). The system's average mid-weekday ridership is 65,095 as of February 2018.Prior to 2018, Caltrain counted "average weekday ridership" by counting riders on all weekday (Monday through Friday) trains for one week and computing the average as the sum of all riders over one week divided by five. In 2018, Caltrain shifted to counting "average mid-weekday ridership" by counting riders on trains on two of the three mid-weekday days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and/or Thursday) for two weeks and computing the average as the sum of all riders on the four mid-week days divided by four. An examination of mid-weekday ridership data from 2013 through 2017 showed ridership on these three mid-weekday days is approximately equal. Since Monday (-1% compared to mid-weekday ridership) and Friday (-9%) trains tend to have lower ridership than mid-weekday trains, the pre-2018 "average weekday ridership" results in a count approximately 2% less than the 2018+ "average mid-weekday ridership" methodology
Details from 2018 Ridership Report
The original railroad between San Francisco and San Jose (known as the

Peninsula Commute The Peninsula Commute, also known as the Southern Pacific Peninsula or just Peninsula, was the common name for commuter rail service between San Jose, California, San Jose and San Francisco, California, San Francisco on the San Francisco Peninsu ...

) was built by the

San Francisco and San Jose Railroad The San Francisco and San Jose Railroad (SF&SJ) was a railroad which linked the communities of San Francisco and San Jose, California, running the length of the San Francisco Peninsula. The company incorporated in 1860 and was one of the first ra ...

in 1863. In 1870 the railroad was acquired by

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

. Southern Pacific double tracked the line in 1904. In 1958 the railroad had record ridership, 7.5 million passengers. The popularity of the railroad began to decline and in 1977 Southern Pacific petitioned to the state government to discontinue Peninsula Commute. After months of negotiation, the

California Department of Transportation The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an Executive (government), executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the Government of California#State agencies, cabinet-level California State Tran ...

(Caltrans) reached an agreement with the three counties of which the Peninsula Commute ran through to continue rail operation. Under the agreement, the system was renamed Caltrain and operation responsibilities were shared by Caltrans, Southern Pacific and the three counties. The Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board was formed in 1987, and it bought the

right of way A right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access h ...

of Caltrain from Southern Pacific in late 1991 for $220 million. The PCJPB formally took over the operation of Caltrain in 1992 and contracted Amtrak to operate the system. In the same year, Caltrain extended to Gilroy. Amtrak's contract with PCJPB was renewed in 2001. The system has 31 stations. 28 stations are served daily, one (

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

) is served on weekends and holidays only, one ( College Park) is served via two round trips on weekdays only, and one (

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

) is served on

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

's football game days only on weekends. San Francisco 4th and King Street is the northern terminus of the system, while Gilroy is the southern terminus. The five southernmost stations— Capitol, Blossom Hill,

Morgan Hill Morgan Hill is a city in Santa Clara County, California, at the southern tip of Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area. Morgan Hill is an affluent residential community, the seat of several high-tech companies, and a dining and recreation ...

, San Martin, and Gilroy—are served only on weekdays during commute times by select trains. Sixteen stations are served by the limited train service. Eleven stations are served by the express train service, inaugurated in 2004. Seven stations (

Millbrae Millbrae is a city located in northern San Mateo County, California, United States. To the northeast is San Francisco International Airport; San Bruno is to the northwest, and Burlingame is to the southeast. It is bordered by San Andreas Lak ...

, Burlingame, San Carlos, Menlo Park,

Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

, Santa Clara, and

San Jose Diridon San Jose Diridon station is the central passenger rail depot for San Jose, California. It also serves as a major intermodal transit center for Santa Clara County and Silicon Valley. The station is named after former Santa Clara County Supervis ...

) are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. Of the 31 stations in the system, 27 of them are accessible. The four stations that are not accessible are in order from north to south, 22nd Street,

, and College Park. The weekend and holiday-only Broadway station is planned to be completely rebuilt; upon completion, it would be

ADA Ada may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle'', a novel by Vladimir Nabokov Film and television * Ada, a character in 1991 movie '' Armour of God II: Operation Condor'' * '' Ada... A Way of Life'', a 2008 Bollywo ...

-compliant. The non-accessible Atherton station was closed on December 13, 2020. Of the four non-accessible stations in the system, only 22nd Street sees regular service. A plan to add ADA-compliant ramps to the station is currently being considered.

Stations

Closed stations

Notes

References