the short lived service in los angeles see caltrain . caltrain overview owner peninsula corridor joint powers board locale san francisco peninsula santa clara valley counties san francisco san mateo and santa clara transit type commuter rail number of lines 1 number of stations 32 daily ridership 58 245 weekdays 17 392 saturdays 8 849 sundays february 2015 average 1 headquarters san carlos california website http www.caltrain.com operation began operation 1987 operator s amtrak 1992 2012 transitamerica services 2012 present reporting marks jpbx host railroads jpbx san francisco tamien union pacific tamien gilroy number of vehicles 29 locomotives 118 passenger cars 2 train length 1 locomotive 5 or 6 passenger cars technical system length 77.4 mi 124.6 km track gauge 4 ft 8 1 2 in 1 435 mm standard gauge top speed 79 mph 127 km h system map legend embarcadero station via pedestrian tunnel transbay transit center planned san francisco 22nd street oakdale proposed paul avenue closed bayshore san francisco san mateo county butler road closed south san francisco san bruno fare zone 1 fare zone 2 millbrae broadway weekends only burlingame san mateo hayward park bay meadows closed hillsdale belmont san carlos redwood city timed transfer fare zone 2 fare zone 3 dumbarton extension second ave. proposed atherton weekends only menlo park willow road proposed san mateo county alameda county newark proposed fremont centerville proposed union city proposed san mateo county santa clara county palo alto stanford game days only california avenue san antonio castro closed mountain view sunnyvale fare zone 3 fare zone 4 lawrence santa clara college park bellarmine commutes cemof mountain view winchester vta san jose diridon alum rock santa teresa vta tamien fare zone 4 fare zone 5 capitol weekday commutes blossom hill weekday commutes fare zone 5 fare zone 6 morgan hill weekday commutes san martin weekday commutes gilroy weekday commutes salinas proposed this diagram view talk edit caltrain is a california commuter rail line on the san francisco peninsula and in the santa clara valley silicon valley . the northern terminus of the line is in san francisco at 4th and king streets ; its southern terminus is in gilroy . trains leave san francisco and san jose about hourly on weekdays or more frequently during commute hours and for special events such as sporting events . service between san jose and gilroy is limited to three weekday commute time round trips . weekday ridership in february 2015 averaged 58 245 up 10.7 % from february 2014 and up 71 % since 2010 . 1 caltrain is governed by the peninsula corridor joint powers board pcjpb which consists of agencies from the three counties served by caltrain san francisco san mateo and santa clara . each member agency has three representatives on a nine member board of directors . the member agencies are the city and county of san francisco samtrans and the santa clara valley transportation authority . caltrain has 29 regular stops one football only stop stanford stadium and two weekend only stops broadway and atherton . as of october 2012 caltrain runs 92 weekday trains 22 baby bullet 36 saturday 4 baby bullet and 32 sunday 4 baby bullet . 3 contents 1 history 1.1 southern pacific service 1.2 joint powers board 1.3 baby bullet service 1.4 budget crisis 1.5 modernization and electrification 2 future plans 2.1 downtown san francisco extension 2.2 dumbarton extension 2.3 south of gilroy extension 2.4 modernization and electrification 3 california high speed rail 4 right of way 4.1 stations 4.2 maintenance and operations facility 5 ticketing and ridership 6 cost and budget 7 rolling stock 7.1 locomotives 7.2 passenger cars 7.2.1 ex metrolink cars 8 intermodal connections 8.1 inter city regional and commuter rail 8.2 bus light rail 8.3 airport 8.4 regional express bus 8.5 bus shuttle 9 bicycle access 9.1 bicycle ridership and policies 9.2 bicycle cars 9.3 train consists 10 see also 11 references 12 external links history edit southern pacific service edit an sp locomotive pulls a peninsula commute train past bayshore in april 1985 main article peninsula commute the original railroad built in 1863 was the san francisco and san jose rail road ; it was purchased by southern pacific in 1870 . southern pacific double tracked the line in 1904 and rerouted it via bayshore . after 1945 ridership declined with the rise in automobile use ; in 1977 sp petitioned the state public utilities commission to discontinue the commute operation because of ongoing losses . to preserve the commute service in 1980 caltrans contracted with sp and began to subsidize the operation . caltrans purchased new locomotives and rolling stock replacing sp equipment in 1985 . caltrain also upgraded stations added shuttle buses to nearby employers and dubbed the operation caltrain . joint powers board edit a caltrain car manufactured by nippon sharyo . the peninsula corridor joint powers board was formed in 1987 to manage the line . subsequently san mateo and santa clara counties commissioned earth metrics inc. to prepare an environmental impact report on right of way acquisition and expansion of operations . with state and local funding the pcjpb bought the railroad right of way between san francisco and san jose from sp in 1991 . the following year pcjpb took responsibility for caltrain operations and selected amtrak as the contract operator . pcjpb extended the caltrain service from san jose to gilroy connecting to vta light rail at tamien station in san jose . in july 1995 caltrain became accessible to passengers in wheelchairs . five months later caltrain increased the bicycle limit to 24 per train making the service attractive to commuters in bicycle friendly cities such as san francisco and palo alto . in july 1997 the current logo was adopted and the official name became caltrain . in 1998 the san francisco municipal railway extended the n judah muni metro line from market street to the san francisco caltrain station at 4th and king streets providing a direct caltrain muni metro connection for the first time . a year later vta extended its light rail service from north santa clara to the mountain view caltrain station . in june 2003 a passenger connection for the bay area rapid transit bart and caltrain systems opened at millbrae station just south of the san francisco international airport . 4 in 2006 caltrain announced that wireless internet access using wimax would be available on trains at no additional charge by the end of 2007 . 5 caltrain invested more than 1 million in researching and testing wifi in 2006 . the caltrain board of directors voted at their august 30 2007 meeting to keep the project from proceeding by rejecting both bids to provide the service citing both bids not meeting the expectation of caltrain . caltrain still hopes to offer the service eventually as part of a more comprehensive communication package . 6 in 2008 caltrain reached an all time high of 98 trains each weekday . caltrain announced on august 19 2011 a staff recommendation to sign a five year 62.5 million contract with missouri based transitamerica services inc. a subsidiary of herzog transit systems after taking proposals from three other firms including amtrak which has provided operating employees since 1992 . 7 the new operating contract was approved by the full joint powers board at its scheduled september 1 meeting . transitamerica services will take over not only the conductor and engineer jobs on the trains but also dispatching and maintenance of equipment track and right of way from amtrak . the changeover was estimated to take about five months beginning in late 2011 . on may 26 2012 during the memorial day weekend transitamerica took over full operations . 8 baby bullet service edit baby bullet service is provided by mpi mp36ph 3c locomotives . in june 2004 caltrain finished its two year ctx caltrain express project for a new express service called the baby bullet . the project entailed new bypass tracks in brisbane and sunnyvale as well as a new centralized traffic control system . the baby bullet trains reduced travel time by stopping at only four or five stations between san francisco and san jose diridon station ; the express trains could overtake local trains at the two locations near bayshore and lawrence stations where bypass tracks were added . travel time for about 46.75 miles between san francisco and san jose is 57 minutes four stops 59 minutes five stops or 61 minutes six stops compared to 1 hour 30 minutes for locals . the baby bullets have the same top speed of 79 mph 127 km h as other trains but fewer stops save time . the ctx project included the purchase of new bombardier bilevel coaches along with mpi mp36ph 3c locomotives . 9 the baby bullets have proved popular but they skip most stations so many riders have longer commutes on non bullet trains some of which wait for baby bullet trains to pass . 10 in may 2005 caltrain started a series of fare increases and schedule changes in response to a projected budget shortfall . the frequency of the popular baby bullet express trains was increased ; two express trains were added in may and another ten were added in august . new baby bullet stops pattern b stops were introduced . another increase of us 0.25 in basic fare came in january 2006 . currently each train is assigned a three digit number indicating direction sequence and stop pattern . this number is not to be confused with the locomotive number which is the 9xx number physically stenciled on each engine . only the mpi locomotives display all three digits ; all others emd locomotives and control cars display the last two digits only . train number locations on locomotives top row and control cars bottom row the first digit for weekday trains is always 1 2 or 3 indicating stopping pattern . 1xx trains are local trains making all regular stops . 2xx trains are limited service trains skipping some stations . 3xx trains are baby bullet trains and make the fewest stops . 11 the first digit for weekend trains is always 4 or 8 also indicating stopping pattern . 4xx trains are local trains making all stops . 8xx trains are weekend baby bullet trains making fewer stops . 12 the second and third digits indicate the sequence number of the train . for instance x01 is the first train of the day . these digits also indicate the direction of the train ; odd numbered trains run northbound and even numbered trains run southbound . thus x02 is the first southbound train of the day x03 is the second northbound train of the day etc. these numbers are placarded on the leading element of the train either the control car for northbound trains or the locomotive for southbound trains ; the mp36 3c locomotives have electronic displays showing the train number when travelling northbound the locomotive number is displayed instead . the practice of placarding train numbers dates back to the southern pacific days . budget crisis edit on april 2 2010 caltrain announced the need to cut its services by around 50 % as it was required to cut 30 million from its 97 million budget because all three authorities that fund the line were facing financial problems themselves and 10 million a year in previous state funding had been cut . revenues for both local and state agencies had been steadily declining as well as ticket revenues at caltrain itself and had left all beyond broke . 13 on january 1 2011 caltrain cut 4 midday trains but upgraded 4 weekend trains to baby bullet service as a pilot program . this reduced its schedule from 90 to 86 trains each weekday . at the same time it raised fares 0.25 and continued to contemplate cutting weekday service to 48 trains during