Beginning May 11, Caltrain will add an extra car to all Bombardier train sets currently in operation. The sixth car will provide an additional 150 seats and increased standing room during the peak-hour commute.
Caltrain purchased 16 used rail cars earlier this year in response to the growth in demand on the railroad and significant overcrowding on many of its peak hour trains.
The six-car trains will be assigned to the most popular trains in Caltrain’s peak period, but will operate during other times of the day as well.
Following four years of consecutive monthly ridership increases, Caltrain’s system has grown to more than 61,000 average weekday riders during the peak season. This means that many commute-hour trains are operating at or beyond 100 percent of available capacity.
“Putting additional capacity into the system as quickly as possible was among this year’s top priorities,” said Caltrain Executive Director Jim Hartnett. “We’re pleased to be able to put these new cars online quickly, while we complete the rehabilitation project and convert some of these cars to expand onboard bike capacity.”
Caltrain was able to put four of the 16 cars into service almost immediately, following some maintenance and minor repair and conversion work.
The other 12 cars require more extensive repair work and will be rolled into service as they are ready.
Additional work includes converting a number of the new cars to accommodate onboard bicycle storage. When the conversion project is complete, Caltrain will add a third bike car to Bombardier train sets bringing the total number of bike spaces available on those sets to 72. The agency hopes to begin bringing those additional bike cars online within the next year.
There are some stations where customers will experience service-related impacts as a result of the additional car. Customers should expect that the southernmost pedestrian crossings will be blocked by the train in Sunnyvale. In Santa Clara, southbound trains will not be able to open the doors to the car closest to the locomotive for safety reasons. Passengers seated in that car will have to walk down to the next car to exit the train.
“Several Caltrain platforms are not designed to accommodate trains longer than six cars,” said Chuck Harvey, deputy CEO, Operations, Engineering and Construction. “Since assuming control of the corridor in 1992, Caltrain has worked steadily to modernize this 150 year old system. Demand for capacity is at an all-time high and modernizing the system to meet that demand is our top priority. Future Caltrain capacity improvements will include electrifying the system and improving platforms to accommodate longer trains and level boarding.”
The equipment received an initial overhaul to ensure that it was compatible with Caltrain’s existing cars. The second planned phase of work will include sending them offsite to be converted to bike cars or rehabilitated as necessary and giving them a new paint job and signage to match the rest of the Caltrain fleet.
