Caltrain debuts its new electric train fleet in San Francisco

Stepping on board, there’s an instantaneous tantalizing aroma of that fresh-train odor. Like leaving the automobile wash. Evergreen contemporary. 

A robotic feminine voice broadcasts that the doorways are closing, and you then’re sealed inside essentially the most superior prepare in the marketplace. Energy retailers for every seat. Area beneath for baggage or scooters. The paired seating like in the present day’s Caltrains stays, however they’re properly spaced from each other. 

(Charles Russo/SFGATE)
(Charles Russo/SFGATE)

On the wall inside every passenger automobile is a stay display screen displaying rider locations akin the most recent BART automobiles. The one oversight onboard could be the trash/recycling bins which are sized comparatively small for a prepare that’s set to suit 2,169 riders at max capability. 

Wisnet safety cameras seem all through the automobiles, however the digitals eyes don’t dampen the polished inside. Connecting the prepare carts is a white tunnel that resembles the slender hallways on Princess Leia’s Tantive IV ship from the opening of “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.” 

As soon as a tin can of calamity, the Caltrain lavatory is now match for an astronaut with beneficiant room and a number of metal handles to assist dangle tight over the occasional bumps alongside the Peninsula tracks. 

Up entrance, contained in the conductor’s cockpit, Caltrain engineers are giddy to present these all-electric trains a experience. The brand new console replaces many of the buttons with screens, and comes with cruise management, a brand new amenity. The trains can hit as much as 110 mph however don’t count on these speeds when the trains come on board. There’s sufficient oversight and cameras contained in the console to make sure the motive force can’t choose their nostril with out another person understanding. 

Stadler — as in, the Stadler Plant in Salt Lake Metropolis the place the EMUs are constructed — adorns the nostril of the prepare in black lettering serving as a brand new nickname for the fleet.

Not everybody rides Caltrain, however if you happen to stay alongside the South Bay or close to its prepare station in SoMa, you then’re aware of that iconic horn. As soon as a button, the horn is now a toggle that’s able to broadcast at any time when a prepare approaches a four-way intersection. 

Manufacturing on the fleet started in 2019, and Caltrain broke floor on the Electrification Mission in 2017. The primary electrical trains arrived within the Bay Space in March.

Anticipated to debut for public use in 2024, the brand new trains mark a pivotal transition for the South Bay transit system. Its present fleet of diesel-electric locomotive powered trains have been yesterday; the electrical a number of models (EMU) are inbound for tomorrow. 

Till then, anticipation grows as prepare lovers start to catch glimpses of the modern fleet on the tracks because the EMUs proceed to seem on the Peninsula for testing on the tracks.