Transportation News

Baby Bullet Trains Debut

Photo by Scott Buschman

For the past two years, residents and businesses along the Caltrain corridor have witnessed the transformation of the rail line. Weekend train riders shifted to buses in order to allow the transformation to take place. But patience has its rewards.

Beginning in June, Caltrain is offering the highest level of service in the railroad’s 141-year history. Weekend train service was reinstated Saturday, June 5, 2004, offering the most frequent weekend service ever. Then on Monday, June 7, the new Baby Bullet express service debuted and the streamlined limited-stop and local weekday service also started. (Visit the Caltrain Web site at www.caltrain.com for the new schedule.)

The new service firmly positions Caltrain, the oldest commuter rail west of the Mississippi, as ready to meet the 21st century. The Baby Bullet will move passengers between San Francisco and San Jose in less than an hour, the most significant scheduled time reduction in a century.

State Senator Jackie Speier spearheaded the effort to secure $127 million from the state’s Traffic Congestion Relief Program for the project.

Service Improvements

From the San Francisco to the San Jose terminals, travel time will be cut from an hour and 36 minutes on a local train to just 57 minutes on the Baby Bullet. The trip from San Francisco to Palo Alto will take just 37 minutes instead of 62 on a local train. Baby Bullet trains will be faster, but won’t be more costly to ride.

Although the Baby Bullet stops at just seven of Caltrain’s 34 stations (San Francisco, 22nd Street, Millbrae, Hillsdale, Palo Alto, Mountain View and San Jose Diridon), Caltrain revamped its entire schedule to provide a more efficient and timely mix of local, limited-stop and express train services during the week. Passengers can choose from 86 weekday trains, including 10 Baby Bullets.

Weekend passengers also will benefit from hourly service to nearly all Caltrain stations between San Francisco’s Fourth and King streets station and the San Jose Diridon station on Saturdays and Sundays. A weekend shuttle also will make the link between the Tamien station in San Jose and the Diridon station.

Before the weekend construction shutdown in 2002, Caltrain had operated hourly service on Saturdays and service every two hours on Sundays. The new schedule is a 50 percent increase in service available to Sunday riders.

Caltrain will evaluate the service after six months to ensure that it is meeting passenger expectations and operational objectives. More express service will be added as market demand increases and funding becomes available for additional passing tracks and expanded operations.

Baby Bullet Equipment

To operate the new Baby Bullet express service Caltrain purchased 17 bi-level passenger cars and six sleek locomotives at a cost of $53 million.

Low floors and lots of doors will expedite passenger boarding and help speed the trains along the Peninsula, further reducing travel time. Maximum operating speed of the Baby Bullet is 79 miles per hour between some stations, compared to some current trains that reach a maximum of about 60 miles per hour.

Each car can comfortably accommodate 130 to 142 passengers and features one fully accessible restroom. Each Baby Bullet train can handle 16 bicycles.

Physical Upgrades

The improved service and stations for Caltrain passengers and quieter trains for residents along the corridor would not have been possible without the two-year CTX construction project to upgrade the rail system.

The $110 million construction project, which had minimal impact on weekday service, provided bypass tracks, station upgrades and a modernized signaling and switching system, making Caltrain service even safer and more reliable.

Learn more at Caltrain's Web site:

Caltrain to Roll Out Baby Bullet, Weekend Service in June