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Other disruption that may affect your journey in the future.

From Friday 6 September to Sunday 6 October, the Island Line will be closed from Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin for vital maintenance. Rail replacement bus services will operate throughout.

From Monday 7 October to early May 2025 , the line from Ryde Pier Head to Ryde Esplanade will be closed as work continues to repair and preserve Ryde Pier. Island Line services will operate every 30 minutes between Ryde Esplanade and Shanklin, with a shuttle minibus service operating between Ryde Pier Head and Ryde Esplanade.

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Who is eligible for this ticket?

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Customers who are already in possession of or purchasing on the day of travel a valid standard class ticket(s) such as Family Ticket, Day Return, Open Return, Weekly, Monthly, Annual or InterRail ticket can book on their chosen service by selecting the 'Reservation Only' option in the Passenger selection box. Customers are advised there is limited availability for seat only bookings online.

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• Read our FAQ on how to book a seat only reservation .

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Where do I collect the ticket? 

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News & Reviews News Wire Caltrain offers first look at all-electric schedules

Caltrain offers first look at all-electric schedules

| Last updated on August 24, 2024

New timetables show travel-time reductions, doubled frequencies on weekends

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SAN FRANCISCO — A month before Stadler electric, bilevel multiple-unit trainsets are set to completely transform Caltrain’s 51-mile corridor from downtown San Francisco to San Jose, Calif., commuters are getting their first look at specifics of the schedules to be implemented beginning Sept. 21.

Some electric trainsets began operating earlier this month [see “News photos: Electrified service begins …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 13, 2024], but for now they are running on the existing schedules based on the much slower acceleration of diesel-powered trains.

Though that motive power will continue to be used initially on four weekday 26-mile, rush-hour-only shuttle round trips between Gilroy, Calif., and connection with the electrics at San Jose’s Diridon Station, travel-time improvements and frequency adjustments on the electrified portion are significant.

Caltrain’s website now has both current schedules and those effective Sept. 21 for both weekday and weekend schedules:

The current weekday schedule is here ; electric weekday is here . Current weekend is here ; electric weekend is here .

Among the significant changes:

— Weekend departures more than doubled: A total of 16 current all-stop San Jose-San Francisco round trips will morph into 33 when the new trainsets take over. This dramatic increase, driven by the lower incremental operating cost of electric propulsion, is designed to boost Caltrain’s ability to compete for all leisure trips with half-hourly service.

— Shortened travel times: The typical 20 intermediate-stop local from San Jose’s Diridon station to downtown San Francisco will take 1 hour, 17 minutes compared to the current 1 hour, 39 minutes. However, once-hourly trains that take about 1 hour, 15 minutes by dropping different sets of nine stops will be eliminated most of the day. Travel times for limited-stop rush-hour trains that have been retained have been cut to 1 hour, 9 minutes. The table below compares three current northbound trains and their counterparts under the new schedule.

— No more “Baby Bullet” overtakes: Even faster are seven daily “Express” round-trips making only nine intermediate stops that reduce San Jose-San Francisco travel times to 59 minutes. This compares to 1 hour, 6 minutes for six current “Baby Bullet” round trips making five stops. They achieve those timings by carefully-choreographed overtakes of a preceding local at stations where passing tracks allow a local to wait. The new timetable reveals that this practice has been eliminated. Thus, the Baby Bullet designation is being retired.

— Memory schedules keyed to class of train: With a smattering of Bullets, limited stop, and local trains operating throughout every weekday and serving different stations, travelers currently need a scorecard to plan trips. Once the electrics take over, though, stop times will be consistent at each station for the three classes. For example at Palo Alto, weekday northbound “Express” trains stop at :43 past the hour and “Limited” trains stop at :12 past the hour in the morning and evening rush hours, while “Local” trains always stop at :26 and :56 after the hour all day. For some reason, however, northbound times on the weekend are 1 minute earlier at most stations.

The corridor’s electrification was substantially aided by federal investment designed to also accommodate California High Speed Rail Authority trains to and from Los Angeles. With construction progress for that venture facing stiff political headwinds, billions of dollars over what was originally budgeted, and woefully behind its original completion date, its trains won’t show up here anytime soon. However, the Authority announced Friday that it will be holding four “open house” information sessions from Gilroy to San Francisco in September and October. The first two, in San Mateo and San Jose, are set to occur days before the new Caltrain electrified schedules debut.

5 thoughts on “ Caltrain offers first look at all-electric schedules ”

San Jose Sharks fans on the Peninsula and in SF will be pleased to see a late northbound train added to the schedule. For those unfamiliar with the neighborhood, the Shark Tank (SAP Center) is a block away from Diridon Station. A nightly ritual for years has been an announcement partway through the third period reminding patrons when the last northbound train leaves San Jose, and as a season ticket holder I always feel bad when it’s late in a close game or in overtime and people are speeding towards the exits…

If Dreamstar Lines ever gets their proposed overnight SF-LA service running, I’m curious to see how that will interface with the new Caltrain schedule. The southbound train will be leaving after rush hour, but the northbound will probably arrive during the morning rush. Though like Charles states for Amtrak, I suspect Dreamstar wouldn’t make any stops between San Francisco and San Jose, so even a slower-accelerating diesel train wouldn’t interfere as badly with the local trains.

Maybe the thinking will be that the CA HSR trains will be doing the overtakes? Of course that is a long time in the future.

a future thought. There is no way a future Amtrak overnighter from LAX can possibly fit in due to Amtrak’s slower diesel times!

ALAN — Amtrak’s speed advantage would be no intermediate stops or almost no intermediate stops. And Amtrak could always switch to electric at San Jose the way New Haven Railroad did at New Haven.

Even without freight, this line would look mighty sharp if it were a three-track railroad. Not knowing the route, I don’t know if stretches of a third track would be possible. My guess is not.

In our lifetime, switching from Amtrak to a local at San Jose is what’s gonna happen. I’ve done that myself, way back in Fairbanks Morse days.

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