Adina Levin took Caltrain to San Francisco from her home in Menlo Park one night last month. A 40-minute ride on a train seems mundane, but Levin’s trip reflected a big change to the region’s transportation ecosystem — the result of a sweeping modernization of the rail corridor.
Caltrain, the commuter rail line linking San Francisco to Silicon Valley, spent $2.4 billion electrifying 51 miles of track in 2024, removing diesel trains from that segment of the system. The electric trains accelerate much faster, shaving as much as 23 minutes off the ride between San Francisco and San Jose. Getting up to speed so quickly allowed the agency to add stops without lengthening overall trip times, increasing the number of stations served each weekday by about 20 percent.
That meant Levin, who leads the public transit advocacy organization Seamless Bay Area, could catch one of the trains that run every half hour until 10 p.m. each weeknight. Beyond making trips easier to plan, the improved service encourages more people to ride, and weekend ridership has more than doubled. “Be... Read more
