Caltrain
Caltrain is a state-operated diesel-powered commuter train line on the San Francisco Peninsula and the Santa Clara Valley in the United States. Its northern-most station is in southern San Francisco, California, at 4th and King Street. Its southern terminus lies in Gilroy, California. California. It is primarily used by commuters. It has 33 stops.
The original Peninsula railroad corridor was constructed in 1863 by the San Francisco and San Jose Rail Company, which was purchased by Southern Pacific in 1870. SP operated the line until 1980, when operations were taken over by Caltrans. In 1987, the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board was formed to manage the line, and it took over full responsibility for CalTrain operations in 1992. As of 2003, actual service on Caltrain is contracted out to Amtrak.
In the 1970s, San Francisco Bay Area growth was expected to be on the east side of the bay. As a result, BART growth was focused on that region, as the San Francisco Peninsula and what became the highly-populated Silicon Valley suburbs of San Jose were not expected to be a high-growth area.
The BART and Caltrain systems were interconnected in June of 2003 at the Millbrae, California station near the San Francisco International Airport. In 2026, a second BART extension to Caltrain is scheduled to open. It will start in the East Bay, run through downtown San Jose as a subway and end at the Caltrain station in Santa Clara, California near the San Jose International Airport.History