Caltrain debuts its new electric train fleet in San Francisco

When you step on board, there is an immediate tantalizing aroma of the fresh train smell. Like leaving the laundry room. Evergreen fresh.

A robotic female voice announces that the doors are closing and you are sealed inside the most advanced train on the market. Power outlet for each seat. Space underneath for luggage or a scooter. The paired seating of today̵[ads1]7;s Caltrains remains, but they are well spaced.

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

On the wall inside each passenger car is a live screen showing destinations similar to the latest BART cars. The only oversight on board might be the trash/recycling boxes which are relatively small for a train set to fit 2,169 riders at maximum capacity.

Wisnet security cameras appear everywhere in the cars, but the digital eyes don’t dampen the polished interior. Connecting the train cars is a white tunnel that resembles the narrow passages on Princess Leia’s Tantive IV ship from the opening of “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.”

Once a disaster box, the Caltrain bathroom now fits an astronaut with generous space and multiple steel handrails to help hang tight over occasional bumps along the Peninsula tracks.

Up front, inside the conductor’s cockpit, Caltrain engineers are giddy to give these all-electric trains a ride. The new console replaces most of the buttons with screens, and comes with cruise control, a new offering. The trains can travel up to 110 mph, but don’t expect those speeds when the trains come on board. There is enough surveillance and cameras inside the console to ensure the driver can’t pick their nose without anyone else knowing.

Stadler – as in the Stadler plant in Salt Lake City where the EMUs are built – adorns the nose of the train with black lettering that serves as a new nickname for the fleet.

Not everyone rides Caltrain, but if you live along the South Bay or near the train station in SoMa, you’re familiar with the iconic horn. Once a button, the horn is now a switch ready to broadcast when a train approaches a four-way intersection.

Production on the fleet began in 2019, and Caltrain broke ground on the electrification project in 2017. The first electric trains arrived in the Bay Area in March.

Expected to debut for public use in 2024, the new trains mark a pivotal transition for the South Bay transit system. Its current fleet of diesel-electric locomotive-powered trains was yesterday; the electric multiple units (EMUs) are on their way tomorrow.

Until then, anticipation grows as train enthusiasts begin to catch a glimpse of the slender fleet on the tracks as the EMUs continue to appear on the peninsula for on-track testing.