Upon the substantial completion of all major construction for San Carlos, Calif.’s Caltrain Electrification, the agency conducted a successful test of eight trains running simultaneously on the corridor.

The milestone marks the final corridor-wide test before the launch of electrified service in September, as well as the last weekend service change for the Electrification project.

Advancing Caltrain’s Project

For the past eight years, construction has gone on day and night, including locating underground utilities, testing soil conditions, inspecting signal and communication equipment, and pruning and removing trees.

The project team installed over 2,500 pre-engineered poles and strung over 2.6 million feet of wire to support the Overhead Contact System (OCS), which provides power to the fleet of new, high-performing electric trains.

Caltrain plans on launching its electric service on September 21, which will feature a San Francisco to San Jose trip in under an hour, peak hour trains every 15 to 20 minutes at 16 stations and trains every half hour during mid-day, evenings, and weekends.

Additionally, 10 traction power facilities, which will provide, distribute, and regulate electricity to the OCS and electric trains, were installed between the San Francisco and San Jose.

What’s Next

After the successful substantial completion of Electrification infrastructure throughout 51-mile corridor between San Francisco and San Jose, Caltrain, Stadler, and design-build contractor Balfour Beatty could safely conduct the eight-train power contingency test to stress the electrical power system and simulate real-time September full EMU service schedule.

The successful completion ensures that eight EMU trainsets can properly perform under various power configurations.

Caltrain’s historic electrification project is the first undertaking in North America in a generation in which diesel trains and their infrastructure components are transitioned to an electrified system.