SAN JOSE
– Baby Bullet trains that can make the trip from San Jose to San
Francisco in less than an hour at speeds reaching 75 mph are
expected to start transporting commuters on June 7.
Caltrain released the trains’ schedules last week.
SAN JOSE – Baby Bullet trains that can make the trip from San Jose to San Francisco in less than an hour at speeds reaching 75 mph are expected to start transporting commuters on June 7.
Caltrain released the trains’ schedules last week. The trains will travel on Caltrain’s tracks, stopping at just four stations between San Francisco’s Fourth and King and San Jose’s Diridon stations.
South Valley residents will still have to travel to San Jose’s Diridon Station to take advantage of the Bullet Train as they must do for mid-day or weekend train service.
The four – the Millbrae, Hillsdale, Palo Alto and Mountain View stations – were chosen because they already have the highest ridership on the Caltrain system, Caltrain spokeswoman Jamye Maltbie Kunz said.
In South Valley, three regularly scheduled, non-bullet trains head north from Morgan Hill on weekdays.
The first leaves at 5:35 a.m., the last at 6:57 a.m. In the afternoon there are four trains, arriving between 5:15 and 7:17 p.m.
Current trains reach a maximum of about 60 mph between some stations, Kunz said. A trip from Palo Alto to San Francisco will take 36 minutes – whereas the fastest express train now takes 54 minutes. A trip from San Jose to San Francisco will take 57 minutes, while the fastest trip currently available takes nearly 90 minutes. Non-express trains, which make more stops, take even longer.
In addition, weekend train service will be reinstated, offering the most frequent weekend service in agency history.
Weekend passengers will benefit from hourly service to nearly all Caltrain stations between San Francisco’s Fourth and King station and the San Jose Diridon station – with the exception of Paul Avenue and College Park – on both Saturday and Sunday.
Weekend service is planned to resume on Saturday, June 5. No weekend Caltrain service will operate south of the San Jose Diridon station.
Before the weekend construction shutdown in July 2002, Caltrain had operated hourly service on Saturdays and service every two-hours on Sundays.
The new schedule doubles the service available to Sunday riders.
The new weekday schedule will offer 86 daily trains of which 10 will be Baby Bullets.
The new schedule will shortly be posted on Caltrain’s Web site, www.caltrain.com.
