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Caltrain Board Adopts New Service Levels
Caltrain's board of directors voted today to adopt the highest service levels in
the railroad's 140-year history. The
new weekday schedule (PDF,
35.3 KB) includes Baby Bullet express service and stream-lined limited-stop and local
service. In addition, weekend
train service (PDF, 23.9 KB) will be reinstated, offering the most frequent
weekend service in agency history.
The new weekday schedule, which is expected to take effect Monday, June 7, will offer
86 daily trains of which ten will be Baby Bullets.
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.
"Caltrain's new service will move this rail agency into the 21st century," said Chuck
Harvey, Caltrain's chief operating officer. "Baby Bullet express service moving
passengers between San Francisco and San Jose in less than an hour, makes Caltrain
competitive with the automobile in terms of travel time. That's a first for Bay Area
public transportation."
Caltrain's board adopted the new schedule after a lengthy public comment period,
which began last November. Over the course of the last five months, Caltrain has
taken thousands of comments on the schedule proposals via six public meetings, a
public hearing, phone calls, e-mails, letters and petitions.
Some of the revisions Caltrain made to the proposal in response to public comment
included adding a southbound Baby Bullet stop at the 22nd Street station, offering
increased consistency in the weekend service schedule and increasing the level of
service being offered at some non-Baby Bullet stops.
The service will be evaluated after the first six months to ensure that it is meeting
passenger expectations and Caltrain's operational objectives.
4/1/04
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