Caltrain is reporting a whopping 76 percent increase in ridership between June 2024 and June 2025. Caltrain launched electric service between San Jose and San Francisco in August of 2024 and introduced faster, more frequent service in September. In other words, the effort to modernize the Caltrain corridor and make it ready for high-speed rail is already showing its worth.
"These results provide huge validation of the investment in Caltrain
electrification," wrote Seamless Bay Area's Adina Levin, in an email to Streetsblog. "The ability to run faster, more frequent service that is easier to connect to is paying off, with a service more people use."
This continues a trend and further illustrates what rail advocates call the "spark effect." Electrification allows much faster, and—as long as there is a concurrent investment in operations—more frequent service. That attracts more riders and gets people out of cars.
"Electrification is a key element in the transformation of Caltrain from an old-school commuter rail service oriented toward white collar commuting to more of an international regional rail service, serving a greater diversity of riders and a greater diversity of trips," added Levin.
Ridership overall still isn't up to pre-pandemic levels, but it's clearly on the way there, as long as Caltrain can continue to fund robust operations.
That said, ridership is actually higher than pre-pandemic levels on weekends, demonstrating that even outside of the rush-hour freeway crush, drivers will switch to transit if it's fast and frequent enough.
It's also worth reminding readers again that the first Trump Administration attempted to kill the electrification project. Now the current Trump Administration is attempting to kill the overall high-speed/electrification project, calling it a "boondoggle." They were wrong in 2017 and they're wrong now.
"Despite delays, cost overruns, and an unsuccessful attempt by the Trump administration to sabotage the project, Caltrain electrification has been a smashing success," wrote Adriana Rizzo of Californians for Electric Rail. "Electrified Caltrain is also the first segment of California High-Speed Rail to start operation, and we can apply lessons learned to the rest of the system."
"Caltrain is electrified in a 50-mile segment; the California State Rail Plan calls for 1,500 miles of electrification," wrote Levin. "The success of Caltrain electrification can be an inspiration to the state to advance the rest of the electrification program."
