SAN CARLOS, Calif. — Caltrain has retired 32 of its bilevel gallery commuter railcars to make room for coming electrified equipment, sending them to Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit for storage until a buyer can be found, the agency has announced.
The nearly 40-year-old cars were built in San Francisco by Nippon Sharyo and entered service in 1985 when service was still operated by Caltrans. The move was necessary to create space at the agency’s Central Equipment Maintenance and Operations Facility, a 20-acre facility built on the former site of Southern Pacific’s Lenzen Street roundhouse. Just eight of what will eventually be 23 electric trainsets are on hand; the departure of the Nippon Sharyo cars, which were not in service, will insure enough room for the new equipment and that used for current operations.
The agency hosted a small event for the public and rail fans at the Santa Clara Station Historic Rail Museum to send off the equipment. The Nippon-Sharyo cars which remain in service are slated to be retired with the start of electrified operations this fall.
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