Stretching from San Francisco to Gilroy (the garlic capital of the U.S.), Caltrain follows the spine of the Bay Area peninsula and straight through Silicon Valley. Having been around since the 1860s, Silicon Valley grew up around Caltrain. And unlike most commuter rail lines, Caltrain doesn't serve a single city center with traffic going one way in the morning and back in the afternoon; people travel up and down the peninsula in both directions getting to work. This is, as Michelle says, a blessing and a curse. She needs to plan for a constant flow of people north and south, no matter what time of day.

The pandemic has had its challenges for Caltrain, but Michelle and her team have adapted service throughout the day, nights, and weekends. Caltrain is coming back, but like all commuter rail lines, no one is quite sure what that's going to look like long term. One thing is for sure--electric trains! The first four trainsets have arrived ahead of full revenue service in 2024 and the trains look pretty amazing.

Learn more in this week's Transit Unplugged In-Depth.

Next week on Transit Unplugged News and Views Paul's guest will be Lisa Walton, CTO of SFMTA.

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