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Caltrain is looking for a new home.
The popular commuter rail line that brings 20,000 riders to 28 points between San Francisco and San Jose, with extensions to Gilroy, has been sharing its headquarters with SamTrans since the 1990s. SamTrans, San Mateo County’s bus system, is moving in 2025 to a new office space near the Millbrae Caltrain station. It has invited its roommate to co-locate, but Caltrain is shopping around first.
Owned and operated by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, Caltrain has been serving the region since 1991, and as an organization since 1863, according to a statement Monday. The oldest continually operating rail system west of the Mississippi River, it is planning to electrify by 2024.
Currently, there are 78 Caltrain staff, but they expect to grow to 177 over time so they are looking for a space of about 20,000 to 30,000 square feet, for a five- to 10-year lease. Top locations, considering distance to stations and amenities like shops and restaurants, include San Francisco, Millbrae, Redwood City and San Mateo.
Caltrain is soliciting offers. A single PDF submission should be sent to HQ-RFI@Caltrain.com by 1 p.m. on April 22.
Why isn’t Caltrain considering locations in Santa Clara County….like Mountain View?
Why do they need to double staff? They’re not adding stations, not much service beyond five extra trains a day. Ridership was double prepandemic. Is this where our sales tax money is going?
Yep, they need to double or maybe triple every time ridership falls, because we all know trains are the future since Nixon made the federal changes to rail in the 1970’s. Sure there will be naysayers that autonomous cars will be the future, but we can actively work to reduce roads and lanes as we increase density so people will walk or bike instead. I’m confident Caltrain will grow to the success of California’s high speed rail.
They do need to be more north given the major DTX project ahead and San Francisco being the heaviest used station. Everything Palo Alto and south are virtual ghost stations running empty trains.
> “Currently, there are 78 Caltrain staff, but they expect to grow to 177 over time”
Given the dire budget crunch and fall in ridership that Caltrain is experiencing, perhaps the Mountain View Voice should investigate this curious ramp-up in staff expense and post a news story about it.