Amtrak California

Amtrak California
Amtrak California train at San Jose Diridon Station
Overview
Owner	Caltrans Division of Rail
Locale	California
Transit type	Inter-city rail
Number of lines	3
Headquarters	Sacramento, California
Website	Amtrak California
Operation
Began operation	1976
Operator(s)	Amtrak
Reporting marks	CDTX
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Amtrak California Map The two Amtrak California routes – Pacific Surfliner (green) and San Joaquin (blue). Other Amtrak routes in California are shown in black; the Capitol Corridor is shown in red. Non-Amtrak commuter rail lines shown in yellow.

Amtrak California (reporting mark CDTX) is a brand name used by the Caltrans Division of Rail on three state-supported Amtrak rail routes within the U.S. State of California, the Capitol Corridor, the Pacific Surfliner, and the San Joaquin. It also includes an extensive network of Thruway Motorcoach bus connections, operated by private companies under contract. The three lines shared the use of state-owned "Amtrak California" branded Thruway buses and trainsets.

In 1998 the management of the Capitol Corridor was transferred to the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority (CCJPA) formed by local jurisdictions of the line serves, while still funded by the state. In 2015 the management of the Pacific Surfliner and the San Joaquin were similarly transferred to the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority (SJJPA) and the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency. As a result, the "Amtrak California" brand become less prominent in the websites and marketing materials.

History

The former logo of Amtrak California, still seen on equipment.

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) assumed operation of almost all intercity passenger rail in the United States in 1971. Service in California, as in most of the United States, was basic and infrequent. In 1976 California began providing financial assistance to Amtrak. At the same time, Caltrans Division of Rail was formed to oversee state-financed rail operations and the brand Amtrak California started appearing on state-supported routes.

In 1990, California passed Propositions 108 and 116, providing $3 billion for transportation projects, with a large portion going to rail service. As a result, new locomotives and passenger cars were purchased by the state, existing inter-city routes expanded, and one new inter-city route, the Capitol Corridor, began operation. A more distinct image for Amtrak California, such as painting locomotives and passenger cars in "California Color", was established with the arrival of new rolling stock.

Rolling stock

Top view of GE P32-8WH (left) and EMD F59PHI (right) locomotives at Emeryville station.

Locomotive

Amtrak California operates a fleet of EMD F59PHI and GE P32-8WH locomotives that are used on San Joaquin and Capitol Corridor trains. These locomotives are owned by Caltrans and carry the CDTX reporting marks.

The Pacific Surfliner trains also use a dedicated fleet of 15 EMD F59PHI locomotives that are painted to match the livery of the "Surfliner" passenger cars, but they are Amtrak owned instead.

Locomotives from Amtrak's national fleet such as P42DC are often used as substitutes when the Amtrak California dedicated fleet of locomotives undergoes maintenance.

Twenty additional locomotives built by Siemens will join Amtrak California's locomotive fleet starting from 2017. These locomotives, named Charger, were parts of a multi-state order funded by a combination of federal and state money. Illinois Department of Transportation, acting as the leading agency, awarded the order to Siemens on December 18, 2013. Caltrans ordered the first six with the initial order in 2013, then exercised the option to buy 14 more locomotives in 2015 to replace Amtrak-owned locomotives currently used on Pacific Surfliner.

Passenger car

California Car / Surfliner bi-level trainsets

Bicycle rack on a California Car

Main article: California Car (railcar)

Main article: Surfliner (railcar)

Amtrak California's routes typically use bi-level, high-capacity passenger cars, dubbed the Surfliner and California Car. All of the California Cars are owned by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Most of the Surfliner cars are owned by Amtrak with some owned by Caltrans.

The design of the cars is based on Amtrak's Superliner bi-level passenger cars, but several changes were made to the design to make the car more suitable for corridor services with frequent stops. One very important difference is that the Surfliner and California Car have two sets of automatic doors on each side instead of only one manually operated door on the Superliners, which speeds up boarding and alighting considerably. Additionally, Surfliner and California Car coaches are equipped with higher-density seating and bicycle racks to permit transport of unboxed bicycles.

Consists on the San Joaquin, Capitol Corridor, and Pacific Surfliner routes usually include between four and six cars, with one locomotive and a cab control car on the rear end.

Superliner I rebuilds

In 2007, Amtrak California paid for the repair of seven wreck-damaged Superliner Coaches owned by Amtrak in exchange for a six-year lease, intended to quickly add capacity on busy Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin trains. Four of the cars have been painted to match the "California car" livery and three have been painted to match the "Surfliner" livery. Each car also has the current Amtrak logo on the middle left side of each car.

Superliner I/II coaches from Amtrak's national fleet are used on some consists due to shortages of inter-city "Surfliner" & "California cars."

Comet car single-level trainsets

A leased NPCU leads a single level set at Martinez, CA

Increasing ridership on the San Joaquin led Amtrak California to purchase 14 Comet IB rail cars from New Jersey Transit in 2008 for $75,000 per car. Caltrans paid approximately $20 million to have these former commuter cars refurbished and reconfigured to serve as intercity coaches at Amtrak's Beech Grove Shops.

Caltrans has also paid to lease and refurbish 3 Horizon Dinettes (café cars) and 3 Non-Powered Control Units (old F40PH locomotives converted to serve as a cab/baggage cars.)

New bi-level cars

As the leading agency of a joint purchase agreement with the Midwest Coalition consisted of Illinois, Michigan, and Missouri, Caltrans awarded the 130 bilevel passenger car order to Nippon Sharyo on November 6, 2012, to be built at Nippon Sharyo's new factory at Rochelle, Illinois, of which 42 will go to California The design of new bilevel cars will be based on existing California Cars with heavy involvement from Caltrans.

Livery

Amtrak California utilizes a livery and logo that is different from the standard Amtrak colors. All state-contracted Thruway Motorcoach and state-owned locomotives and passenger cars, with the exception of equipment used on the Pacific Surfliner route, are painted in the "California Colors" of blue and yellow. Each permanently assigned passenger car is named after a geographical feature of California.

The Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin trains are the two routes most identified with the Amtrak California image, since they extensively use "California Colored" equipment. The other state-supported rail route, the Pacific Surfliner, uses a unique blue and silver paint scheme that is different from the other Amtrak California-branded trains.

The NPCUs that operate on the Capital Corridor and San Joaquin are painted differently from the locomotives, as they are painted in the old Caltrain locomotive livery, with an Amtrak California and CalTrans logo on the sides.

Routes

The Pacific Surfliner stopped at the Solana Beach station.

The San Joaquin stopped at the Bakersfield Station.

Pacific Surfliner

Main article: Pacific Surfliner

The Pacific Surfliner is a major commuting route in Southern California. The entire length of the line runs from San Luis Obispo in the north, down to San Diego in the south. It hugs the California coast for most of the route, providing a stunning backdrop. Most trains on the Pacific Surfliner route only travel a portion of the whole route. With 2.7 million passengers in fiscal year 2013, this is Amtrak's most heavily travelled service outside of the Northeast Corridor.

San Joaquin

Main article: San Joaquin (train)

The San Joaquin operates 14 trains (7 in each direction) each day between Bakersfield and Stockton. From Stockton, four trains from Bakersfield continue west to Oakland, while two trains proceed north to the state capital of Sacramento. Central Valley communities served include Fresno, Corcoran, Hanford, Lodi, Madera, Merced, Modesto, Turlock/Denair and Wasco. Delta/Bay communities of Antioch, Martinez, and Richmond are also served by the San Joaquin. Los Angeles is not served on this route due to the bottleneck of the Tehachapi Pass line, where the Union Pacific prohibits passenger train use due to freight traffic along the world's busiest single-track railway. (Normal Amtrak trains rarely pass there as a detour if their railway tracks are being repaired.)

Capitol Corridor

Main article: Capitol Corridor

The Capitol Corridor route runs north from San Jose through the East Bay to Oakland and Richmond, then east through the Delta communities of Martinez and Suisun City, and the Sacramento Valley cities of Davis and Sacramento. One Capitol Corridor train per day continues east of Sacramento during the afternoon commute to the small Sierra Nevada town of Auburn, returning in the morning. Plans have been proposed to extend an additional train per day to Reno, Nevada (a longtime major tourism and gaming destination for Northern Californians).

See also

• List of Amtrak stations in California
• List of San Francisco Bay Area trains

External links

• Amtrak California
  • Amtrak California Car Names
• Amtrak (national)
• The Rail Passenger Association of California (RailPAC) a statewide membership organization working for the expansion and improvement of rail passenger service within the states of California and Nevada.