Caltrain jumps into the future, from diesel trains to electrification episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 26, 2026 · 8 MIN

Caltrain jumps into the future, from diesel trains to electrification

from Crosscurrents · host KALW

If you’ve ridden Caltrain anywhere between San Francisco and San Jose recently, you might have noticed that those trains have  made the jump to being fully electric. Gone are the days of the loud, lurching—and often smelly—diesel locomotives. And electrifying the 51 miles of railway along the Peninsula was not cheap. It was a multi-billion dollar modernization project. It’s also just a small part of a larger, statewide ambition: the California High Speed Rail system.Last year, KALW’s transportation reporter, Zain Iqbal went on one of the new trains to see what’s changed with electrification.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Mar 26, 2026

Embed this episode

NOW PLAYING

Caltrain jumps into the future, from diesel trains to electrification

0:00 8:50

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of Crosscurrents?

This episode is 8 minutes long.

When was this Crosscurrents episode published?

This episode was published on March 26, 2026.

Can I download this Crosscurrents episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!