Caltrain at Night

Caltrain is the busiest passenger service in San Jose. I think all others (Amtrak Capitol Corridor, ACE, and Amtrak Coast Starlight) together don't even have a quarter as many runs daily as Caltrain. Nevertheless, as popular as Caltrain is, the railroad is on the brink of bankruptcy, so we'll see how much longer it stays in operation in its current form.

Train #266 has just arrived in San Jose Track 4. In the distance is the signal bridge at the Alameda. Interestingly, the northbound signal is already showing green for train #383, even though #372 is still arriving on Track 3. Do those signals just show that the block ahead is not occupied? I think the dwarf signal for #383 at Track 2 was still showing red when I took this photo.

South-bound Train #266 becomes north-bound #189 in an hour. The engineer checked the controls and made sure everything is in working order, ... and then he took off and got dinner.

Train #383 on Track 2 is still showing the red tail lights from its earlier arrival, even though it will depart in 10 minutes. #372 just arrived on Track 3 and will become #287 soon, while #189 on the right will be here for another half hour. Amusingly, it's the only one already set and ready to go.