Peninsula Commute

See Caltrain for the commuter rail service currently operating on the San Francisco Peninsula.

Peninsula Commute
West (railroad north) of Santa Clara, a Southern Pacific EMD SD9E #4451 leads a two-car train before the Caltrain takeover
Overview
Owner	San Francisco & San Jose Railroad (1863–1870) Southern Pacific (1870–1980)
Area served	San Francisco Peninsula Santa Clara Valley
Locale	San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara
Transit type	Commuter rail
Number of lines	1
Number of stations	32
Operation
Began operation	1863
Operators	San Francisco & San Jose Railroad (1863–1870) Southern Pacific (1870–1980) Amtrak (1978–1979)
Character	commuter railroad with level crossings partial service on freight lines
Technical
System length	50 mi (80 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Top speed	79 mph (127 km/h)
System map 0.0 Third and Townsend Depot San Francisco Market Street Railway Bayshore Cutoff opened 1907 closed c. 1870s San Francisco (SF&SJ) Tunnel 1 1.9 — 22nd Street Tunnel 2 Valencia Street — 3.4 2.2 — Army Street Bernal — 4.6 3.1 — Newcomb Avenue Tunnel 3 Elkton — 5.2 4.1 — Paul Avenue Ocean View — 6.3 Tunnel 4 San Miguel — 6.9 5.2 — Bayshore Daly City — 7.4 6.5 — Visitacion Union Park — 8.1 Colma — 9.2 Tunnel 5 abandoned 1956 cemetaries Baden — 12.2 8.6 — Butler Road closed 1983 9.3 — South San Francisco Tanforan Ocean View Branch discontinued 1928 11.6 14.3 San Bruno 12.0 — Lomita Park closed 1963 13.7 17.0 Millbrae 15.2 — Buri Buri now Broadway 16.3 19.2 Oak Grove now Burlingame ( BER 1913–1918 ) 17.9 21.1 San Mateo 18.9 — Hayward Park 20.3 24.0 Beresford now Hillsdale 21.9 25.1 Belmont 23.2 27.0 San Carlos 25.4 28.6 Redwood City to Fremont/Oakland via Dumbarton Cutoff 27.8 30.9 Fair Oaks later Atherton closed 2020 28.9 32.1 Menlo Park 30.1 34.0 Palo Alto 30.6   Stadium 31.8 34.9 Mayfield now California Avenue Mayfield Cutoff 1908–1964 34.8 38.0 Castro Los Altos 36 — 36.1 39.1 Mountain View 38.8 41.9 Murphys now Sunnyvale 40.8   Lawrence closed 1945 to Oakland Monta Vista 41 — 44.3 47.4 Santa Clara 45.7 49.6 College Park Coast Line reroute after 1935 San Jose Market discontinued 1935 Congress Jct 45 — 46.9 50.0 San Jose 51 — Campbell Vasona Jct 48 — to Gilroy Los Gatos 51 — to Monterey via Del Monte discontinued 1971 Suntan Special to Santa Cruz Legend 00.0 00.0 Distance from SF via Bayshore Cutoff Distance from SF via Ocean View (1907–1980) (1863–1907) completed routes abandoned or removed routes stations

The Peninsula Commute, also known as the Southern Pacific Peninsula or just Peninsula, was the common name for commuter rail service between San Jose and San Francisco on the San Francisco Peninsula. This service ran as a private, for-profit enterprise beginning in 1863. Due to operating losses, the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) petitioned to discontinue the service in 1977. Subsidies were provided through Caltrans in 1980 to continue service, and it was renamed Caltrain in 1985.