Wow - this is a success story. This is how a railroad should be run. They have demand for additional capacity so there is a need for additional cars. They found a source of cars that can be relatively quickly put in service for what seems like a good price. There is nothing that says they have to put all the cars in service at the same time (except platform length at a couple of stations). But they have identified a couple of trains that can immediately use an extra car. As soon as a new car is ready it can be put in service and start repaying for itself. This is nice to see. It's not like they would be buying the cars with the hope they will be needed in the future. They are needed right now!

It goes to show that if you provide a service with train frequency often enough then people will use it. Caltrain has come a long way from the declining ridership and limited service that SP had when they turned the operation over to the state.

Being a baseball fan I also notice that the ridership spikes coincide with baseball season. Who would have thought that fans would embrace Caltrain to this level as a key transportation link to the Giants games.