What is ACE Commuter?

[sechs]

I don't know the exact details of what trackwork was going on, but the train probably used the UP Coast subdivision, which is the same route the Coast Starlight takes (the Starlight and Capitol Corridor normally do not use the same routes between Oakland and San Jose).

The Capitol Corridor has to go via Niles, or it will miss stops at Hayward and Fremont; the Coast Starlight will take which ever route (Coast or Niles) is faster. It usually takes the Coast Subdivision, as it's more direct, but I have taken the train on both.

 

[sechs]

Yeah, there is a switch a mile or so past the Coliseum station that takes you off of the normal CC route and then you rejoin it at the 'Y' that is at the slow turn that occurs just before the salt plant. If you are on the CC s/b, once past the Coliseum keep an eye out for the rental yard on the right-hand side of the train (usually has several man-lifts extended and sitting in the yard). Just pass that is switch off to the sub.

The routes diverge at North Elmhurst, which is just south of 98th Ave. They meet back up at Newark Junction, south of Thornton Ave on the Coast Subdivision and west of Cherry Ave on the Niles Subdivision.

 

[sechs]

Of course I have noticed engine number changes. My observation about 12-15 minute turnaround was based on seeing the schedules where incoming Bullets returning as outgoing Bullets. I do not commute upto 4th & King so haven't seen what happens in person but I can put a fairly confident bet that the 12-15 minute turnarounds I am seeing are the same train sets, because, 99% of the times Caltrain uses the Bombardier sets for Baby Bullet service and Nippon Gallery sets mix and matched with some Bombardier for everything else, so when I see a Bullet arrival and a Bullet departure at 4th & King in 15 minute period, I guess it is the same Bombarider set returning, though I could be wrong in some instances.

I don't know where you got that 99% statistic, but it's patently false. There aren't even enough Bombardier sets to cover all of the "baby bullet" service.
While maintenance seems to make an effort to keep all of them in action, they move around just like the gallery cars do.

 

[BCL]

Of course I have noticed engine number changes. My observation about 12-15 minute turnaround was based on seeing the schedules where incoming Bullets returning as outgoing Bullets. I do not commute upto 4th & King so haven't seen what happens in person but I can put a fairly confident bet that the 12-15 minute turnarounds I am seeing are the same train sets, because, 99% of the times Caltrain uses the Bombardier sets for Baby Bullet service and Nippon Gallery sets mix and matched with some Bombardier for everything else, so when I see a Bullet arrival and a Bullet departure at 4th & King in 15 minute period, I guess it is the same Bombarider set returning, though I could be wrong in some instances.

I don't know where you got that 99% statistic, but it's patently false. There aren't even enough Bombardier sets to cover all of the "baby bullet" service.
While maintenance seems to make an effort to keep all of them in action, they move around just like the gallery cars do.

I've taken the 322 Baby Bullet quite a few times, and it's always been an F40 with Nippon Sharyo cars. I know they like to have the MP36 with the Bombadier cars for Baby Bullet service, but in my experience it's nowhere near 99%. I remember when they did the track work on weekends and completely shut down service. The whole work was about building bypasses to go around trains stopped at stations and didn't seem to be about the trainset per se.

 

[roadman3313]

Certain Baby Bullet Trips will use the Nippon Sharyo cars with an F40 and others will use the Bombardier cars with the MP36. When the service first rolled out they mainly assigned the Baby Bullet trips the "new" cars at the time. As the service expanded there were not enough "new" trainsets to cover all the Baby Bullet trips so Nippon Sharyo cars began to be placed in the mix. Every time I have ridden a Baby Bullet in the past few months it has been a Nippon Sharyo. With that said, I usually take the same trip or two and that's generally what is assigned.

The "new" trainsets were also used for a midday trip in between their Baby Bullet runs. Certain trips were sometimes assigned a certain car type due to Bicycle capacity, however that issue has been addressed for the most part by Caltrain by publishing the projected bike schedule.

Train sets are assigned to a certain rotation on a daily basis based on a few factors. The Bombardier cars are generally assigned to Baby Bullet trips but those trips are often linked to other Non-Baby Bullet trips as well. As a guideline the following trains will use Bombardier trainsets during the week (based on mechanical and operational needs - as published by Caltrain):

http://www.caltrain.com/riderinfo/Bicycles/BikesOnBombardiers.html

That hopefully will give you some idea on the train rotations and turn-time as well. But as you can see the Bombardier cars are used on much more than just the Baby-Bullet trains, but they also are used on a similar rotation during the week. That doesn't mean the same set of Bombardier cars run the same rotation all week, but they are generally scheduled to a rotation that serves the trips on the list.

 

[Texan Eagle]

http://www.caltrain.com/riderinfo/Bicycles/BikesOnBombardiers.html

99% was going a bit overboard based only on my limited set of data (every Baby Bullet I have ridden in last six months have been a Bombardier) but this is what I was referring to- Caltrain tries as much as possible to keep the fixed trains, mostly Bullets, on Bombardier cars. Based on this information and the timetable I was talking about fifteen minute turnaround times. I may be wrong, I will have to ride upto 4th and King one day and check it myself.