Amtrak California - Rolling Stock

Rolling Stock

Nearly all of the locomotives and passenger cars used in Amtrak California service are owned by the State through the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and carry the 'CDTX' reporting mark.

The motive power for the Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin routes is provided primarily by 17 state-owned locomotives, of which 15 are EMD F59PHIs and two are GE P32-8WHs. The Pacific Surfliner route also uses EMD F59PHIs but they are Amtrak-owned instead of state-owned. Occasionally, locomotives from Amtrak's national system, such as GE P42s, can be spotted working on Amtrak California routes. The opposite has also occurred, with the Coast Starlight and California Zephyr occasionally being hauled by a CDTX unit.

State-owned passenger cars, dubbed "California Cars" and "Surfliners", are used on these three routes. They are a variant of Amtrak's Superliner bi-level passenger cars. A major difference between California Cars and Superliners is that California Cars have two sets of doors on each side instead of only one door on the Superliners, which speeds up boarding and alighting considerably. Additionally, California Cars are equipped with bicycle racks to permit transport of unboxed bicycles.

Consists on the San Joaquin, Capitol Corridor, and Pacific Surfliner routes usually include between four and six cars, with one locomotive and a cab control car on the rear end. Occasionally, Superliner equipment (coach or diner) from Amtrak's national fleet is used on some consists for replacement or maintenance purposes.

In 2007, Amtrak California paid for the repair of seven wreck-damaged Superliner Coaches owned by Amtrak in exchange for a six-year lease, intended to quickly add capacity on busy Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin trains. These have been repainted to a new paint scheme which is similar to the colors of the original California color paint, and has the current Amtrak logo on the middle left side of each car.

In 2012, 14 Comet I's were purchased from NJT. 3 Horizon cafe car's & 3 Non Powered Controlled Units's will also be leased from Amtrak. These will supplement until new cars can be purchased.