Caltrain says Peninsula power outage was due to 'outside interference'

SAN BRUNO, Calif. - Caltrain's fleet of trains was stopped Monday afternoon due to a brief "power-related incident," the transit agency said. 

Trains were being held at the San Mateo and San Bruno stations. 

"At approximately 2:15, Caltrain experienced a power-related incident at San Mateo Station," Dan Lieberman, Caltrain public information officer, said in a statement. "Caltrain staff and emergency personnel have determined that the incident area is safe to proceed and have restored power to resume train movement."

Train traffic resumed as of 3:10 p.m.

The power outage came just days after Caltrain launched its electric trains. However, Lieberman said the power incident was not tied to the agency's infrastructure. 

"It has been determined that the power outage is not related to any faults within Caltrain’s infrastructure or the new electric trains, but rather due to outside interference," he said.

On Saturday, the agency celebrated the launch of 15 zero-emission trains, equipped with digital display boards, security cameras and electrical outlets. 

In Santa Clara on Caltrain 138 Monday, some passengers were visibly upset after the conductor told them to exit the train and board the next one. One passenger told KTVU they no longer had a conductor to operate the train because of a shift change.

Some passengers say even before the outage, their scheduled train was behind or simply didn’t show up.

"I have the app, so I was like checking the app, but it didn’t give any notification, so nobody knew. There were a lot of people there that regularly take that train to commute over," said Sahej Saidhu, of Morgan Hill. 

"Please fix this. We can’t have it on a regular basis. I expected better service because new trains are coming," said Kevin Capati, of Menlo Park. 

The delays proved to make it a tough way to start the week for some passengers. 

"I live over in Half Moon Bay. So, I go to take the train from Millbrae and come down here and then take it back up. I was waiting for the 450 and it’s not going to be here. So, now I got to call Uber and spend $54 to go back up there."

Caltrain says it will not publicly discuss the cause of the power outage, but they want to remind people that interfering with wires is dangerous and disturbing train tracks is a felony. 

They also say the power has been fully restored, and they expect service to be back to normal on Tuesday.