Prototype Information:

The Pacific Surfliner is a 350-mile passenger train the serves coastal communities in Southern California between San Luis Obispo and San Diego, with notable stops in Los Angeles and Anaheim. Since there are no wyes at the terminus of the corridor the Pacific Surfliner runs in Push-Pull service with a locomotive at one end and a cab car at the other end.

The route is the successor the San Diegan a service between Los Angeles and San Diego that had been operated by the Santa Fe since 1938. It was one of the premier routes for Santa Fe until Amtrak took over operations in 1971. In 1988 the service was extended to Santa Barbara, and in 1995 the line was extended to San Luis Obispo. To reflect the nature of the route which follows the coastline for much of its journey the San Diegan service was renamed “Pacific Surfliner” in 2000.

The trainsets used for regular service are composed from a fleet of 52 Bi-Level Surfliner coaches, and 9 Amtrak Superliners modified for push-pull Operation. First introduced in 2000 the Surfliner coaches were designed specifically to handle the demand for the rail corridor by including 2 sets of doors on each coach. The Pacific Surfliner runs with a dedicated fleet of SC-44 Siemens Charger locomotives with a unique cowl to streamline the locomotives and coaches. Unique to the Pacific Surfliner is a special blue and silver livery resembling its namesake of the Pacific Ocean.