California Car (railcar)

California Car
"California Car" coach/cab car leading the San Joaquin in Fresno, CA
Manufacturer	Morrison-Knudsen
Built at	Hornell, New York
Family name	Superliner derived bi level intercity railcar
Constructed	1996
Refurbishment	2009-2012 by Alstom at Mare Island
Number built	66
Formation	single car
Fleet numbers	8000 series
Capacity	89 seated, 1 wheelchair position (coach car)
Operator(s)	Amtrak & Caltrans as Amtrak California
Depot(s)	Oakland
Line(s) served	Capitol Corridor, San Joaquin
Specifications
Car length	85 ft 0 in (25.91 m)
Width	10 ft 2 in (3.10 m)
Height	16 ft 2 in (4.93 m)
Entry	Step
Doors	2 sets of bi-parting automatic doors per side
Maximum speed	125 mph (201 km/h)
Power supply	480 V AC 60 Hz Head end power
Bogies	GSI 70
Braking system(s)	Air
Coupling system	AAR
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)

The California Car is the first generation of Superliner derived bi-level intercity railcars owned by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and operated by Amtrak under the Amtrak California brand on intercity corridor routes in Northern and Central California. The cars were built in the mid-1990s for the Caltrans Division of Rail by Morrison-Knudsen. Amtrak's Superliner was used as the design baseline for the California Car, but several changes were made to the design to make the car more suitable for corridor services with frequent stops. All cars were overhauled by Alstom at its Mare Island facility between 2009 and 2012.

In 1990, California residents passed Propositions 108, 111 and 116. Combined, the three measures authorized the sale of nearly $3 billion in bonds for the creation of rail services across the state including commuter rail and intercity rail. With this new source of money, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) set out to specify a standardized railcar for the state that would be suitable for rail operations across the state. The result of this effort were designs for both intercity and commuter rail cars based on the Superliner. While the commuter rail version was never built, the intercity version has become very successful.

Several changes were made to the Superliner design to make it more suitable for corridor services with frequent stops. The major changes include two large entry vestibules for high-volume passenger loading and unloading, two automatically controlled door pairs per side, two straight staircases, large workstation tables and a control cab to allow for push-pull operation. The first generation of these Bi-Level intercity cars, were dubbed the "California Cars".