Sorry guys... NO TOILETS TIME :'(

Fun fact: during its first few months of operation, its horn sounded like a car horn. But this resulted in more accidents since people would go onto tracks to escape what they thought was an oncoming car, so they had to change it to sound like a train horn later on.

The line has not been abandoned, there are freight trains that use it in the middle of the night. As to why more of us locals do not use the Sprinter it is because of time. It takes an hour to go from Escondido to Oceanside by rail but only 20 minutes to drive if there is light traffic plus if we go to the beach we have a LOT of stuff to take and it is not convenient to haul on the train. There is a proposed transit plan to add more workspaces and homes along the line but until that happens the train will continue to be lightly used. I am glad we have it but most travel from Escondido goes north to LA or south to San Diego rather than east/west. Thank you for the review.

By running twice an hour during most of the week, the Sprinter serves as a super bus that doesn't get caught in traffic. It connects well with the MTS 235 route to San Diego, so often going through Escondido gets you from Oceanside to San Diego quicker than waiting for a less frequent Coaster or paying the $18 or so Amtrak fare.

This is right from my area (Vista). So cool to see a video of a train that I literally see on my way to work ever day! And being from the area I can speak a little more to the numbers game. So a lot of the movement for commuters in the area is north and south along the 5 and 15 highways and not east to west as this train primarily runs. The sprinter connects Oceanside - Vista - Carlsbad when people from those cities commute north or south for work. That being said in the summer or for leisure the train gets used more often for that rather than commuters. NCTD will often run 2 sets coupled together during peak hours during the summer to get those going to the beach, I have used it multiple times for that reason.

The Desiro Classic has always been one of my favourite DMUs! They’re very reliable and also quite comfortable (at least here in Germany) and I always loved the BIG windows. Hopefully the Desiro HC will see service in America too one day.

This is great! Grew up here and see the Sprinter all the time!

Nice little trip report, something different. Wish there were more of these types of trains over here.

Interesting, what's I Europe a local train is classifeid in the US as an light rail train. I also like the way the foors do fit with the railing at the station, almost like Asia.

Awesome video!

Great video !!

Waking up by watching videos from Simply Railway is literally an enjoyment 😄

Can't wait for your report on the Superliner Refresh (official name for the refurbished Superliner II) cars! The images look great and I can't wait to try them myself when I get the chance

been waiting for this one

This is a very interesting rail service that I've been on once for fun, although I can see why it's not very frequently used. It basically connects a few large suburban residential areas in the north of the city, which means that it's not very helpful for commuting to work (usually further south). Another rail service, the San Diego Trolley, is about to open a new extension that will connect a major office/university area of the city to the rest of the network. Hopefully this will be a lot more popular with commuters or university students.

I really love the Desiro Classic, this train has such a unique driving experience. Because it was from the same Era and came from the same Manufacturer as the ICE 3 i always say as a joke this is the ICE 3 as a Commuter train. What I can recommend is the route from Reutte in Tyrol to Kempten. You can expect an incredible view with these windows.

great catch

Oh lordy, I used to live in Carlsbad & the Oceanside station was my second home while waiting to jump on the Coaster to get to work! Sounds campy, but I love that station (and the surrounding area). :)

Watching this video while riding the Sprinter right now!

Really nice looking train :D

Riding that train is always a fun experience as I would often ride it to college. I have always loved the design of the couplers on this system and the Oceanside station is close to the beach but more like a couple of blocks. It is also just south of the main drag (most popular strech of road) of Oceanside by about 2 blocks. In my opinion, the low ridership of the train is due to the common abundance of cars along it's route and it's competition with California highway 78. The line really holds it's own when the highway has heavy traffic. The line is loved by it's riders.

wow the engine shifting sounds are really awesome!

🤔 very interesting light rail line i enjoyed watching this. Nice video.

The sprinter is an amazing train that should totally be appreciated for sure!

Desiros are great trains but I would rather avoid seeing them on journeys over 30-40 minutes. 😀 And I have a first hand experience from Prague. For a city line, great.. but for a longer intercity line it's suffering on these seats.

I have ridden a Siemens Desiro in Denmark when I had a trip there in 2013. Then that Desiro was only 3 years old. A quite good regional DMU. I liked it alot. Odd to see it in the US :) another awesome video btw 🥳

Good video for morning exercise

Service never really peaked by 2018 due to the brake scandal of 2013. All units were equipped with defective brake rotors, forcing service to shut down for over 2 months, while all passengers had to be bussed. After that, the public lost confidence in the Sprinter and ridership has been slow to recover.

Also worth noting this was filmed in June 2020, many people were still avoiding public transit because of Covid

Yes finally thank you

You should do a Salt Lake City light rail review. I saw it there last time I went, but never had the chance to ride it.

The Ottawa Trillium line also uses European DMUs. Originally it used Bombardier Talents, and now it uses Alstom LINT and Stadler FLIRT. It's considered light rail because it's operated by the City public transport operator OC Transpo.

I used to live in San Marcos at the time the line was being constructed. It was quite difficult because they had to run freight trains at the same time as construction. The service was repeatedly delayed, there were frequent news articles of testing being delayed repeatedly. The "final" timeline we were given was late 2007; it eventually opened in March 2008 to...reduced fanfare due to the onset of the recession. We were on a service in 2008 and it was quite full, however, with a dual-unit coupled train operating the route.

So, like a modern (comfortable, clean) version of the old Buddliner.

I am a southern california railfan and love your reviews so I watched this one to see what you thought of it... I live about half hour east of Escondido and I've ridden this *once.* The issue is the speed... it's just way too slow. If I need to catch a coaster, metrolink, or amtrak in oceanside (depending on where I'm going) it it much easier for me to drive 1hr from my home to oceanside transit center than to drive 30 minutes to escondido, park, catch the sprinter which them takes almost an hour to get to oceanside, plus the connection time in oceanside. Even with 30 minute headways that's a 2 hour trip using sprinter vs just driving all the way to Oceanside. Even if it was free it wouldn't be worth the extra time to me. They have to make the speed comparable to driving if they want to get people out of their cars.

Have you reviewed the South Shore Line in the Chicagoland area?

Great video on a european diesel train operating in America. I do like the interior and it seems like a good option for some rural regional services with not many passangers

You should try the SMART train in Northern California, north of San Francisco bay, it is also DMU, please do video on that

Nice videos & content, keep it up although we're from Filipinas I love to see this kind of videos specifically in train.. 👍👍👍

Used to take this to college when I was younger and I loved it. It’s current issue is the time between trains and it doesn’t service many useful areas. I was looking for a job at Carlsbad and wanted to avoid driving on the garbage 78 highway but the transit just isn’t there. It would take me more time to take the bus then the sprinter makes it a deal breaker. Hope they expand a line down through Palomar Airport to Del Mar.

We have Desiro trains here in Greece too (they are used on the suburban railway).

Reminds me of the Regional I used to ride between Zirndorf and Fuerth in Bavaria in 1the 1979's

In United States, this line is officially a light rail!

Romania is full of this Siemens Desiros.They even had them build under licence in Arad.

I like the Sprinter, I use it a lot. I use the tap on and off card which I top off from time to time. The card can be used on the Coaster or busses as well. It is slower but you plan accordingly. Americans are not used to that if they have a car to get around with. Especially Southern California. I use it to get to the airport via the coaster, up to LA and beyond. My car stays at home unless it’s a longer trip. I cycle my ebike to and from, hop on the train and arrive way less stressed not having to deal with traffic.

Belle vidéo

Didn’t have these growing up in Escondido/San Marcos in 60’s & 70’s !!

When will you post a video on the mbta

I Get Desiros On My Local Line All The Time In The UK. These Are Quite Good Trains! These Desiros That I Have Are EMUs And Are The Class 450/4DES.

5:57 most of the Desiro's in Europe, they have sliding doors in the passage between the carriages (but I like the open area of Coaster Desiro, it's interesting). In Greece, all trains have toilets, except the narrow gauge DMU's of Stadler, based in Peloponnese network.

@2:57: Back in the 60s (when sunscreen actually enhanced the burning process) Oceanside's motto was "Tan your hide in Oceanside". I bet the city would be happy to have day-trippers arrive by Sprinter or Coaster...just use an appropriate SPF product! Nice report!

I swear every form of rail in the US is called light rail unless it uses a bombardier bi-level carriage. Also I love that station at the start, its very airy and similar to whats built in Australia.

Super ❤️

They look very similar to the original seats of ÖBB and DBAG but don't have a toilet. Meanwhile ÖBB has modernized the trains and improved the seats (headrests, some seats replaced). ÖBB 5022 also have a ticket machine inside, no wifi though.

Driving is MASSIVELY subsidized in the U.S. That's why few take trains outside of the largest cities.

Is it rolling stock similar with the NJ transit Riverline?

I was of the planners who work on i that work on I’m glad it is doing well

I should try it sometime :)

An other issue for the lack of use is that you need transportation from your home to the station and the same at your destination. Unless there is a convenient bus available, an incentive would be to sell some Uber or Lift vouchers at a discount rate. I never used Uber or Lift before but recently when my car was at the shop for warranty check and I got a day voucher instead of a loaner.

I love sleek trains

very interesting! I love the sound of Desiro, but the 315 or 350KW version has better sound as 275 :D

These trains, the ones used by Texrail, and the new ones Caltrain is getting are lighter than what the Federal Transit Administration allows for crashworthiness standards with regular trains. This means that they either have to be scheduled or signaled so they don't run along regular size trains.

Belle vidéo (comme d'habitude) J'ai l'impression que la configuration des sièges est assez similaire à celle des Stadler RABe 522 (FLIRT)

There's something very similar to this in Ottawa, Canada. It's a transit line.

Great Video, but since they are used by my local train operator here in Germany, this was funny to see that siemens build them almost the same like over here

will you make a trip report on Coaster train too?

It need to have more frequency than 30 mins, and it seems it's used as a shorter commuter rail, so maybe they felt it doesnt need outlets.

Amazing Trains in Germany has many Rail Companies the ,, Desiro'' in electric versions ! The newst version is the ,, Desiro'' HC

Funnily enough, in the UK I think of Desiros as quite heavy trains (e.g. the class 185s on Transpennine, or even the class 700s on Thameslink).

Trem de da Califórnia boa viagem ai simply 🚅🚅🚅🚅🚅🚅🚅🚅🚅🚅🚅🚅🚅🚅🚅🚅🚅🚅🚅

They need to extend this further east to temecula for it to be useful. They should extend it to the South Perris Metrolink.

These trains are in Ottawa, Canada! (But made by Alstom!)

I wish Los Angeles County could use this equipment on its Green Line. The green line has Siemens equipment but it’s moch clunkier and noisier. The Sprinter seems so smooth.

The reason why there are no power outlets is because they have been engineered a decade ago. Even in Germany they don't have this :/

Hello from Kansas 🇺🇸

All trains should have windows that size, i love em

Siemens Desiro are in Romania too! 🙂👍

We use them in Romania how cool is to see them in america far away from us.

The Austrian version has a 4 speed automatic gearbox for both directions.

First time ever seeing side view mirrors on a train. My thought was wh to do that.en do trains need mirrors to change lanes. Then it hit me, the drive needs to see what is happening on the platform because there are no station or train personnel to do it.

Sprinter, huh? The amount of times I took a journey on this train is so ridiculous I can time my railfan shots perfectly.

Fun fact: it's the only diesel light rail system in the US that doesn't use Stadler vehicles

:58 i cant swee what is written the time bar is blocking it.

As I live about 70 miles north this service in the Los Angeles metropolitan region, I can shed some light on its low ridership. One is its use of that old line to Escondido takes it down just one of the major transit corridors in that burgeoning region of San Diego county. Those are suburbs built, like so much of Southern California since WWII ended, with the automobile in mind. It just no longer goes where population densities are high enough. That attempt to revisit the past has not created enough rail transit adjacent housing apartments as the more crowded Los Angeles urban sprawl has begun to do. Two, it was done on the cheap, much like the original San Diego Trolley lines and the Blue line IN LA. Using existing European and Japanese rolling stock on standard gauge those lines could not be integrated into the regular rail system their routes followed, for safety reasons. That need to change trains in all cases meant no single seat services to the suburbs was going to be allowed, despite the standard European or other rail lines that they were originally built to use. Japan does have two different standard gauges but that country built new standard gauge rail lines the same way that the U.S built interstate highways in the same post-war period. So the "Light Rail" standard gauge stock they sold LA Metrorail was considered not so light back in Japan. LA abandoned all its narrow gauge streetcar lines before the modern renaissance of Southern California city rail services begun in San Diego with the two lines I mentioned beginning in 1981. Siemens provided those EMU units too. The awkward cross platform connections to the Coaster, and Amtrak at grade is a remnant of the low budgets San Diego taxpayers would allow.

Do I hear the engine shifting thru gears?

Wozu soll der Zaun am Bahnsteig gut sein? Was passiert, wenn der Zug nicht richtig hält oder wenn dort mal ein anderer Zug hält, dann passt das alles nicht mehr.

2:00 And Bulgaria?

Beautiful train. I wish we had trains like that in China.

In Athens we have desiro emus

You cam try those trains în romania on route from București Nord to Craiova via Pitești

👍👍👍

Greetings from Hungary! These DMUs can speed up to 120km/h (74 mph) and in Europe they are used as regional services between counties. it is possible, the US variant has higher comfort level, than the European version

Where exactly are you now: USA or Europe??

In the short term, the pandemic doesn't help ridership. Overall, and more so in Southern California, "Car Culture" is a real thing. The other issue is connectivity. Can a person ride their bike or walk to a station, go to their final destination or work without having to connect to many different transit systems over a period of time to reach the final goal. If the systems matures with time, and the highways and city streets get further congested, maybe folks will ride.

Safety requierment are differents in north america and europe so europeans rolling stock don't comply with north america safety regulation. I'm not absolutly sure if it's the same in the US, but I know that in Canada, europeans DMU aren't allowed to run unless it's on a dedicated track that it's not share with any other kind of trains. The only two lines that use europeans dmu at my knowledge in Canada are the Otrain in Ottawa on an abandoned freight line and the train de Charlevoix between Chutes Montmorency near Québec City and la malbaie, also on an adandoned line.

Are you gonna ride the SMART in the North Bay Area?

are they ment to be run by coaster begause of paint skin

To my knowledge these Desiros were actually owned by DB at one point. They sold them off.

I think coaster now has an entirely European style fleet now. Just Bombardier Multi-levels and Siemens Desiro and Charger family products.

These aren't bad units, but in Europe they can be used on four hour journeys! 🙈