Electrification wasn't just an efficiency thing, it also made the service much better because of the faster acceleration - IIRC my travel time to SF on weekends went from 75 to 50 minutes, which opens up a lot of use cases.
The other important implication is how Caltrain could be routed through underground tunnels to Salesforce transit center. 4th and king isn't super nice and, correct me if I'm wrong, but it isn't well connected to other modes of transport. Maybe some muni buses.
Much better really? Looking at the muni map, pretty much all transit clusters around downtown. And bart doesn't even stop at 4th and King. You have to go to Millbrae for a close-ish transfer. Added to that the transit center is very close to the ferry building. And then you have golden gate transit. And it's a hub that has tons of space to accommodate a ton of transfers.
From Salesforce you can go up to the street and get the 38, granted. But to connect with BART or Muni Metro you are walking 2 blocks. At Caltrain you can get the N or T right across from the end of the platform, or board the 15, 30, or 25 bus. The T transfers to BART at Powell, with significant subterranean walking. And for trips within SF you might be closer to your destination starting from Caltrain. You'd crawl through a tunnel to Salesforce to be in Downtown/SoMa, a place everyone wants to leave?
