College Park station (Caltrain)

Last updated

College Park
College Park station 1355 03.JPG
College Park station in September 2012
General information
Location780 Stockton Avenue
San Jose, California
Coordinates 37°20′34″N121°54′56″W / 37.34278°N 121.91556°W / 37.34278; -121.91556
Owned by Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board
Line(s) Peninsula Subdivision [1]
Platforms2 island platforms
Tracks5
ConnectionsAiga bus trans.svg VTA: 61 [2]
Construction
AccessiblePartial, no wheelchair lift available
Other information
StatusLimited-service, weekday-only
History
Original company Southern Pacific
Passengers
2018108 per weekday [3] Increase2.svg 31.7%
Services
Preceding station Caltrain roundel.svg Caltrain Following station
Santa Clara Local (L1)
Train #106 only
San Jose Diridon
toward Tamien
Lawrence Limited (L3)
Train #307 only
San Jose Diridon
Terminus
Santa Clara Limited (L4)
Trains #405 & #408 only
San Jose Diridon
toward Gilroy
      Weekend Local (L2) does not stop here
      Limited (L5) does not stop here
      Baby Bullet (B7) does not stop here
Former services
Preceding station Southern Pacific Railroad Following station
Santa Clara Peninsula Commute San Jose
Terminus
Market Street Depot
before 1935
Terminus
Location
College Park station (Caltrain)

College Park station is a limited-service, weekday-only Caltrain station serving the College Park neighborhood and the Bellarmine College Preparatory school in San Jose, California.

Contents

Service

The station is served by four trains per weekday. In the morning, one northbound train from Gilroy and one local service southbound train from San Francisco serve the station. In the afternoon, one southbound train to Gilroy and one limited-stop northbound train to San Francisco stop at College Park. There is no weekend service. [4]

Due to the small size of the station platforms, only the three northern-most cars of each train open their doors to allow passengers to board and alight. The two southern cars (next to locomotive) do not open. [5]

The station has a boarding assistance area so that train crews may offer help to passengers with disabilities. However, the station does not have a wheelchair lift, limiting the accessibility of the station. [5]

History

Before Caltrain, College Park was a station on Southern Pacific's Peninsula Commute line, in fare zone 6 (brown). [6] It is mentioned in Jack London's 1903 novel The Call of the Wild as the location at which the stolen canine protagonist is fenced, beginning his journey away from civilization. [7] [8]

In August 2005, service was reduced from 12 daily trains to four. [9] The nearby students at Bellarmine College Preparatory who use the station have a history of protesting to protect it from removal. [10]

The platform is planned to be rebuilt to accommodate through-running California High-Speed Rail service. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caltrain</span> California commuter rail line

Caltrain is a California commuter rail line serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley. The southern terminus is in San Jose at Tamien station with weekday rush hour service running as far as Gilroy. The northern terminus of the line is in San Francisco at 4th and King Street. Caltrain has 28 regular stops, one limited-service weekday-only stop, one weekend-only stop (Broadway), and one football-only stop (Stanford). While average weekday ridership in 2019 exceeded 63,000, impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been significant: in August 2022, Caltrain had an average weekday ridership of 18,600 passengers.

<i>Capitol Corridor</i> Amtrak service between San Jose and Auburn, California

The Capitol Corridor is a 168-mile (270 km) passenger train route in Northern California operated by Amtrak between San Jose, in the Bay Area, and Auburn, in the Sacramento Valley. The route is named after the two points most trains operate between, San Jose and Sacramento. The route runs roughly parallel to I-880 and I-80. Some limited trips run between Oakland and San Jose. A single daily round trip runs between San Jose and Auburn, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Capitol Corridor trains started in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millbrae station</span> Train station in Millbrae, California, U.S.

Millbrae station is an intermodal transit station serving Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and Caltrain, located in Millbrae, California. The station is the terminal station for BART on the San Francisco Peninsula, served by two lines: The Red Line before 9 pm and the Yellow Line during the early morning and evening. It is served by all Caltrain services. The station is also served by SamTrans bus service, Commute.org and Caltrain shuttle buses, and other shuttles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Jose Diridon station</span> Transit hub in San Jose, California, U.S.

San Jose Diridon station is the central passenger rail depot for San Jose, California. It also serves as a major intermodal transit center for Santa Clara County and Silicon Valley. The station is named after former Santa Clara County Supervisor Rod Diridon Sr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coast Line (Union Pacific Railroad)</span> Railroad line in California along the Pacific coast from Los Angeles to the Bay Area

The Coast Line is a railroad line between Burbank, California and the San Francisco Bay Area, roughly along the Pacific Coast. It is the shortest rail route between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Though not as busy as the Surf Line, the continuation of the Coast Line southbound to San Diego, it still sees freight movements and lots of passenger trains. The Pacific Surfliner, which runs from the San Diego Santa Fe Depot to San Luis Obispo via Union Station in Los Angeles, is the third busiest Amtrak route outside of the Northeast Corridor between Washington D.C. and Boston, which in turn hosts two of Amtrak's busiest routes being the Acela and the Northeast Regional.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamien station</span> Train station in San Jose, California, U.S.

Tamien station is an intermodal passenger transportation station in the Tamien neighborhood of central San Jose, California, served by the VTA light rail and the Caltrain commuter rail line, along with bus connections. The station has two elevated island platforms, one for each service. The two platforms are connected by a walkway at ground-level that is below the two platforms. The light rail platform is located in the center median of the State Route 87 freeway just north of the Alma Avenue overpass. The Caltrain platform is located between Lick Avenue and State Route 87, just north of Alma Avenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Clara Transit Center</span> Train station in Santa Clara, California, U.S.

Santa Clara Transit Center is a railway station in downtown Santa Clara, California. It is served by Caltrain, Amtrak Capitol Corridor, and Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) trains. It is the planned terminus for the Silicon Valley BART extension into Santa Clara County on the future Green and Orange Lines. The former station building, constructed in 1863 by the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad, is used by the Edward Peterman Museum of Railroad History.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palo Alto station</span> Train station in Palo Alto, California, U.S.

Palo Alto station is an intermodal transit center in Palo Alto, California. It is served by Caltrain regional rail service, SamTrans and Santa Clara VTA local bus service, Dumbarton Express regional bus service, the Stanford University Marguerite Shuttle, and several local shuttle services. Palo Alto is the second-busiest Caltrain station after San Francisco, averaging 7,764 weekday boardings by a 2018 count. The Caltrain station has two side platforms serving the two tracks of the Peninsula Subdivision and a nearby bus transfer plaza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South San Francisco station (Caltrain)</span> Train station in South San Francisco, California, U.S.

South San Francisco station is a Caltrain station in South San Francisco, California. The station is on the east side of the Bayshore Freeway, east and south of the curved Grand Avenue overpass, and north of where the freeway crosses over the tracks. Downtown South San Francisco is to the west, across the freeway. It previously underwent a substantial modernization and expansion project, completed in January 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadway station (Caltrain)</span> Train station in Burlingame, California, U.S.

Broadway station is a Caltrain station in Burlingame, California. Caltrain only serves the stop on weekends and holidays; weekday service is provided by a bus shuttle to nearby Millbrae station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burlingame station</span> Train station in Burlingame, California, U.S.

Burlingame station is a Caltrain commuter rail station in Burlingame, California. The station building was constructed in the Spanish Colonial Revival and Mission Revival architecture styles in 1894, opening for service on October 10 of that year. 18th-century tiles from the Mission San Antonio de Padua at Jolon and the Mission Dolores Asistencia at San Mateo were used for the station roof.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilroy station</span> Train station in Gilroy, California, U.S.

Gilroy station is a Caltrain station located in Gilroy, California, United States. It is the southernmost terminus of the Caltrain system, and is only served during weekday rush hours in the peak direction, with trains going toward San Francisco in the morning and returning southbound in the evening. The station building was constructed by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1918 and restored in 1998. Future plans call for extended Amtrak Capitol Corridor service, as well as California High-Speed Rail trains, to also stop at Gilroy. The station was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2019 as Gilroy Southern Pacific Railroad Depot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Avenue station</span>

Paul Avenue was a Caltrain station located in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The lightly used station was closed on August 1, 2005, and the platform and shelter were removed in 2009. A replacement station to the north has been proposed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capitol station (Caltrain)</span> Train station in San Jose, California, U.S.

Capitol station is a Caltrain station located off Monterey Road near the Capitol Expressway, after which the station is named, in southern San Jose, California. The station is only served during weekday peak hours, with northbound trains in the morning and southbound trains in the evening. Service between San Jose and Gilroy, including Capitol station, was increased to four weekday round trips on September 25, 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blossom Hill station (Caltrain)</span> Train station in San Jose, California, U.S.

Blossom Hill station is a Caltrain station located off Monterey Road near the Blossom Hill Road expressway in San Jose, California. The station is only served during weekday peak hours, with northbound trains in the morning and southbound trains in the evening.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgan Hill station</span> Train station in Morgan Hill, California, U.S.

Morgan Hill station is a Caltrain station located in the downtown area of Morgan Hill, California. The station is only served during weekday peak hours, with northbound trains in the morning and southbound trains in the evening.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Martin station</span> Train station in San Martin, California, U.S.

San Martin station is a Caltrain station located in the downtown area of San Martin, California. The station is only served during weekday peak hours, with northbound trains in the morning and southbound trains in the evening. Service between San Jose and Gilroy, including San Martin station, was increased to four weekday round trips on September 25, 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caltrain Express</span> Faster San Francisco-San Jose rail service

The Caltrain Express (CTX) project was implemented from 2002 to 2004 and led to the establishment of the Baby Bullet express service, which shortened the transit time between San Francisco and San Jose, and certain stations in between. New locomotives and rolling stock were purchased for dedicated express service, bypassing most stations; quad-track overtake sections were added in two locations along the Peninsula Corridor right-of-way to allow express trains to pass slower local trains that were making all stops; tracks were also upgraded with continuous-welded rail; a centralized traffic control system was added; and crossovers were added every few miles to allow single-tracking trains around disabled trains. Congresswoman Jackie Speier, then serving as a California State Senator, is credited with securing the funding for CTX and one of the new locomotives acquired for the project is named for her as a result. During commute hours, the Baby Bullet is up to 20% faster than driving south from San Francisco to San Jose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monterey County Rail Extension</span>

The Monterey County Rail Extension is a planned commuter rail extension that would bring Caltrain passenger service south of its existing Gilroy, California terminus to Salinas in Monterey County, using the existing Coast Line owned by Union Pacific (UPRR). Implementation of the rail extension will occur over three phases, starting from Salinas and moving north. When construction is complete, there will be four trains operated over the extended line per weekday: two northbound trains that depart from Salinas and travel to San Francisco in the morning, and two southbound trains that return to Salinas in the afternoon.

References

  1. SMA Rail Consulting (April 2016). "California Passenger Rail Network Schematics" (PDF). California Department of Transportation. p. 13.
  2. "VTA System" (PDF) (Map). Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority . June 13, 2022. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
  3. "2018 Annual Count Key Findings Report" (PDF). Caltrain. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 20, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  4. Caltrain (September 12, 2022). "Schedule". Caltrain . Retrieved October 12, 2022.
  5. 1 2 "College Park station information". Caltrain. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
  6. "Southern Pacific Peninsula Time Tables". Southern Pacific Lines . April 1, 1978. Archived from the original on July 1, 2007.
  7. Dunn, Geoffrey (January 16, 2013). "The Call of the Valley". Metro Silicon Valley . San Jose, California. p. 17. Retrieved March 15, 2014. When Buck was stolen from the 'Miller' ranch, London referenced 'the little flag railway station known as College Park,' a small train stop that, to this day, is located in the College Park neighborhood, just off the Alameda near Bellarmine Preparatory School.
  8. London, Jack (1903). "Chapter I. Into the Primitive"  . The Call of the Wild . No one saw him and Buck go off through the orchard on what Buck imagined was merely a stroll. And with the exception of a solitary man, no one saw them arrive at the little flag station known as College Park.
  9. "2014 Caltrain Annual Passenger Counts, Attachment 1 – Caltrain Service History" (PDF). Caltrain. 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 14, 2014. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  10. "Caltrain Cutbacks Would Take Hundreds of Bellarmine High Students Off Track". Gilroy, CA Patch. March 21, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  11. "San Francisco to San Jose Project Section Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement Volume 1 Chapter 2" (PDF). CHSRA. July 2020. Retrieved July 20, 2020.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to College Park station (Caltrain) at Wikimedia Commons