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.

College Park
College Park station in September 2012
General information
Location	780 Stockton Avenue San Jose, California
Coordinates	37°20′34″N 121°54′56″W
Owned by	Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (PCJPB)
Line(s)	PCJPB Peninsula Subdivision[1]
Platforms	2 island platforms
Tracks	5
Connections	VTA: 61[2]
Construction
Accessible	Partial, no wheelchair lift available
Other information
Status	Limited-service, weekday-only
History
Original company	Southern Pacific
Passengers
2018	108 per weekday[3]  31.7%
Services
Preceding station Caltrain Following station Santa Clara toward San Francisco Local (two daily round trips) San Jose Diridon toward Tamien      Limited does not stop here      Express does not stop here      Weekend Local does not stop here
Former services Preceding station Caltrain Following station Santa Clara toward San Francisco Local (L1) Train #106 only San Jose Diridon toward Tamien Lawrence toward San Francisco Limited (L3) Train #307 only San Jose Diridon Terminus Santa Clara toward San Francisco Limited (L4) Trains #405 & #408 only San Jose Diridon toward Gilroy Preceding station Southern Pacific Railroad Following station Santa Clara toward San Francisco Peninsula Commute San Jose Terminus Market Street Depot before 1935 Terminus
Location

Service

The station is served by four trains per weekday. During each rush hour, one northbound local train from Tamien and one southbound local train from San Francisco serve the station. 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 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]

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. "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.

External links

Media related to College Park station (Caltrain) at Wikimedia Commons

• College Park station information – Caltrain