Chico station

Chico station is an intercity rail station in the South Campus Neighborhood of Chico, California. It is served by the single daily round trip of the Amtrak Coast Starlight service. The station building was constructed by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1892; it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. The Greyhound bus station is located adjacent to the Amtrak station.

Chico, CA
Chico station in December 2023
General information
Location	450 Orange Street Chico, California United States
Coordinates	39.7233°N 121.8461°W / 39.7233; -121.8461
Owned by	City of Chico
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1
Bus operators	Amtrak Thruway: 3 Glenn Ride Greyhound Lines FlixBus
Construction
Parking	Yes
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	Amtrak: CIC
History
Opened	1870 April 25, 1982 (Amtrak)[1]
Closed	1957
Rebuilt	1892, 1988
Passengers
FY 2023	25,250[2] (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Sacramento toward Los Angeles Coast Starlight Redding toward Seattle
Former services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Marysville (1982-99) toward Los Angeles Coast Starlight Redding toward Seattle Preceding station Southern Pacific Railroad Following station Durham toward Oakland Pier Shasta Route Via East Side Sacramento Valley Vina toward Portland
Southern Pacific Depot
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Coordinates	39°42′24.0″N 121°50′8.0″W
Architectural style	Carpenter Gothic
NRHP reference No.	87000001
Added to NRHP	January 29, 1987
Location

History

Chico station in 1969

The station was built by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1892, replacing an older structure built in 1870 by the California and Oregon Railroad.^[3] A local streetcar line of the Sacramento Northern Railway served the station between 1905 and 1947.^[4]

The station was shown in the 1947 film Magic Town when James Stewart's character arrives in the fictional town of Grandview.^[3] During his 1952 vice presidential campaign, Richard Nixon was talking on the pay phone at the station when he got the news from the campaign headquarters that he would have to respond to the Checkers issue with the 'Checkers speech'.^[5]

Passenger rail service to Chico ceased in 1957, but was reactivated when Amtrak rerouted the Coast Starlight to its current alignment in 1982.^[6] The city and the Chamber of Commerce saved the current structure from demolition through an agreement with the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1987.^[7] That same year, the depot was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the Southern Pacific Depot.^[5] The building is also home to the Chico Art Center.^[3]

While the Butte County Association of Governments has looked in to establishment of weekday bus service from Chico to Sacramento, their plan called for the bus to depart not from the station but rather a park and ride facility on Fir Street.^[8][9] A different North State Intercity Bus route received TIRCP funding in 2018 and is proposed to provide weekday feeder service to Sacramento from the Chico station.^[10][11]

North Valley Rail is a proposed regional rail service between Chico and Natomas.^[12]

Additional bus connections are available approximately one half-mile away at the Chico Transit Center at 2nd and Salem.^[13]

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Butte County, California

References

1. "Bigwigs on Inaugural Train Offer Hope for Roseville Stop". The Press-Tribune. Roseville, California. April 26, 1982. pp. 1, 15. Retrieved March 28, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
2. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2023: State of California" (PDF). Amtrak. March 2024. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
3. "Chico, CA (CIC)". Great American Stations. Amtrak.
4. Groff, Garth G. (August 8, 2011). "CHICO AND ITS STREETCAR LINES". Feather River Rail Society. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
5. Giovanna R. Jackson; Michele Shover (August 1986). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Southern Pacific Depot" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved December 12, 2015. Accompanying 12 photos.
6. "State Digest: Amtrak's new train route". San Francisco Examiner. April 16, 1982.
7. Great American Stations Accessed January 30, 2013.
8. https://www.sacog.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/bcag_chico_to_sacramento_intercity_commuter_bus_service_talking_points.pdf Archived 2018-01-12 at the Wayback Machine ^{[bare URL PDF]}
9. "New Chico bus service far off; but I-5 could be in 2019". 30 June 2018.
10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2024-08-12. Retrieved 2018-09-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
11. http://www.dot.ca.gov/drmt/docs/sptircp/2018_awardlist.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
12. "Proposal seeks to launch commuter rail service north of Sacramento, Calif". Trains. February 13, 2023. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
13. "City of Chico - Bus Service".

External links

Media related to Chico station at Wikimedia Commons

• Chico, CA – Amtrak
• Chico, CA – Station history at Great American Stations (Amtrak)