Diridon Station
Encyclopedia
Diridon Station is the central passenger rail depot for San Jose, California
. It also serves as a transit hub for Santa Clara County
and the Silicon Valley
. It will have Bay Area Rapid Transit
service when the Silicon Valley BART extension
is complete.
The station is served by Caltrain
, ACE
, VTA light rail, Amtrak
and in the future BART
. This is in addition to California Shuttle Bus
, Amtrak Thruway Bus, Monterey-Salinas Transit, San Benito Transit, Santa Cruz Metro (Highway 17 Express
), SMART
, local VTA and employer shuttles and buses. This station serves San Francisco via Caltrain.
The station is on the Union Pacific Coast Line
tracks (formerly Southern Pacific
) at 65 Cahill Street in San Jose. The depot is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
for its Italian Renaissance Revival style architectural and historical significance.
away from the heavy traffic of the downtown area around the Market Street Depot, located at Market and Bassett Streets, to the eastern edge of Willow Glen, an industrial area in the 19th century and the former location of rail facilities belonging to other railroads, in 1935. The new depot replaced the Fourth Street line's station.
The Cahill Depot was a stop for several Southern Pacific passenger trains, including the famous San Francisco–Los Angeles
train, the Coast Daylight
. Other "named" trains that used the station were the all first-class "Lark
," and the "Del Monte." Amtrak took over long distance passenger train service in 1971, and Caltrain equipment replaced all SP passenger equipment on the Peninsula Commute
in 1985.
Restoration of the station was finished in 1994, when the station was renamed Diridon Station in honor of former Santa Clara County
Supervisor Rod Diridon.
In 1996, Santa Clara County voters approved a half cent sales tax to fund the 1996 Measure B Transportation Improvement Project. Part of this project was the construction of the Vasona Light Rail extension which included a VTA light rail platform at the Diridon train depot. The official opening date for this light rail extension was October 1, 2005, however, revenue service at the San Fernando and Diridon Stations began on July 29, 2005 to accommodate attendees of the inaugural San Jose Grand Prix
race.
The passenger platform is featured in the opening scene of Alfred Hitchcock's
Marnie
(1964) as representing the Hartford
, Connecticut train station. Margaret (Marnie) Edgar (Tippi Hedren
) is seen walking down the platform, back to the camera with a yellow purse tucked under her left arm and carrying a suitcase with her right, setting down the suitcase and waiting for her train to arrive.
California Shuttle Bus
runs from San Francisco and Oakland to Los Angeles.
The BART station will be called Diridon/Arena and will be located between the Santa Clara and Alum Rock
stations with direct service to Santa Clara, San Francisco/Daly City
, and Richmond
.
style, with a three-story central section flanked by two-story wings. The building, a compilation of rectangular sections, is 390 feet (118 m) long and 40 feet to 78 feet (12 to 24 m) wide. The central section, which contains the passenger waiting room
, measures 40 by 80 feet (12 by 25 m) and is 33 feet (10 m) high. The high center pavilion
housing the waiting room is constructed of steel columns and truss
es. The side wings are framed with wood. The exterior walls are clad with tapestry brick or varied colors and arranged in an English bond pattern. The depot is in an industrial area formerly dominated by warehouses and related commercial businesses. Several vernacular sheds, a water tower
, butterfly passenger sheds and the nearby Alameda underpass are all contributing buildings and structures within the railroad station.
The building was designed by Southern Pacific architect, John H. Christie, who had worked on the Southern Pacific remodeling of the Fresno
depot in 1915 and later, in 1939, worked on Union Station
in Los Angeles
. This depot is one of only four Italian Renaissance Revival style depots in California, and the largest surviving depot of the San Francisco–San Jose line. The only other large depot built in California during the 1930s was the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal.
and second phase of BART extension in Santa Clara County. BART is planned to be in a subway station adjacent to the train station and Santa Clara Street. The high-speed rail track and platform locations have not been determined yet. The BART line will lay between the Santa Clara and Downtown San Jose
BART stations with direct service to Santa Clara, San Francisco and Richmond.
If these plans are completed, Diridon Station would offer connections between Caltrain
, high-speed rail, Amtrak's
Capitol Corridor
and Coast Starlight
lines, ACE
, and VTA light rail and buses
, and BART.
The City of San Jose has brought in the Harvard University Graduate School of Design to assist in considering transportation and urban planning issues surrounding such a large-scale transit hub. The group will be led by a professor with experience directing urban planning projects in Dubai, Moscow, Budapest, Seoul, Buenos Aires and Bilbao. The results of 12 graduate student studies will be made available to the city for inclusion in its official planning process for the expansion of the Diridon Station and surroundings.
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
. It also serves as a transit hub for Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County, California
Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...
and the Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
. It will have Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on of track with 44 stations in four counties...
service when the Silicon Valley BART extension
Silicon Valley BART extension
The Silicon Valley BART extension is a set of three or four phases of expansion of the Bay Area Rapid Transit from its current terminus in Fremont to Santa Clara County...
is complete.
The station is served by Caltrain
Caltrain
Caltrain is a California commuter rail line on the San Francisco Peninsula and in the Santa Clara Valley in the United States. The northern terminus of the rail line is in San Francisco, at 4th and King streets; its southern terminus is in Gilroy...
, ACE
Altamont Commuter Express
The Altamont Commuter Express is a regional rail service in California connecting Stockton with San Jose....
, VTA light rail, Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
and in the future BART
Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on of track with 44 stations in four counties...
. This is in addition to California Shuttle Bus
California Shuttle Bus
California Shuttle Bus is a transportation company providing passenger service in California.-History:The company launched its services in 2003....
, Amtrak Thruway Bus, Monterey-Salinas Transit, San Benito Transit, Santa Cruz Metro (Highway 17 Express
Highway 17 Express
The Highway 17 Express is an Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach route provided by a consortium of entities that provides regional service between San Jose and Santa Cruz County in the South Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area...
), SMART
San Joaquin Regional Transit District
San Joaquin Regional Transit District is a transit district that provides bus service to the city of Stockton, California and the surrounding communities of Lodi, Ripon, Thornton, French Camp, Lathrop, Manteca, and Tracy.San Joaquin RTD operates 36 fixed routes to the Stockton metropolitan area,...
, local VTA and employer shuttles and buses. This station serves San Francisco via Caltrain.
The station is on the Union Pacific Coast Line
Coast Line (UP)
The Coast Line is a railroad line from Burbank, California north to the San Francisco Bay Area, roughly along the Pacific Coast.The first version of the Coast line, via Saugus and Santa Paula, was completed by the Southern Pacific Railroad on December 31, 1900; the line via Santa Susana opened in...
tracks (formerly Southern Pacific
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
) at 65 Cahill Street in San Jose. The depot is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
for its Italian Renaissance Revival style architectural and historical significance.
History
The Cahill Depot opened in December 1935. The opening of the depot was the culmination of a 30-year effort to relocate 4.5 miles (7.2 km) of the Coast Line of the Southern Pacific RailroadSouthern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
away from the heavy traffic of the downtown area around the Market Street Depot, located at Market and Bassett Streets, to the eastern edge of Willow Glen, an industrial area in the 19th century and the former location of rail facilities belonging to other railroads, in 1935. The new depot replaced the Fourth Street line's station.
The Cahill Depot was a stop for several Southern Pacific passenger trains, including the famous San Francisco–Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
train, the Coast Daylight
Coast Daylight (SP)
Coast Daylight was a passenger train originally run by the Southern Pacific Railroad between the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, via SP's Coast Line...
. Other "named" trains that used the station were the all first-class "Lark
Lark (passenger train)
The Lark was an overnight passenger train of the Southern Pacific Company on the 470-mile run between San-Francisco and Los-Angeles. It became a streamliner on July 10, 1941 and was discontinued in April 1968...
," and the "Del Monte." Amtrak took over long distance passenger train service in 1971, and Caltrain equipment replaced all SP passenger equipment on the Peninsula Commute
Peninsula Commute
The Peninsula Commute, also known as the Southern Pacific Peninsula or just Peninsula, was the common name for historical commuter rail service between San Jose, California and San Francisco, California on the San Francisco Peninsula. This service ran as a private, for-profit enterprise beginning...
in 1985.
Restoration of the station was finished in 1994, when the station was renamed Diridon Station in honor of former Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County, California
Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...
Supervisor Rod Diridon.
In 1996, Santa Clara County voters approved a half cent sales tax to fund the 1996 Measure B Transportation Improvement Project. Part of this project was the construction of the Vasona Light Rail extension which included a VTA light rail platform at the Diridon train depot. The official opening date for this light rail extension was October 1, 2005, however, revenue service at the San Fernando and Diridon Stations began on July 29, 2005 to accommodate attendees of the inaugural San Jose Grand Prix
San Jose Grand Prix
The San Jose Grand Prix was an annual street circuit race in the Champ Car World Series in San Jose, California. The race had three different title sponsors over the course of its three year existence, being known as the Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San Jose in 2005, Canary Foundation Grand Prix of...
race.
The passenger platform is featured in the opening scene of Alfred Hitchcock's
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
Marnie
Marnie (film)
Marnie is a 1964 psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and based on the novel of the same name by Winston Graham. The film stars Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery. The original film score was composed by Bernard Herrmann.-Plot:...
(1964) as representing the Hartford
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
, Connecticut train station. Margaret (Marnie) Edgar (Tippi Hedren
Tippi Hedren
Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren is an American actress and former fashion model with a career spanning six decades. She is primarily known for her roles in two Alfred Hitchcock films, The Birds and Marnie, and her extensive efforts in animal rescue at Shambala Preserve, an wildlife habitat which she...
) is seen walking down the platform, back to the camera with a yellow purse tucked under her left arm and carrying a suitcase with her right, setting down the suitcase and waiting for her train to arrive.
California Shuttle Bus
California Shuttle Bus
California Shuttle Bus is a transportation company providing passenger service in California.-History:The company launched its services in 2003....
runs from San Francisco and Oakland to Los Angeles.
The BART station will be called Diridon/Arena and will be located between the Santa Clara and Alum Rock
Alum Rock (BART station)
Alum Rock BART station is a planned underground Bay Area Rapid Transit station in eastern San Jose, California. It will be the first station of the Phase II portion of the Silicon Valley BART extension. It will be located near Highway 101 and Santa Clara Street...
stations with direct service to Santa Clara, San Francisco/Daly City
Daly City (BART station)
Daly City Station is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station located in extreme northern San Mateo County, California, in suburban Daly City, less than one block outside the San Francisco city and county limits. Interstate 280 and California Route 1 run along the immediate west side of the station...
, and Richmond
Richmond Station (California)
Richmond Station is an at-grade Bay Area Rapid Transit and Amtrak station located in Richmond, California. Each system is served by an island platform. The Capitol Corridor, San Joaquins, California Zephyr, and Coast Starlight stop here and connect to BART. The station is currently being rebuilt...
.
Ridership
Of Amtrak's 73 California stations, San Jose was the 19th-busiest in FY2010, boarding or detraining an average of approximately 550 passengers daily.Architecture
The depot is in the Italian Renaissance RevivalItalianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
style, with a three-story central section flanked by two-story wings. The building, a compilation of rectangular sections, is 390 feet (118 m) long and 40 feet to 78 feet (12 to 24 m) wide. The central section, which contains the passenger waiting room
Waiting room
A waiting room is a building, or more commonly a part of a building where people sit or stand until the event they are waiting for occurs.There are generally two types of waiting room. One is where individuals leave one at a time, for instance at a doctor's office or a hospital, or outside a school...
, measures 40 by 80 feet (12 by 25 m) and is 33 feet (10 m) high. The high center pavilion
Pavilion (structure)
In architecture a pavilion has two main meanings.-Free-standing structure:Pavilion may refer to a free-standing structure sited a short distance from a main residence, whose architecture makes it an object of pleasure. Large or small, there is usually a connection with relaxation and pleasure in...
housing the waiting room is constructed of steel columns and truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
es. The side wings are framed with wood. The exterior walls are clad with tapestry brick or varied colors and arranged in an English bond pattern. The depot is in an industrial area formerly dominated by warehouses and related commercial businesses. Several vernacular sheds, a water tower
Water tower
A water tower or elevated water tower is a large elevated drinking water storage container constructed to hold a water supply at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system....
, butterfly passenger sheds and the nearby Alameda underpass are all contributing buildings and structures within the railroad station.
The building was designed by Southern Pacific architect, John H. Christie, who had worked on the Southern Pacific remodeling of the Fresno
Fresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
depot in 1915 and later, in 1939, worked on Union Station
Union Station (Los Angeles)
Los Angeles Union Station is the main railway station in Los Angeles, California. The station has rail services by Amtrak and Amtrak California and Metrolink; light rail/subways are the Metro Rail Red Line, Purple Line, Gold Line. Bus rapid transport runs on the Silver Line...
in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. This depot is one of only four Italian Renaissance Revival style depots in California, and the largest surviving depot of the San Francisco–San Jose line. The only other large depot built in California during the 1930s was the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal.
Transit connections
- VTA Route 22
- VTA Route 63
- VTA Route 64
- VTA Route 65
- VTA Route 68
- VTA Express Route 180
- VTA Limited Route 305
- VTA Rapid Route 522
- Highway 17 Express - VTA's site
- Highway 17 Express - Santa Cruz Metro's site
- MST Express Route 55
- Downtown Area Shuttle (DASH) (free)
- Amtrak Thruway Bus - San Joaquin RouteSan JoaquinsThe San Joaquin is a passenger train operated by Amtrak as part of the Amtrak California network in California's Central Valley. Twelve trains a day run between its southern terminus at Bakersfield and Stockton, where the route splits to Oakland or Sacramento...
Possible California High-Speed Rail and future BART service
The San Jose Diridon station is planned as a future station for the California High-Speed RailCalifornia high-speed rail
The California High-Speed Rail project is a planned future high-speed rail system in the state of California and headed by the California High-Speed Rail Authority . Initial funding for the project was approved by California voters on November 4, 2008, with the passage of Proposition 1A...
and second phase of BART extension in Santa Clara County. BART is planned to be in a subway station adjacent to the train station and Santa Clara Street. The high-speed rail track and platform locations have not been determined yet. The BART line will lay between the Santa Clara and Downtown San Jose
Downtown San José (BART station)
Downtown San Jose BART station is a planned underground Bay Area Rapid Transit station in southern San Jose, California, part of the Silicon Valley BART extension...
BART stations with direct service to Santa Clara, San Francisco and Richmond.
If these plans are completed, Diridon Station would offer connections between Caltrain
Caltrain
Caltrain is a California commuter rail line on the San Francisco Peninsula and in the Santa Clara Valley in the United States. The northern terminus of the rail line is in San Francisco, at 4th and King streets; its southern terminus is in Gilroy...
, high-speed rail, Amtrak's
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
Capitol Corridor
Capitol Corridor
The Capitol Corridor is a 168-mile passenger train route operated by Amtrak in California. Because it is fully supported by the state, the Capitol Corridor operates under Amtrak California. It runs from the San Francisco Bay Area to Sacramento, roughly parallel to Interstate 80...
and Coast Starlight
Coast Starlight
The Coast Starlight is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States. It runs from King Street Station in Seattle, Washington, to Union Station in Los Angeles, California. The train's name was formed as a merging of two of Southern Pacific's train names, the Coast...
lines, ACE
Altamont Commuter Express
The Altamont Commuter Express is a regional rail service in California connecting Stockton with San Jose....
, and VTA light rail and buses
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is a special-purpose district responsible for public transit services, congestion management, specific highway improvement projects, and countywide transportation planning for Santa Clara County, California, United States...
, and BART.
The City of San Jose has brought in the Harvard University Graduate School of Design to assist in considering transportation and urban planning issues surrounding such a large-scale transit hub. The group will be led by a professor with experience directing urban planning projects in Dubai, Moscow, Budapest, Seoul, Buenos Aires and Bilbao. The results of 12 graduate student studies will be made available to the city for inclusion in its official planning process for the expansion of the Diridon Station and surroundings.
See also
- List of attractions in Silicon Valley
- Downtown San Jose