Fremont station

Fremont
Fremont
Amtrak and ACE commuter rail station
	Fremont station, as seen from SR 84.
General information
Location	37260 Fremont Blvd. ; Fremont, CA 94536
Coordinates	37°33′33″N 122°00′26″W / 37.559097°N 122.007176°W
Owned by	City of Fremont
Line(s)	Capitol CorridorLua error: expandTemplate: template "Altamont Commuter Express color" does not exist.
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	AC Transit, Thruway Motorcoach
Construction
Parking	free
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	FMT
History
Opened	September 1910
Rebuilt	June 1999
Passengers
2015	35,475 2.9% (Amtrak)
Services
Altamont Commuter Express

Fremont station is located in Fremont, California and is served by Amtrak's Capitol Corridor and the Altamont Corridor Express (ACE).

Rail Service

The Altamont Corridor Express serves the station on weekdays.
Amtrak's Capitol Corridor stops 14 times daily, with seven trains in each direction.
The Coast Starlight (traveling between Los Angeles and Seattle) passes the station daily, but does not stop.

Amtrak tickets can be purchased from the QuikTrak machine located inside the station waiting area.

The station has two outside-boarding platforms. Platform 1, nearest the station on the north side of the tracks, is of standard length for Capitol Corridor trains (typically five cars long). Platform 2, on the south side of the tracks, is a short platform, and most trains calling on that platform board from only one or two cars. The usual operating practice is to have all ACE trains call at Platform 1, and to only have Capitol Corridor trains call at Platform 2 when there is another service (ACE or Capitol Corridor) running the opposite direction around the same time, so as to allow the two trains to pass on the double-track segment between Newark Junction and Niles Junction.

The Fremont Boulevard grade crossing is immediately to the west of the station, and is sometimes blocked by stopped trains. Occasionally, passengers board the train from the road.

Of the 74 California stations served by Amtrak, Fremont was the 36th-busiest in FY2012, boarding or detraining an average of about 120 passengers daily.^[2]

Platforms and tracks

1	■ ACE	toward Stockton (Pleasanton)
	■ ACE	toward San Jose (Santa Clara–Great America)
	■ Capitol Corridor	toward Auburn (Hayward)
	■ Capitol Corridor	toward San Jose (Santa Clara–Great America)
2	■ Capitol Corridor	toward Auburn (Hayward)
	■ Capitol Corridor	toward San Jose (Santa Clara–Great America)
	■ Coast Starlight	No stops

Bus service

AC Transit has a bus stop across the street, served by Lines 210, 99, and Transbay bus U. Line 216 and All-Nighter 801 also serve the station on nearby Peralta Blvd. Lines 99 and 216 connect this station to the Fremont (BART station).
Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach buses stop right at the station.

Dining

The Depot Diner, located at the west end of the depot, contains the historic "creamery" counter and chairs from Cloverdale Creamery (which closed in 2000). Fremont Flowers (which in 1956 opened in the depot) moved the original diner chairs and counter to the depot. The owner of the flower shop also owns the Depot Diner.

History

Centerville's first Southern Pacific Railroad station was nothing more than a boxcar, functioning in that capacity from May 1909 to September 1910. In that month the current wooden structure was opened. It was one of sixty Type 23 stations built by Southern Pacific, and its cost was under $5,000 USD.^[3] The station was a busy one during its early years, handling both freight and passenger traffic, including two to three daily milk trains. By the mid-1920s, automobile traffic began to grow, and the milk trains were discontinued. Passenger service ended on March 29, 1940. The Railway Express Agency continued shipping to and from the station until 1958. The station was completely closed on September 30, 1961.

The station changed hands many times in the following decades, becoming a furniture store, a spice store, a toy store, and an electronics store at different times. Its condition deteriorated, however, and in 1991 it was abandoned.

On June 4, 1993, Amtrak restored service to the depot.^[4] In December of that year, it was acquired by the city.

On March 15, 1995, the station was moved from the south side of the tracks to the north side of the tracks; it was also rotated 180 degrees to allow for more parking space. The station was restored between October 1998 and June 12, 1999. The cost of these projects was over $900,000.^[3] The station now appears as it did in 1910. On November 23, 2002, a platform and shelter was built on the south side of the tracks. It is called the Bill Ball Plaza.

References

^ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2015, State of California" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
^ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2012, State of California" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2012. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
^ ^a ^b Great American Stations. Accessed 2 February 2013.
^ National Association of Railroad Passengers (June 11, 1993). "Hotline #777". Retrieved 2012-07-31.

External links

Media related to Fremont-Centerville station at Wikimedia Commons

[1] "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2015, State of California" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2016.

[stats-2] "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2012, State of California" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2012. Retrieved 2013-05-11.

[GAS-3] Great American Stations. Accessed 2 February 2013.

[4] National Association of Railroad Passengers (June 11, 1993). "Hotline #777". Retrieved 2012-07-31.

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