California Avenue station is a 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...

 station

Train station

A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...

 at milepost 31.7 in Palo Alto, California

Palo Alto, California

Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...

. It stops at the historical town center of Mayfield, which was annexed by the town of Palo Alto in 1925. The current structure was built in 1983 at the same time as the nearby Palo Alto Central condominium complex, replacing a shelter a few hundred feet to the south.

2008 Improvements

In 2008 Caltrain completed construction of a new underground passage and other improvements to the Palo Alto and California Avenue stations. A new northbound platform on the east side of the tracks was added. The improvements at the California Avenue station improved safety by replacing the at-grade pedestrian crossing with a pedestrian underpass. The center boarding platform was replaced with outside boarding platforms. A fence between the tracks helps keep passengers off the tracks. A ticket vending machine is located at the entrance to the pedestrian underpass so that people can buy or validate their tickets before going to the northbound platform. New shelters for passengers needing assistance are located at the northern end of the platforms, next to the manual wheelchair lifts. The shelters have been modified to accommodate wheelchairs.

Service and Ridership

The California Avenue station is ranked 12th in ridership as of 2008 based on the 2008 Caltrain Ridership Counts Publication. Ridership has been recorded at 917 weekday riders, or 2.48% of total weekday riders. California Ave. Station is served by few trains compared to those of similar ridership levels. Due to a main station already set in Palo Alto

Palo Alto (Caltrain station)

Palo Alto Station is the main train station in Palo Alto, California. It is a regional transit center serving Santa Clara County and San Mateo County Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority transit bus passengers as well as Caltrain commuters. Palo Alto is also one of the busiest stations in...

, Baby Bullet Express trains do not stop at California Ave.

Hold-out rule

A hold-out rule used to exist at this station, where only one train could enter at a time. The new outside-boarding platforms and pedestrian under-crossing eliminated the need for the hold-out rule.

External links

• Caltrain California Ave. station page