Oxnard Transit Center

The Oxnard Transit Center, originally known as the Oxnard Transportation Center, is an intermodal transit center in historic downtown Oxnard, California. As a transit hub, the station serves Amtrak and Metrolink trains as well as local and regional buses. Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner from San Luis Obispo to San Diego, Amtrak's Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Seattle, Washington, and Metrolink's Ventura County Line from Los Angeles Union Station to East Ventura stop here.

Oxnard, CA
Morning view from the southeast of the station in 2014
General information
Other namesOxnard Transit Center
Location201 East Fourth Street
Oxnard, California
United States
Coordinates34°11′58″N 119°10′34″W
Owned byCity of Oxnard
Line(s)UP Coast Line
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks2
Train operatorsAmtrak, Metrolink
Bus routes
Bus stands16
Construction
Structure typeModern 14,000 square foot (1,300 m2) brick building
Parking110 spaces, 3 accessible spaces
Bicycle facilitiesRacks, lockers
AccessibleYes
ArchitectJoan Briggs
Other information
StatusStaffed, station building with waiting room
Station codeAmtrak: OXN
History
Opened1987 (1987)
Previous namesOxnard Transportation Center
Passengers
FY 202136,307[1] (Amtrak only)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
Santa Barbara
toward Seattle
 Coast Starlight Simi Valley
toward Los Angeles
Ventura
toward San Luis Obispo
 Pacific Surfliner Camarillo
(limited service)
toward Los Angeles or San Diego
Preceding station Metrolink Following station
Ventura–East
toward East Ventura
 Ventura County Line Camarillo
toward Los Angeles Union Station
Location

Oxnard Transit Center is served by eight Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains (four in each direction) every day, with departures evenly spaced throughout the day. Six Metrolink Ventura County Line trains (three in each direction) serve the station each weekday, running during peak hours in the peak direction of travel. A single round trip operates on Saturdays. Metrolink passengers also have access to four of the Pacific Surfliner trains (two in each direction) each day through a codesharing arrangement with Amtrak.[2] Amtrak's Coast Starlight serves the station with one train daily in each direction.[3]

Of the 74 California stations served by Amtrak, Oxnard was the 28th-busiest in FY2012, boarding or detraining an average of approximately 223 passengers daily.[4]

History

The Southern Pacific Railroad constructed a wye at Montalvo in late 1897 on the original route connecting Ventura to Los Angeles through the Santa Clara River Valley. This spur was needed for shipping construction equipment to the site of a new beet sugar refinery. A wooden railroad trestle and rail line were constructed over the Santa Clara River as the spur headed south, reaching the new settlement here on the relatively isolated coastal plain in April 1898.[5] The rail line turned here from the north–south alignment to east–west towards Camarillo as they continued building the towards Santa Susana in the Simi Valley. With the completion of the Santa Susana Tunnel connecting the line to Burbank, this became the most direct route between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The new settlement was named after the factory owner and in 1904 traffic on the coast railroad line was rerouted through Oxnard.[6]

In 1987, the current station was constructed on the northerly end of the curve while the former station remained at the southerly end. The former Oxnard depot has continued in use as a maintenance and freight yard office by Union Pacific.

Oxnard Transit Center portal

Metrolink service started on April 4, 1994, after the Northridge earthquake damaged Simi Valley Freeway and the Federal Emergency Management Agency agreed to temporarily fund the extension of service. The trains were stored overnight in a temporary layover facility in the Montalvo neighborhood of Ventura where the Santa Paula Branch Line, owned by the Ventura County Transportation Commission, connects to the Coast Line.[7]

The station was formerly on State Route 1 but in 2014, Oxnard Boulevard was relinquished to the city in anticipation of a bypass route east of the Oxnard that would meet US 101 at the rebuilt interchange at Rice Avenue. In 2015, a southbound Metrolink train left this station and crashed into a truck at Rice Avenue about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the station injuring several passengers and an engineer (fatally). A Rice Avenue overpass that would take the rerouted State Route 1 over the rail line has long been proposed at the site where the accident occurred. The new overpass would include an interchange with State Route 34 (known as 5th Street for most of the route) that parallels the rail line to Camarillo.[8]

Notable places nearby

The station is within walking distance of the following notable places:

Northbound Surfliner pulling into station where a regional bus is parked and a local bus boards passengers at the covered island platform
Northbound Surfliner pulling into the station where a regional bus is parked. A local bus boards passengers at the covered island platform.

References
  1. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2021: State of California" (PDF). Amtrak. August 2022. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
  2. "Coast Starlight Timetable" (PDF). Rail Passengers Association. April 4, 2022. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
  3. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2012, State of California" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2012. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  4. San Buenaventura Research Associates (July 2005). Downtown Oxnard Historic Resources Survey Final Report (PDF) (Report). City of Oxnard. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-04-02.
  5. "CHATSWORTH PARK CUTOFF LINE OPENS TODAY" Los Angeles Herald 20 March 1904. Volume XXXI, Number 173, Page 2
  6. Catania, Sara (April 4, 1994). "Last of Post-Quake Metrolink Stations Opening in Oxnard". Los Angeles Times.
  7. Weikel, Dan; Nelson, Laura J. (March 1, 2015). "Spending on rail crossing safety upgrades varies widely across Southland". Los Angeles Times.

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