Richmond station (California)

Richmond, CA
Richmond station entrance in April 2018
Location	1700 Nevin Avenue, Richmond, California
Coordinates	37°56′13″N 122°21′11″W / 37.936811°N 122.353095°W / 37.936811; -122.353095Coordinates: 37°56′13″N 122°21′11″W / 37.936811°N 122.353095°W / 37.936811; -122.353095
Owned by	Union Pacific Railroad (Amtrak station)[1]
Line(s)	UP Martinez Subdivision[2] BART R-Line
Platforms	1 island platform (Amtrak) 1 island platform (BART)
Tracks	3 (Amtrak) 2 (BART)
Connections	AC Transit: 70, 71, 72M, 74, 76, 376, 607, 667, 668, 675, 684, 800 City of Richmond: BART/Civic Center Shuttle Kaiser Richmond Shuttle Flixbus
Construction
Parking	624 spaces
Bicycle facilities	Two lockers
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	RIC (Amtrak)
History
Opened	January 29, 1973 (BART)[3] October 30, 1977 (Amtrak)
Rebuilt	October 18, 2007[1]
Passengers
2020	4,554 (weekday average)[4] (BART)
2018	289,928[5][6]  0.86% (Amtrak)
Rank	16th in California[5] (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Emeryville Terminus California Zephyr Martinez toward Chicago Berkeley toward San Jose Capitol Corridor Martinez toward Auburn Emeryville toward Oakland – Jack London Square San Joaquins Martinez toward Bakersfield      Coast Starlight does not stop here Preceding station Bay Area Rapid Transit Following station El Cerrito del Norte toward San Francisco International Airport via Millbrae Richmond–Millbrae+SFO line Terminus El Cerrito del Norte toward Berryessa/​North San José Berryessa/​North San José–Richmond line
Former services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Emeryville toward Los Angeles Coast Starlight Until 1996, then 2013 Martinez toward Seattle Oakland-16th Street toward Los Angeles Spirit of California 1981–1983 Martinez toward Sacramento Preceding station Southern Pacific Railroad Following station toward Oakland Pier Overland Route toward Ogden Shasta Route toward Portland
Location

The Richmond Transit Center is a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and Amtrak station located in Richmond, California. Richmond is the north terminus of BART service on the Berryessa/​North San José–Richmond line and Richmond–Millbrae+SFO line; it is a stop for Amtrak's Capitol Corridor, San Joaquin, and California Zephyr routes. It is one of two transfer points between BART and Amtrak, along with Oakland Coliseum station.

The Southern Pacific-controlled Northern Railway opened through what is now Richmond in 1878, but a station was not established until the arrival of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1900. The station was closed upon the formation of Amtrak in 1971. Two years later, Richmond became one of the termini of the initial BART system. Amtrak service began in 1978, with a shelter constructed in 1984. A new Amtrak platform was built in 2001, followed by a renovation of the whole station completed in 2007.

History[]

Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads[]

The former ATSF station in Richmond, photographed shortly before it was demolished in the 1990s

The Southern Pacific-controlled Northern Railway opened through the then-uninhabited swamplands near Point Richmond on January 8, 1878.^[7] A stop was soon established at San Pablo, north of what is now Richmond.^[8][9] Passenger service to Richmond started around 1900 when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) made Port Richmond the west terminus of its transcontinental mainline, where passengers could board ferries to San Francisco.^[1] By 1910, the rapidly growing town of Richmond had four train stations: the Southern Pacific (SP) stopped in downtown Richmond near Macdonald Avenue and at Stege south of Potrero Avenue; the AT&SF station was at the west end of Macdonald Avenue.^[10]

Even as intercity rail service began to decline, Richmond was served by SP trains on the Shasta Route, Overland Route, and Central Valley routes, plus AT&SF service to the Central Valley.^[11] AT&SF service ended in 1968 when the Golden Gate was discontinued. SP service to Richmond on the San Joaquin Daylight continued until May 1, 1971, when Amtrak took over intercity passenger service.^[1]

BART[]

The BART station in 1976

As early as 1957, Richmond was identified as a likely terminus for a line of a proposed regional rapid transit system.^[12]: 42 The system was approved by voters in November 1962.^[3] The station was originally to be located at 6th and MacDonald west of downtown, but this was changed to 16th and Nevin (along the SP line) to allow construction of a storage yard north of the station and permit future extension. After tension between the Bay Area Rapid Transit District and the city, an agreement to use the latter site was reached in May 1967.^[12]: 106 BART service to Richmond began on January 29, 1973; it has remained a terminus since.^[3] An extension to Crockett was considered in 1991 but not pursued.^[3]

A "rather disquieting" mosaic relief by William Mitchell, made of seashells and fiberglass, is located near the BART faregates.^[13]

Intermodal station[]

San Francisco Zephyr at the station in 1980

Capitol Corridor train at the station in 2018, with the former shelter at right

Unlike other large cities, the Bay Area did not have a convenient transfer location between Amtrak intercity service and local rapid transit; Oakland Central Station was not located near a BART station. The introduction of the San Joaquin service in 1974 added a third round trip to the SP mainline north of Oakland.

A $667,000 Amtrak station adjacent to the BART station opened for use by the San Joaquin plus the long-distance San Francisco Zephyr and Coast Starlight on October 30, 1977. It included two 18-car-long platforms, with stairs and an elevator from a small station building to the under-track passage.^[14][15]

Service gradually expanded; a second San Joaquin was added in 1980, and the Capitols service began in 1991.^[16] The Coast Starlight ceased to stop at Richmond in April 1996, followed by the California Zephyr (successor to the San Francisco Zephyr) in October 1998.^[17]

The Amtrak station building was closed on December 1, 1997, though trains continued to stop.^[18] On April 12, 2000, BART and the city broke ground on a "transit village", a large mixed-use transit-oriented development adjacent to the station.^[3] In July 2001, the aging Amtrak facility was replaced with a modern island platform with better access to the BART pedestrian tunnel. The $1.9 million project, funded by the state, was intended to improve the station as preparation for the transit village.^[17][19] The developer for the transit village — which included an 800-space garage for BART — was chosen in 2002.^[3]

A $6.4 million renovation of the station was undergone as part of the transit village project. An "industrial post-modern" circular canopy was built over the station entrance. The station was officially named the Richmond Transit Center at a dedication ceremony on October 18, 2007.^[1] A BART ticket window opened at the station in August 2008, joining seven other major stations in the system.^[20]

The two intercity trains began stopping at Richmond again on November 8, 2010. However, the Coast Starlight stop was again discontinued on January 14, 2013 because the train was scheduled to arrive at night — if it was several hours late, passengers would be unable to exit through the locked BART tunnel.^[17] In 2018, BART and CCJPA installed a "courtesy light" on the Amtrak platform, which will instruct eastbound Capitol Corridor trains to hold for two minutes if a BART train is arriving to allow passengers to make their connection.^[21]

Station layout[]

v t Track and platform layout
Legend
Amtrak to Auburn, Bakersfield, Chicago to Richmond Yards pedestrian tunnel parking garage BART to Daly City, Warm Springs Amtrak to Emeryville, San Jose, Oakland

The BART station — a single island platform with two tracks — is located on the east side of the station complex. The Amtrak station — an island platform served by two of the three tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad Martinez Subdivision — is located to its west.^[2] An under-track pedestrian tunnel connects the two platforms with entrances on both sides of the tracks. The east side has a BART parking lot; the transit village, bus bays, and parking garage are located near the large canopy on the west side.^[22]

Bus connections[]

Busway and drop-off area at the station

Although Richmond is a terminal station for BART, most connecting regional bus services instead run to El Cerrito del Norte station, which is much closer to I-80. Richmond is served by several local bus services:^[22]

• AC Transit: local routes 70, 71, 72M, 76, 376; all-night route 800; school routes 607, 668, 675, 684
• Richmond Medical Center: BART-Kaiser Shuttle
• Richmond Circular Shuttle

A Golden Gate Transit route over the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge connecting Richmond to the agency's main service area in North Bay ran until 2015, when it was combined with a route that terminates at El Cerrito del Norte station.^[23]

Richmond station is also served by Flixbus intercity buses.^[22]

See also[]

• List of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations

References[]

Notes[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richmond station (California).

• BART - Richmond
• Capitol Corridor - Richmond
• Amtrak - Richmond
• Richmond (RIC)--Great American Stations (Amtrak)