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. Ten Pacific Surfliner trains serve the station daily, and six Metrolink trains serve the station each weekday. The Coast Starlight operates one train daily in each direction.[2]

Oxnard
Morning view from the southeast of the station, 2014
Other namesOxnard Transit Center
Location201 East Fourth Street
Oxnard, California 93030
United States
Coordinates34°11′58″N 119°10′34″W
Owned byCity of Oxnard
Line(s)Coast Line
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks2
Train operatorsMetrolink
Amtrak
Bus stands16
Bus operatorsGold Coast Transit
VISTA
Greyhound Lines
Construction
Structure typeModern 14,000 square foot (1,300 m2) brick building
ParkingFree short and long term
Bicycle facilitiesYes
Disabled accessYes
ArchitectJoan Briggs
Other information
StatusStaffed
Station codeAmtrak code: OXN
History
Opened1987 (1987)
ElectrifiedNo
Previous namesOxnard Transportation Center
Passengers
2018103,074[1]  9.65% (Amtrak)
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
East Ventura
Terminus
 Ventura County Line Camarillo
toward Los Angeles Union Station
Location

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.[3]

Platforms and tracks
East track ■ Bypass/Freight track No regular service
West track ■ Coast Starlight toward Seattle (Santa Barbara)
■ Coast Starlight toward Los Angeles (Simi Valley)
■ Pacific Surfliner toward San Luis Obispo (Ventura)
■ Pacific Surfliner toward San Diego-Union Station (Camarillo or Simi Valley)
■ Ventura County Line toward East Ventura (Terminus)
■ Ventura County Line toward L.A. Union Station (Camarillo)

Transit connections

Gold Coast Transit

1A/B – Oxnard – Port Hueneme
2 – Colonia
3 – Oxnard – Naval Base
4A/B – North Oxnard
5 – Seabridge
6 – Oxnard – Ventura
8 – Centerpoint Mall, via Oxnard College
19/20 – Central Oxnard

VISTA

Conejo Connection – Oxnard – Camarillo – Thousand Oaks – Warner Center Transit Hub

Other connections
  • Greyhound San Francisco/Los Angeles
  • City of Oxnard Dial-a-Ride

Neighborhood and destinations

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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6]

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.[7]

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, FY2018, State of California" (PDF). Amtrak. June 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  2. "Train Web: Oxnard".
  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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