Riverside–Downtown station

Riverside–Downtown station (officially the Joseph Tavaglione Riverside Downtown Station) is a train station in Riverside, California, United States. It is served by three Metrolink commuter rail lines – the 91/Perris Valley Line, Riverside Line, and Inland Empire-Orange County Line – and Amtrak intercity rail service on the Southwest Chief The station is owned by the Riverside County Transportation Commission.

Riverside–Downtown
A Metrolink train at the station in 2013
Other names	Joseph Tavaglione Riverside Downtown Station
Location	4066 Vine Street, Riverside, California United States
Coordinates	33.9757°N 117.3699°W
Owned by	Riverside County Transportation Commission
Line(s)	BNSF San Bernardino Subdivision UP Los Angeles Subsidivision[1]
Platforms	1 side platform, 2 island platforms
Tracks	6
Connections	Riverside Transit Agency Omnitrans SunLine Transit Agency Megabus Flixbus Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach
Construction
Parking	710 free spaces
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	RIV
History
Opened	June 14, 1993
Passengers
2017	12,029[2] (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Fullerton toward Los Angeles Southwest Chief San Bernardino toward Chicago Preceding station Metrolink Following station Riverside–La Sierra toward Los Angeles Union Station 91/Perris Valley Line Riverside–Hunter Park/UCR toward Perris–South Jurupa Valley/Pedley toward Los Angeles Union Station Riverside Line Terminus Riverside–La Sierra toward Oceanside Inland Empire–Orange County Line San Bernardino Depot toward San Bernardino–Downtown
Location

Station layout

The station has two island platforms and one side platform. It is located at the east end of the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) Los Angeles Subdivision at its junction with the BNSF San Bernardino Subdivision. The northern island platform and the side platform serve the UP main track and a stub-end siding; they are used only by Riverside Line trains. The three-track BNSF mainline is between the island platforms; the southern island platform (used by Amtrak, 91/Perris Valley Line, and Inland Empire–Orange County Line trains) serves the southern main track and a siding track.[1]

History

The ex-AT&SF station in 1981

The current station opened for Metrolink Riverside Line service on June 14, 1993.[3] The original Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway depot closed on May 15, 1968, when the Grand Canyon was re-routed via Pasadena to replace the discontinued Chief.[4] Intercity service at the nearby Union Pacific Railroad station lasted until May 1971.[5]

Inland Empire–Orange County Line service began on October 2, 1995;[6] Riverside was the terminus of that line until the following year when the extension to San Bernardino opened.[7] Amtrak's Southwest Chief began stopping at Riverside in April 2002.[8] Metrolink's 91/Perris Valley Line (then the 91 Line), began operating on May 6, 2002.[9] Again, Riverside was the terminus until the Perris Valley Line extension opened in 2016.[10]

In December 2012, the station was renamed after Joseph Tavaglione, a local businessman and chair of the California Transportation Commission.[11][12][13][14] Megabus began providing service from the station to the South Strip Transfer Center in Las Vegas on December 12, 2012.

References

1. SMA Rail Consulting (April 2016). "California Passenger Rail Network Schematics" (PDF). California Department of Transportation.
2. "2017 California Report" (PDF). Amtrak. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
3. "Metrolink holds 2 open houses". The San Bernardino County Sun. June 13, 1993. p. 33. Retrieved August 5, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
4. Leppard, Henry (May 15, 1968). "Last Passenger Train out of City Leaves Tomorrow". Corona Daily Independent. Corona, California. p. 1.
5. Lamb, David (May 3, 1971). "City of L.A. Pulls In, Ends Chapter of Rails". Los Angeles Times. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
6. Anderson, Lynn (October 3, 1995). "Metrolink opens Riverside-Irvine line". The San Bernardino County Sun. p. 17. Retrieved July 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
7. Anderson, Lynn (February 23, 1996). "Orange County rail line to make debut". The San Bernardino County Sun. p. 9. Retrieved July 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
8. http://www.greatamericanstations.com/Stations/RIV/Station_view
9. McKibben, Dave (May 7, 2002). "Riverside-L.A. Commute by Rail Cut to 90 Minutes". Los Angeles Times. p. 13. Retrieved August 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "TRANSPORTATION: Perris Valley Line rolls out right on schedule". The Press-Enterprise. June 6, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
11. http://issuu.com/rivchamber/docs/grb_2013_01/4
12. http://www.metrolinktrains.com/pdfs/MetrolinkMatters/MetrolinkMattersFebruary2013.pdf
13. http://rctc.org/onthemove/201212_onthemove.html
14. http://mobility21.com/forward-motion-dec-2012/

External links

Media related to Riverside-Downtown station at Wikimedia Commons

• Riverside, CA – Amtrak
• Riverside-Downtown at the Metrolink website
• Riverside Amtrak-Metrolink Station (USA Rail Guide -- TrainWeb)
• Riverside (RIV)--Great American Stations (Amtrak)