Camarillo station is a passenger

train station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing suc ...

Camarillo, California Camarillo ( ) is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 70,741, an increase of 5,540 from the 65,201 counted in the 2010 Census. Camarillo is named for brothers Juan and ...

. Amtrak's ''

Pacific Surfliner The ''Pacific Surfliner'' is a passenger train service serving the communities on the coast of Southern California between San Diego and San Luis Obispo. The ''Pacific Surfliner'' is Amtrak's third-busiest service (exceeded in ridership only ...

'' between

San Luis Obispo ; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...

and

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

and Metrolink's

Ventura County Line The Metrolink Ventura County Line is a commuter rail line serving Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles, in the Southern California system. The line is the successor of the short lived C ...

between

Los Angeles Union Station Los Angeles Union Station is the main railroad station in Los Angeles, California, and the largest passenger rail terminal in the Western United States. It opened in May 1939 as the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, replacing La Grande Sta ...

and Ventura–East station stop here. It is located at the foot of Ventura Boulevard at the intersection of Lewis Road, and is underneath the

US Highway 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a major north–south highway that traverses the states of California, Oregon, and Washington on the West Coast of the United States. It is part of the United States Numbered Highway Syst ...

overpass. A lengthy pedestrian overcrossing must be used to transfer between the platforms so a shorter tunnel route is planned. The first Camarillo depot was at this same location until Southern Pacific ended passenger service.

History

When the Southern Pacific Railroad built a new line from Ventura to Los Angeles, it built a depot to serve the Rancho Camarillo. It was a Southern Pacific two-story design, similar to the still existing

Santa Susana Depot Santa Susana Depot is a train station building located near the Santa Susana Pass in Simi Valley, California. Originally located on Los Angeles Avenue at Tapo Street, the depot opened in 1903. The station was named after the Santa Susana Mountai ...

built on the same line. It was located where the current Ventura Freeway overpass is today. While the overpass was being built in 1955, the depot building was shifted further along the track closer to the old Ventura Boulevard rail crossing. Passenger service stops in Camarillo ended on the Coast line in the 1960s. The depot was offered to the City of Camarillo, but no location could be found to preserve it, so it was demolished in the 1970s. The Ventura Boulevard rail crossing was removed with the opening of the Ventura Freeway. The Amtrak ''

Coast Starlight The ''Coast Starlight'' is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland, Oregon, Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. The train, ...

'' train passed through Camarillo in the 1970s and 1980s, but did not stop for passengers. The location was an empty lot used for transloading box cars for many years. The short-lived

CalTrain Caltrain (reporting mark JPBX) is a commuter rail line in California, serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). The southern terminus is in San Jose, California, San Jose at the Tamien station with weekday r ...

service also passed through Camarillo without stopping. A temporary platform opened at the station on February 14, 1994, as part of the emergency expansion of service on the Ventura County Line in response to the

1994 Northridge earthquake The 1994 Northridge earthquake affected Greater Los Angeles, California, on January 17, 1994, at 04:30:55 PST. The epicenter of the moment 6.7 () blind thrust earthquake was beneath the San Fernando Valley. Lasting approximately 8 seconds ...

. Amtrak's '' San Diegan'' trains (later renamed the ''

'') began stopping in Camarillo on October 30, 1994.

References

External links

Amtrak stations in Ventura County, California Bus stations in Ventura County, California Metrolink stations in Ventura County, California Railway stations in the United States opened in 1994 Buildings and structures in Camarillo, California 1994 establishments in California {{California-railstation-stub