Carlsbad Poinsettia station is a

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

station in

Carlsbad, California Carlsbad is a coastal city in the North County region of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is south of downtown Los Angeles and north of downtown San Diego. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 114,746. ...

that is on the

NCTD The North County Transit District (typically abbreviated as NCTD) is the agency responsible for public transportation in Northern San Diego County, California. The agency manages the COASTER commuter rail service between Oceanside and San Dieg ...

COASTER Coaster (stylized as COASTER) is a commuter rail service in the central and northern coastal regions of San Diego County, California, United States operated by the North County Transit District (NCTD). The commuter rail line features eight s ...

commuter rail line. The station serves the Poinsettia and La Costa communities of Carlsbad, and is the southernmost of the two COASTER stations in Carlsbad, the other being

Carlsbad Village station Carlsbad Village station is a commuter rail station in Carlsbad, California, that is on the North County Transit District, NCTD COASTER commuter rail line. It is one of two COASTER stations in Carlsbad (the other being Carlsbad Poinsettia station ...

about four miles to the north. It is also located about four miles away from the

LEGOLAND California Legoland California Resort is a theme park, miniature park, and aquarium located in Carlsbad, California, based on the Lego toy brand. Opening on March 20, 1999, it was the third Legoland park to open and the first outside of Europe. The park i ...

Theme Park and five miles from McClellan-Palomar Airport; there are transit services that are provided for transport to those destinations.

History

The station opened along with the other COASTER stations when rail service began on February 27, 1995, servicing the southern communities of Carlsbad in contrast with Carlsbad Village station. On October 7, 2013, the

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

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 service carried 2,924,117 passengers during fiscal year 2016, a 3.4% increase from F ...

'' began stopping at four COASTER stations: Carlsbad Village, Carlsbad Poinsettia,

Encinitas Encinitas (Spanish for "Small Oaks") is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California. Located within Southern California, it is approximately north of San Diego, between Solana Beach and Carlsbad, and about south o ...

, and

Sorrento Valley Sorrento Valley is a neighborhood of San Diego, California. It is located about 17 mi (27 km) north of Downtown San Diego and its main airport, Lindbergh Field. It is roughly bounded by Interstate 5 and Interstate 805, Camino Santa Fe to ...

. Amtrak dropped service to Carlsbad Poinsettia and Encinitas on October 9, 2017, due to low ridership. With increasing ridership and a demand for expansion, the station underwent a thirty-four million dollar renovation beginning in May 2018. The platforms were lengthened to to accommodate longer trains, and were also raised for

accessibility Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

and easier boarding. A pedestrian underpass was constructed (replacing the two at-grade pedestrian crossings at either end of the platforms) and fencing was placed between the tracks, allowing two trains to pass through the station at one time. In addition, the tracks and platforms were realigned slightly west of their old locations, and new signage and canopies were installed. The project was completed in February 2020.

References

External links

COASTER Stations
North County Transit District stations Carlsbad, California Railway stations in the United States opened in 1995 Former Amtrak stations in California {{California-railstation-stub