Downtown Mountain View station is an intermodal transit station located in

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376. Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...

. The station is served by the

Caltrain Caltrain (reporting mark JPBX) is a California commuter rail line serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). The southern terminus is in San Jose at Tamien station with weekday rush hour service running as far ...

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 ...

service, on which it is simply called ''Mountain View station''. The light rail part of the facility, known as ''Downtown Mountain View station'', is served by Santa Clara VTA Orange Line service. VTA local buses and local shuttles are served from the ''Mountain View Transit Center'' on the Evelyn Avenue side of the station. Downtown Mountain View is the western terminus of the Orange Line route. The station has one

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

serving the two light rail tracks and two

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

s serving the two Caltrain tracks; however the northbound Caltrain platform is technically also an island since it sits between their Main Track #1 and one of the VTA tracks (but it functions as a side platform, since the two systems' tracks are separated by a fence). The station is sited along Evelyn Avenue at its northeastern corner with Castro Street, and is bordered on the north-northeast by the Central Expressway (Santa Clara County Route G6) which parallels both rail lines, as well as Evelyn, in this area. ''Centennial Plaza'', at the corner of Evelyn & Castro, contains a replica depot building that was constructed in 2000 to pay homage to the demolished 1888-built

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

station and now houses a wine bar/shop. Headed away from Castro to the southeast along Evelyn is first Dentennial Plaza, then the Transit Center (bus) facility, followed by the public pay-parking lot for the entire intermodal facility (managed by Caltrain, with the main entrance at Evelyn Avenue & View Street). The Caltrain platforms can be accessed from Castro (via a walkway on north side of the replica depot), Centennial Plaza, the Transit Center, and the parking facility. The VTA's light rail platform is accessed from Castro Street, at the southeast corner of the Central Expressway. Two pieces of

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

were added during the construction of the light rail line.

References

External links

Caltrain - Mountain View stationVTA - Mountain View station
Caltrain stations in Santa Clara County, California Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light rail stations Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus stations Railway stations in Mountain View, California Railway stations in the United States opened in 1987 1987 establishments in California Mountain View {{tram-stub