Indio is a former and future train station in

Indio, California Indio (Spanish language, Spanish for "Indian") is a city in Riverside County, California, Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, Califo ...

. Rail service began on May 29, 1876, by the

Southern Pacific 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 ...

. The station was a stop on the transcontinental ''

Sunset Limited The ''Sunset Limited'' is an Amtrak passenger train that for most of its history has operated between New Orleans and Los Angeles, over the nation's second transcontinental route. However, up until Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it operated betwe ...

''; that service was commuted to

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 ...

in 1971. The ''Eagle'' (later '' Texas Eagle'') started serving the city with that line's commencement. Indio continued to see service until October 1998, closing due to low ridership. On the south side of the tracks is the Indio Bus Station, served by

Greyhound Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. (commonly known as simply Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America, including Greyhound Mexico. It also operates charter bus services, Amtrak Thruway services, commuter bus services, and pac ...

and

Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach Amtrak Thruway is a system of through-ticketed transportation services to connect passengers with areas not served by Amtrak trains. In most cases these are dedicated motorcoach routes, but can also be non-dedicated intercity bus services, transit ...

. The

Riverside County Transportation Commission The Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) is the County Transportation Commission (a subdivision of the six-county Southern California Association of Governments metropolitan planning organization) for Riverside County, California, ...

was awarded $8.6 million in 2019 to construct a temporary platform to reestablish limited service to the city during major festivals, but these plans were canceled in 2020 amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

after arrangements with Union Pacific could not be resolved. The commission is also investigating the possibility of reinstating normal passenger service from Los Angeles to Indio along the Coachella Valley–San Gorgonio Pass Rail Corridor.

References

Indio, California Buildings and structures in Riverside County, California Railway stations closed in 1998 Former Amtrak stations in California Former Southern Pacific Railroad stations in California Future Amtrak stations in the United States Railway stations in Riverside County, California Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach stations in California Railway stations in the United States opened in 1876 {{California-railstation-stub