Oceanside Transit Center is a major railway interchange in

Oceanside, California Oceanside is a city on the South Coast (California), South Coast of California, located in San Diego County, California, San Diego County. The city had a population of 167,086 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The city is a popular ...

, serving both intercity and suburban/commuter services. The station is used by

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 ...

on the route of its ''

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 ...

'' service between

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

and

San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...

. It is also a terminus for two different regional transit operators – Metrolink, the commuter rail operator for the

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area, has two of its services, the

Orange County Line The Orange County Line is a commuter rail line run by Metrolink from Los Angeles through Orange County to Oceanside in San Diego County, connecting with the Coaster commuter rail service to San Diego. The Orange County Line carries passenger ...

and

Inland Empire–Orange County Line The Inland Empire–Orange County (IEOC) Line is a commuter rail line run by Metrolink in Southern California. It runs from San Bernardino through Orange County to Oceanside in northern San Diego County. It is the only Metrolink line not to se ...

, that terminate at Oceanside (it is the only Metrolink station in San Diego County), while the

North County Transit District 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 Die ...

, the operator for most of the public transport in

North San Diego County North County is a region in the northern area of San Diego County, California. It is the second-most populous region in the county (after San Diego), with an estimated population of 869,322. North County is well known for its affluence, especial ...

, has its

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 ...

and SPRINTER services also terminating at Oceanside. Oceanside Transit Center is also 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 ...

, numerous

BREEZE Breeze often refers to: * A gentle to moderate wind * Sea breeze, an onshore afternoon wind, caused by warm air rising over the land in sunny weather Breeze or The Breeze may also refer to: * Breeze block a concrete masonry unit made from recovere ...

buses, and is also the terminal for

Riverside Transit Agency The Riverside Transit Agency (RTA) is the main transit agency for western Riverside County, California, United States. RTA provides both local and regional services throughout the region with 39 fixed-routes (including RapidLink Gold Line), 9 Com ...

's Bus Route 202 to

Temecula Temecula (; es, Temécula, ; Luiseño: ''Temeekunga'') is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The city had a population of 110,003 as of the 2020 census and was incorporated on December 1, 1989. The city is a ...

and

Murrieta Murrieta is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The population of Murrieta was 110,949 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Murrieta experienced a 133.7% population increase between 2000 and 2010, ma ...

(which is temporarily suspended in response to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic). COASTER and Metrolink trains going out of service will head to Stuart Mesa but due to the small facility, some Metrolinks set will either be kept at the nearby Fallbrook Yard or stored on an empty track south of the station.

History

Oceanside Transit Center was built in 1984, and serves as a replacement for a 1946-built Santa Fe Depot, which was torn down in 1988. The former station was itself a replacement for an 1886-built Santa Fe Depot. This station became one of the original 9 stations on Metrolink's

when that line opened on March 28, 1994, and North County Transit District's

commuter rail began serving this station when the line opened on February 27, 1995 and Metrolink's

began serving this station regularly in the early 2000s after serving the station on a temporary basis from that line's opening on October 2, 1995, until the early 2000s and North County Transit District's SPRINTER light rail began serving this station when the line opened on March 9, 2008.Surviving Santa Fe Depots: Some Recent Losses
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Expansion

To enhance the regional transit service, this station had major expansion including building a third track and platform in the middle of the existing tracks, extending all platforms, and adding a passenger walkway. Construction on the project began in 2016, the third platform opened in May 2017, and Platform 1 reopened November 20.

Platforms and tracks

References

External links

COASTER StationsSPRINTER StationsOceanside station – Greyhound
{{Amtrak California stations Amtrak stations in San Diego County, California Bus stations in San Diego County, California Metrolink (California) stations North County Transit District stations Oceanside, California Transit centers in the United States Transportation in San Diego County, California Railway stations in the United States opened in 1886 1886 establishments in California Railway stations in the United States opened in 1946 1946 establishments in California Railway stations in the United States opened in 1984 1984 establishments in California Former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway stations in California