San Fernando is a light rail station operated by

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, more commonly known simply as the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), is a special district responsible for public transit services, congestion management, specific highway improvement project ...

. The station has two side platforms and two trackways. San Fernando station is served by the Green Line of the

VTA Light Rail VTA Light Rail is a light rail system in San Jose and nearby cities in Santa Clara County, California. It is operated by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, or VTA, and consists of of network comprising three main lines on stand ...

system. The station was opened in 2005 as part of VTA's Vasona light rail extension.

Location

San Fernando station is located along West San Fernando Street, between Delmas Avenue and South Autumn Street in the city of San Jose. The station is located about three blocks away from the

SAP Center at San Jose The SAP Center at San Jose (originally known as San Jose Arena and the HP Pavilion at San Jose) is an indoor arena located in San Jose, California. Its primary tenant is the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League, for which the arena has ...

and one block away from a trailhead for the

Guadalupe River Trail The Guadalupe River Trail is an pedestrian and bicycle path in the city of San Jose, California. The path runs along the banks of the Guadalupe River. The trail is currently composed of two discontinuous segments: a short segment along the Upp ...

History

San Fernando Station was built as part of the Vasona Light Rail extension project. This project extended VTA light rail service from the intersection of Woz Way and West San Carlos St in San Jose in a southwesterly direction to the Winchester station in western

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. The official opening date for this station was to be October 1, 2005; however, service to San Fernando station and San Jose Diridon station started earlier than planned with a

soft launch A soft launch, also known as a soft opening, is a preview release of a product or service to a limited audience prior to the general public. Soft-launching a product is sometimes used to gather data or customer feedback, prior to making it widely ...

the weekend of July 29, 30, and 31, 2005 to accommodate attendees of the inaugural

San Jose Grand Prix The San Jose Grand Prix was an annual street circuit race in the Champ Car World Series in San Jose, California. The race had three different title sponsors over the course of its three-year existence, being known as the Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix ...

race. San Fernando station and San Jose Diridon station opened for normal revenue service on August 1, 2005 and the rest of the line opened on October 1, 2005. The construction of this station and the rest of the Vasona Light Rail extension was part of the 1996 Measure B Transportation Improvement Program. Santa Clara County voters approved the Measure B project in 1996 along with a half-percent sales tax increase. The Vasona Light Rail extension was funded mostly by the resulting sales tax revenues with additional money coming from federal and state funding, grants, VTA bond revenues, and municipal contributions.

Architecture/public art

The San Fernando Station features three public art sculptures. They are entitled “King of the Urban Jungle,” “Simba × 2,” and “Lying Beast.” All three statues are arranged together on a small circular piece of lawn on the south edge of the station. "Artist Iiona Malka Rich created this sculpture of three, multicolored striped lions with illuminating eyes (using fiber optics) from a bronze-like material. One has eight legs with two heads, and the other two lions have six legs each. The theme for this art feature is “Life is a Circus” which is inscribed around the base of the artwork. In addition, lion footprints are “stamped” on the ground through the plaza to replicate the natural movement of these unique animals."

References

{{Santa Clara VTA Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light rail stations Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus stations Railway stations in San Jose, California Railway stations in the United States opened in 2005 2005 establishments in California