Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center is a passenger rail station and transportation center in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the List of ...

. It 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 ...

's ''

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 ...

'' and Metrolink's

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 passengers ...

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 ser ...

trains. It is also a

Greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurge ...

station and a hub for the

Orange County Transportation Authority The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is the transportation planning commission for Orange County, California in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. OCTA is responsible for funding and implementing transit and capital projects for th ...

bus system as well as a terminal for international bus services to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

History

When the station opened on September 7, 1985, it was the largest new rail station built in the United States since the completion of the

New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal (NOUPT) is an intermodal facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, US. Located at 1001 Loyola Avenue, it is served by Amtrak, Greyhound Lines, Megabus, and NORTA with direct connections to the Rampart–St. Claud ...

circa 1955. The center was erected on the site of a former

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...

combination depot that had been constructed in 1939 and closed in 1982. The station, which cost approximately $17 million, was funded by the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

California Department of Transportation The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the cabinet-level California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA). Caltrans is headquartered in Sacrame ...

, and the city of Santa Ana.Great American Stations
Accessed March 12, 2013. In FY2010 Santa Ana was the 22nd-busiest of Amtrak's 73 California stations, boarding or detraining an average of about 420 passengers daily. Santa Ana Station Platfrom

Future service

Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center will be the eastern terminus of the

OC Streetcar The OC Streetcar is a modern streetcar ( LRT) line currently under construction in Orange County, California, running through the cities of Santa Ana and Garden Grove. The electric-powered streetcar will be operated by the Orange County Transp ...

, a streetcar line through

Downtown Santa Ana Downtown Santa Ana (DTSA), also called Downtown Orange County, is the historic city center of Santa Ana and the county seat of Orange County, California. It is the institutional center for the city of Santa Ana as well as Orange County, a reta ...

, a major regional employment area, to a new transit center and Park and Ride in Garden Grove at

Harbor Boulevard Harbor Boulevard (formerly Spadra Road) is a north–south road corridor in the counties of Los Angeles and Orange. One of the busiest routes in Orange County, the thoroughfare passes through some of the most densely populated areas in the region ...

and Westminster Avenue (both major bus corridors).

Design

The Depot at Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center

The station was designed by the Blurock Partnership

architectural firm In the United States, an architectural firm or architecture firm is a business that employs one or more licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture; while in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and other countri ...

in the

Spanish Colonial Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival Style ( es, Arquitectura neocolonial española) is an architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In the ...

and

Mediterranean Revival Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonial ...

architectural styles to complement the region's older buildings. Features include red barrel roof tiles, arcades, colonnades, exterior walls finished to resemble stucco, and the extensive use of painted tiles for decoration.

Service

Train hours and frequency

Bus services

OC Bus OC Bus is the transit bus service operated by the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), serving every city in Orange County. Some of the lines serve the Los Angeles County border communities of Lakewood, La Mirada, Cerritos, Hawaiian ...

: , , , , Bravo! , *

Crucero USA Greyhound de México, S.A. de C.V. is a Mexican non-carrier subsidiary of Dallas, Texas, based Greyhound Lines, providing marketing services in Spanish for other subsidiary companies with cross-border bus routes. Greyhound Lines has two subsidiar ...

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 ...

In popular culture

The last scene in the movie ''

Rain Man ''Rain Man'' is a 1988 American road movie, road Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. It tells the story of abrasive, selfish young wikt:wheeler-dealer, wheeler-dealer C ...

'' was filmed at the station. Its exterior and interior appeared in the second season of ''

True Detective ''True Detective'' is an American anthology crime drama television series created and written by Nic Pizzolatto. The series, broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States, premiered on January 12, 2014. Each season of the ...

'' in 2015.

References

External links

DOT profile of Santa Ana Station

* ttp://www.octa.net/ Orange County Transportation Authority {{Amtrak California stations Amtrak stations in Orange County, California Metrolink stations in Orange County, California Former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway stations in California Transit centers in the United States Buildings and structures in Santa Ana, California Transportation in Santa Ana, California Mediterranean Revival architecture in California Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in California Railway stations in the United States opened in 1985 Railway stations in the United States opened in 1939 1939 establishments in California 1985 establishments in California Railway stations closed in 1982 1982 disestablishments in California Bus stations in Orange County, California