DIRIDON STATION

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'Diridon Station' (formerly the 'Cahill Depot' or the 'Southern Pacific Depot'; also known as 'San José Diridon' or 'Downtown San José-Diridon Station') is the central passenger rail depot for San Jose, California. It also serves as a major transit hub for Santa Clara County. The station is located along the Union Pacific "Coast Line" tracks (formerly Southern Pacific property) at 65 Cahill Street in San Jose. The depot is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural and historical significance.

Contents

History

Architecture

Transit connections

Footnotes

References

External links

History

The Cahill Depot was opened in December 1935. The opening of the depot was the culmination of a 30-year effort to relocate 4.5 miles (7.2 km) of the South Pacific Coast line of the Southern Pacific Railroad away from the heavy traffic of the downtown area around the Market Street Depot, located at Market and Bassett Streets, to the eastern edge of Willow Glen, an industrial neighborhood area in the 19th century and the former location of rail facilities belonging to other railroads, in 1935. The new depot effectively replaced the Fourth Street line's station.
The Cahill Depot was a destination for several Southern Pacific passenger trains, including the famous San Francisco - Los Angeles train, the ''Coast Daylight''. Amtrak took over long distance passenger train service in 1971, and Caltrain equipment replaced all SP passenger equipment on the ''Peninsula Commute'' in 1985.
Restoration of the station was finished in 1994, at which point the station was re-christened ''Diridon Station'' in honor of former Santa Clara County Supervisor Rod Diridon. [1]
In 1996, Santa Clara County voters approved a half cent sales tax to fund the 1996 Measure B Transportation Improvement Project. Part of this project was the construction of the Vasona Light Rail extension which included a VTA light rail station immediately adjacent to the Diridon train depot. The official opening date for this light rail extension was October 1, 2005, however, revenue service at the San Fernando and Diridon Stations began on July 29, 2005 to accommodate attendees of the inaugural San Jose Grand Prix race.
The passenger platform is featured in the opening scene of Alfred Hitchcock's ''Marnie'' (1964) as representing the Hartford, Connecticut train station. Marnie (Tippi Hedren) is seen walking down the platform, back to the camera with a yellow purse and a suitcase, setting down her suitcase and waiting for her train to arrive.

Architecture

The depot is constructed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. It consists of a three-story central section flanked by two-story wings. The building, a compilation of rectangular sections, is 390 feet (118 m) long and varies in width from 40 feet to 78 feet (12 to 24 m). The central section, which contains the passenger waiting room, measures 40 by 80 feet (12 to 25 m) and is 33 feet (10 m) in height. The high center pavilion housing the waiting room is constructed of steel columns and trusses. The side wings are framed with wood. The exterior walls are clad with tapestry brick or varied colors and arranged in an English bond pattern. The depot is located in an industrial area dominated by warehouses and related commercial businesses. Several vernacular sheds, a water tower, butterfly passenger sheds and the nearby Alameda underpass are all contributing buildings and structures within the railroad station.
The building was designed by Southern Pacific architect, John H. Christie, who had worked on the Southern Pacific remodeling of the Fresno depot in 1915 and later, in 1939, worked on Union Station in Los Angeles.
This depot is one of only four Italian Renaissance Revival style depots in California, and the largest surviving depot of the San Francisco-San Jose line. The only other large depot built in California during the 1930s was the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal.

Transit connections

★ VTA Route 22

★ VTA Route 63

★ VTA Route 64

★ VTA Route 65

★ VTA Route 68

★ VTA Express Route 180

★ VTA Limited Route 305

★ VTA Rapid Route 522

★ Highway 17 Express

★ Downtown Area Shuttle (DASH)

★ Amtrak Thruway Bus - San Joaquin Route

Footnotes

1. Caltrain.com - Ridership
2. National Register Information System

References

★ Caltrain station list

★ Southern Pacific Depot

External links

★ Caltrain

★ Altamont Commuter Express

★ Amtrak California

★
★ ''Capitol Corridor''

★ Amtrak

★
★ ''Coast Starlight''

★ Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)

★ Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (Highway 17 Express)