Merced station (Amtrak)
Merced, CA | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CatTracks: E1, G  Merced County Transit (The Bus): M5, UC Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System (YARTS): Highway 140 Route | |||||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||||
| Parking | 46 spaces | ||||||||||||
| Accessible | Yes | ||||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||||
| Station code | Amtrak: MCD | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
| Opened | 1896[2] March 5, 1974 | ||||||||||||
| Closed | April 30, 1971 | ||||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 1917, 2000[2] | ||||||||||||
| Original company | San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad | ||||||||||||
| Passengers | |||||||||||||
| FY 2022 | 94,304[3] (Amtrak) | ||||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||
Merced station is an intercity rail station located in Merced, California, United States. The station is served by seven daily round trips of the San Joaquins and is a transfer point between trains and Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System (YARTS) buses serving Yosemite National Park. Merced station has side platforms adjacent to the tracks of the BNSF Railway Stockton Subdivision.[1]
The
History
The first railroad through Merced was the Central Pacific Railroad, a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), which reached the village on January 15, 1872.[4] Charles Henry Huffman, who was the SP's agent for land acquisition, founded Merced and moved there when the railroad opened.[2] The original village was along Bear Creek, but the town center quickly became the SP station.[2] A branch to Oakdale (later extended to Stockton) was completed in 1891.[4] The SP later built a new station off 16th Street at N Street.[2]
The San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad opened through Merced in 1896.[2] The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) – the SP's main rival – purchased the line in 1899, providing it a parallel competing mainline through the Central Valley.[2] In 1907, the Yosemite Valley Railroad (YVRR) began service from Merced to El Portal – the gateway to Yosemite National Park. The YVRR connected with both mainlines in Merced; its shops were northwest of downtown, while its station was adjacent to the AT&SF station.[2]
In 1917, the AT&SF built a new station at 24th Street and J Street. Unlike most of the railroad's stations in California, which were in the Mission Revival style, the Merced station was also influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement.[2] The lower part of the walls was bare brick, while the rest was coated in stucco to approximate the look of adobe. The eaves of the gabled roof provided shelter for passengers, and the northwest end of the station was open with broad arches.[2]
Passenger service on both branch lines ended in the 1940s. Merced remained an important stop on the two mainlines, serving named trains including the
Amtrak began the Oakland–Bakersfield San Joaquins on March 5, 1974.[5] The San Joaquin was controversially routed over the AT&SF rather than the SP (which ran through more major cities); the AT&SF station in Merced was used by Amtrak.[6] The SP station was renovated in the 1990s to serve as the city bus terminal.[2]
By the end of the century, the 1917-built station was in poor shape. In 2000, it was replaced by a new station on the same site.
The planned Merced station of the California High-Speed Rail system will be built along the ex-SP alignment at R and 15th. San Joaquins services are expected to cease here once high-speed services begin.[7]
References
- ^ a b SMA Rail Consulting (April 2016). "California Passenger Rail Network Schematics" (PDF). California Department of Transportation. p. 10.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Merced, CA (MCD)". Great American Stations. Amtrak.
- ^ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2022: State of California" (PDF). Amtrak. June 2023. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-26619-3– via Google Books.
- ^ "Press release announcing the launch of the San Joaquin, 1974". Amtrak. March 5, 1974.
- Modesto Bee. Archived from the originalon January 24, 2013.
- ^ "DRAFT 2023 BUSINESS PLAN UPDATE" (PDF). SJRRA. p. 36. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
For the San Joaquins, this will require a new track connection between the BNSF and UPRR mainlines known as the Merced Intermodal Track Connection (MITC) Project (see Figure 4.1). In coordination with CHSRA and the City of Merced, the proposed multi-modal station at Merced would be elevated and have a western boundary at "R" Street. SJJPA is taking the lead in the environmental clearance/detailed design for the MITC Project (CHSRA is environmentally clearing the Merced Multimodal Station). To most efficiently integrate the San Joaquins and the interim HSR services, Merced will become the southern terminus for San Joaquins rail service once operations begin on the HSR infrastructure at the end of 2030.
External links
Media related to Merced station (Amtrak) at Wikimedia Commons