Oakland – Jack London Square station is a train station in Jack London Square of Oakland, California, United States. The station is served by Amtrak's Capitol Corridor, Coast Starlight, and San Joaquins trains.[6] Through Amtrak Thruway buses, this station is one of two that serves San Francisco, the other being Emeryville.

It is officially named Oakland – Jack London Square / C. L. Dellums Station after C. L. Dellums, co-founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

Of the 74 California stations served by Amtrak, Oakland was the tenth-busiest in FY2012, boarding or de-training an average of about 1,142 passengers daily.[7]

History

Interior of Jack London Square station, October 2018

The station opened on May 22, 1995, as a replacement for 16th Street Station, which had been severely damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. A building next to the old station was used as the temporary stop until August 5, 1994.[8] Southern Pacific's downtown station on the north side of 1st Street between Franklin Street and Broadway was a passenger stop until Oakland–San Jose service ended in 1960.[9][10]: 7 

With its opening, Jack London Square inherited 16th Street Station's longtime role as the western terminus for the California Zephyr. Nearby Emeryville had temporarily been the western terminus from 1994 to 1995. Due to the station's location, westbound trains had to execute a reverse move along street running tracks to reach the wye at West Oakland. For this reason, the Zephyr was cut back to Emeryville in 1997.[10]

The station's official name is "Oakland – Jack London Square / C. L. Dellums Station," named for the surrounding Jack London Square area, itself named after writer Jack London, and for C. L. Dellums, a longtime Oakland resident and the co-founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; a statue of Dellums stands outside the station.[10]: 42 

The station is owned by the Port of Oakland. The tracks along 1st Street are owned by Union Pacific Railroad.[11]

Platforms and tracks

A San Joaquin train at the station in July 2017
1-2 ■ Capitol Corridor toward Auburn (Emeryville)
■ Capitol Corridor toward San Jose (Oakland Coliseum)
■ Coast Starlight toward Seattle (Emeryville)
■ Coast Starlight toward Los Angeles (San Jose)
■ San Joaquin toward Bakersfield (Emeryville)
3 ■ Freight line No passenger service

Connections

Jack London Square station is served by AC Transit's route 12 which provides daily service between Downtown Oakland and West Berkeley.[12][13]

The station is the western terminus for the City of Oakland's Broadway Shuttle, a free route on Broadway between Jack London Square and Grand Avenue. Shuttles are operated by AC Transit and operate only on weekdays.[14]

Most Amtrak Thruway buses to and from San Francisco connect at Emeryville, as Jack London Square is further from the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. However, Oakland is the San Francisco connection point for passengers on the southern half of the Coast Starlight, as well as for some Thruway buses that run along the coast to Southern California.

The station is about 0.6 miles (918 m) from the Oakland Ferry Terminal served by the San Francisco Bay Ferry to San Francisco and South San Francisco.

The closest Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station is Lake Merritt Station, approximately one half mile to the north.

References

  1. ^ SMA Rail Consulting (April 2016). "California Passenger Rail Network Schematics" (PDF). California Department of Transportation. p. 4.
  2. ^ "Bus connections at Jack London Square" (PDF). AC Transit. March 26, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
  3. ^ "Capitol Corridor" (PDF). Amtrak. June 17, 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  4. ^ "Official-Draft 2018 SJJPA Business Plan Update" (PDF). San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority. SJJPA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  5. ^ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2022: State of California" (PDF). Amtrak. June 2023. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  6. ^ "OAKLAND CALIFORNIA (OKJ)". TrainWeb. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  7. ^ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2012, State of California" (PDF). Amtrak Government Affairs. November 2012. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  8. ^ National Association of Railroad Passengers (May 19, 1995). "Hotline #878". Retrieved 2012-07-31.
  9. ^ Hegemann, Werner (1915). "Report on a City plan for the Municipal Railways of Oakland & Berkeley". Municipal governments of Oakland and Berkeley. p. 60 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ a b c Vurek, Matthew Gerald (2016). Images of Modern America: California’s Capitol Corridor. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 33, 43, 50. ISBN 9781467124171.
  11. ^ "OAKLAND - JACK LONDON SQUARE, CA (OKJ)". Great American Stations (Amtrak). Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  12. ^ "Line 12" (PDF). AC Transit. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  13. ^ "Meet Downtown Oakland! Your guide to downtown hotspots".
  14. ^ "Free Broadway Shuttle". City of Oakland. Retrieved 2022-04-08.

External links