Mountain View - Winchester (VTA)

Mountain View - Winchester is a light rail route operated by Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. The Mountain View - Winchester route is one of three existing VTA light rail routes. The other two light rail routes are the Alum Rock - Santa Teresa line and Ohlone/Chynoweth - Almaden line. On system maps, the line is represented as the Green Line, however, unlike many other transit systems, VTA personnel does not refer to the line by its color, much less refers to it as Line 902 on official documents.

Route Description

The Mountain View - Winchester line starts from the Downtown Mountain View station (Mountain View, California), travels toward the east, passing under U.S. Route 101 at Ellis Avenue, following Mathilda Avenue to Java Drive, crossing California State Highway 237 and turning East on Tasman Drive. At First Street, it turns south and shares tracks of the Alum Rock - Santa Teresa line to downtown San Jose. After the Convention Center stop, it leaves the shared portion of the tracks and heads south west to the Winchester station in southern Campbell, with a stop at Caltrain and Amtrak's Diridon Station. The whole route takes approximately one hour and fifteen minutes.

Owl Service

From February 2000 to April 14, 2003, VTA operated all night train service with light rail vehicles (commonly known as "owl service") on a 70 minute frequency between Mountain View and Baypointe. VTA light rail was the only light rail service in the United States to operate 24 hours a day. The owl service was curtailed in 2003 as a result of mounting deficits.

Construction History

The route that the Mountain View - Winchester line now runs on is constructed in three different expansion projects: the original Guadelupé line, the Tasman West extension, and the Vasona extension.

Guadelupé Line

The trackway between Woz Way in Downtown San Jose and Old Ironsides station is part of Guadelupé line, the first light rail line constructed in Santa Clara county. Guadalupé line opened for revenue service on December 10, 1987 originally running from Old Ironsides station to Civic Center station in San Jose. Champion station was not part of the original line; it was added as intermediate stop as part of the Tasman West project. ^{[1] [2]}

Service on this line was gradually expanded south from Civic Center station as follows:

• Service through the downtown mall and onward to the Convention Center station began on July 17, 1988. ^[3]
• Service between Convention Center and Tamien stations began on August 17, 1990. ^[4]
• Service between Tamien and Santa Teresa stations began on April 25, 1991. ^[5]

Tasman West Extension

The Tasman West extension project added to the line as follows:

• Champion station added as an intermediate stop along existing Guadelupe line trackway (Station opened March 24, 1997). ^[6]
• 7.6 miles (12.2 km) of trackway and 12 new light rail stations added between the existing Old Ironsides station and the new Downtown Mountain View station. (Opened December 17, 1999)
• Baypointe station added just east of the intersection of 1st and Tasman. (Opened December 17, 1999).

Baypointe station is no longer served by this line due to a line reconfiguration implemented in August 2005.

• After the completion of Tasman West extension and before the completion of Tasman East/Capitol and Vasona extensions, VTA split the light rail system into two main lines: one line runs between Baypointe and Downtown Mountain View, the other between Baypointe and Santa Teresa. Passengers transferred between the two lines at the new Baypointe station.^[7]

Tasman West extension was constructed with funds from 1996 Measure B sales tax measure.

Vasona Extension

Mountain View - Winchester contains the entire Vasona extension from San Fernando station to the southern line terminal, Winchester station. Vasona extension opened for revenue service on October 1, 2005. It was originally scheduled to open two months earlier on August 1 but delayed due to a dispute between Federal Railroad Administration and VTA on whether a specical waiver is needed on Vasona extension, since the Union Pacific freight rail line that parallels most of Vasona extension is still actively used. Finally, a waiver was obtained on the condition that all light rail vehicles need to sound horn at crossings until "Quiet Zone" improvements are implemented. Vasona extension was also constructed with funds from 1996 Measure B sales tax measure.

Possible Future Expansion

A Vasona extension Phase 2 was designed but not constructed because a funding source can not be identified. Phase 2 would extend the light rail line westwards to Vasona Junction in eastern Los Gatos. It is expected that Mountain View – Winchester would extend to terminate at Vasona Junction if Phase 2 is built.

Station Stops

Transfer to Alum Rock - Santa Teresa Route anywhere between Tasman and Convention Center

• Downtown Mountain View - connection to Caltrain
• Evelyn
• Whisman
• Middlefield
• Bayshore/NASA
• Moffett Park
• Lockheed Martin
• Borregas
• Crossman
• Fair Oaks
• Vienna
• Reamwood
• Old Ironsides
• Great America
• Lick Mill - connection to Altamont Commuter Express and Amtrak Great America station
• Champion
• Tasman
• River Oaks
• Orchard
• Bonaventura
• Component
• Karina
• Metro/Airport - connection to San Jose International Airport via VTA Route 10 "Airport Flyer" bus shuttle
• Gish
• Civic Center
• Japantown/Ayer
• Saint James - Temporarily closed for renovation.
• Santa Clara
• Paseo de San Antonio - Temporarily closed for renovation.
• Convention Center
• San Fernando
• San Jose Diridon - connection to Caltrain and Amtrak
• Race
• Fruitdale
• Bascom
• Hamilton
• Downtown Campbell
• Winchester

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