Amtrak connections to Palo Alto

Visitors arriving by long-distance train are sometimes surprised to find no Amtrak sign at Palo Alto station. The trains through town are Caltrain, the Peninsula commuter railroad. Amtrak's California routes stop elsewhere. The good news is that Caltrain links directly with Amtrak at San Jose Diridon. A ticket to San Jose plus a 20 minute ride north is all it takes.

This page explains which Amtrak routes reach the area, where they stop and how to finish the trip. We checked the Capitol Corridor site and current timetables in late October 2026. Amtrak schedules change several times a year, so always confirm times for your travel date. For the railroad's local history, read about the railroad and Palo Alto.

Amtrak routes that reach the area

Capitol Corridor frequency comes from its timetable effective December 8, 2025. The other routes are summarized from Amtrak timetables and station pages. For the trip from a specific city, see our guides from Los Angeles and Sacramento.

San Jose Diridon, the transfer point

Diridon station sits at 65 Cahill Street on the west edge of downtown San Jose. It is the main rail hub of the South Bay. The Capitol Corridor station page lists these services there:

• Capitol Corridor trains and Amtrak Thruway Route 21 to San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara.
• The Coast Starlight between Seattle and Los Angeles.
• ACE trains east to Stockton, which are not part of Amtrak.
• Caltrain north to Palo Alto and San Francisco.
• VTA buses and light rail, which accept Capitol Corridor transit transfers.

The page lists the station as staffed, with an agent on weekdays from 9:15 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. and two ticket machines. The Capitol Corridor timetable gives station hours of 6:15 a.m. to 10 p.m. Taxis wait in the loading zone by the bus stops at the front. Bike parking includes 26 rack spaces and 32 BikeLink e-lockers. Bay Wheels bike share docks there too.

Construction through December 2026

From October 19 through December 2026, Caltrain is repairing concrete and flooring at Diridon in phases. Platforms, ramps and stairs may close at times, though elevators stay in service. Expect delays of up to five minutes and follow the track assignment signs and station monitors.

From Diridon to Palo Alto by Caltrain

Walk to the Caltrain platform shown on the monitors and board any northbound train. All three Caltrain service types stop at Palo Alto.

1. Pay. Tap a Clipper card, a contactless bank card or a phone wallet on a platform validator, or buy a ticket from a machine. Amtrak tickets are not valid on Caltrain.
2. Ride. Express trains took about 21 minutes on the late October 2026 weekday timetable. Limited and local trains took about 27. Weekend trains are all locals, about every 30 minutes.
3. Tap off at Palo Alto. It is a two zone trip: $6.25 for an adult in October 2026 and $6.50 from January 1, 2027.

Late arrivals are the main risk, especially on the Coast Starlight. If your train is running hours behind, check the last Caltrain of the night on the Caltrain schedules page. Our Caltrain guide explains passes and discounts.

Capitol Corridor

The Capitol Corridor is the workhorse of Northern California rail. It runs from Auburn and Sacramento through Davis, Martinez and the East Bay to San Jose. Only some trains continue south of Oakland. On the December 2025 timetable, seven westbound trains a day reached San Jose, with the trip from Sacramento taking about three hours and ten minutes. A valid government-issued photo ID is required to board. Each train has two bike cars.

From October 26, 2026 to January 1, 2027, six trains skip Oakland Coliseum station because of lighting problems: 521, 547 and 550 on weekdays and 746, 747 and 748 on weekends. The rest of their stops are unchanged. Our Sacramento guide has the details.

Coast Starlight

The Coast Starlight is Amtrak's long-distance train along the West Coast, with sleeping cars, a dining car and a sightseer lounge. In California it stops at Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, Salinas, San Jose, Oakland and Emeryville, among others. On a timetable valid in late summer 2026, northbound train 14 left Los Angeles at 9:51 a.m. and reached San Jose at 7:46 p.m. Southbound train 11 reached San Jose at 10:14 a.m. on its way south.

Treat those times as a guide. The train covers about 1,400 miles and delays build up. Salinas is useful for Monterey visitors, since Monterey-Salinas Transit buses meet the station. Our page on getting here from Santa Cruz and Monterey covers that link.

Gold Runner and the California Zephyr

The Central Valley route long known as the San Joaquins was renamed Gold Runner in 2025. Its trains run between Bakersfield and Stockton, then on to Oakland or Sacramento, with a large network of connecting Thruway buses to cities the trains do not reach. The California Zephyr from Chicago ends at Emeryville.

Neither route reaches San Jose. From Oakland Jack London Square you can change to a southbound Capitol Corridor if the times line up. Otherwise, take BART from Oakland or Richmond to Millbrae and change to Caltrain, as explained in our guide to getting here from the East Bay. Both routes take a while, so many riders arriving in the evening spend the night in the East Bay.

Thruway buses

Amtrak Thruway buses fill gaps in the rail map. None is listed for Palo Alto. These are the ones that matter for a Palo Alto trip:

• Route 21 links San Jose Diridon with San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, where Pacific Surfliner trains continue south to Los Angeles and San Diego.
• The Highway 17 Express between Santa Cruz and San Jose is run by Santa Cruz METRO and is part of the Thruway network. METRO says Amtrak through tickets to or from Santa Cruz are honored on it.
• Salinas connections. A June 2026 Transportation Agency for Monterey County summary listed a daily Thruway bus from Salinas to San Jose around 1 p.m.

Thruway buses are generally sold as part of an Amtrak trip. Book them on the Amtrak or Capitol Corridor sites, or compare train and bus tickets across operators.

Arriving in Palo Alto

Caltrain stops at Palo Alto station, 95 University Avenue. Downtown is right outside and Stanford is a short shuttle ride west. If your train gets in late, booking a room near the station makes the last leg easy, so compare hotels near Palo Alto station.

Frequently asked questions