This page documents the ways in which Caltrain stations are accessible to wheelchair riders. The term "accessible" on this page means accessible by rolling, without any steps.
| Station name | Accessible station | Mini-high | Ramps/level to all platforms | Elevator | Smooth platform | Side or island platform |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | N/A | ✅ | Several islands |
| 22nd Street | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | N/A | Side |
| South San Francisco | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | N/A | ✅ | Island |
| San Bruno | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ? | Side |
| Millbrae | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ? | Side |
| Broadway | ❌ | ❌ | N/A | N/A | N/A | SB Side/NB tiny island |
| Burlingame | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | N/A | ? | Side |
| San Mateo | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | N/A | ? | Side |
| Hayward Park | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | N/A | ? | Side |
| Hillsdale | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | Island |
| Belmont | ✅ | ? | ❌ | ✅ | ? | Island |
| San Carlos | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ? | Side |
| Redwood City | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | N/A | ? | Side |
| Menlo Park | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | N/A | ? | Side |
| Palo Alto | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | N/A | ✅ | Side |
| Stanford | ❌ | ❌ | ? | N/A | ? | ? |
| California Ave | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | N/A | ✅ | Side |
| San Antonio | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | N/A | ❌ | Side |
| Mountain View | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | N/A | ❌ | Side |
| Sunnyvale | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | N/A | ✅ | Side |
| Lawrence | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | N/A | ✅ | Side |
| Santa Clara | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | N/A | ? | Side |
| College Park | ❌ | ❌ | N/A | N/A | N/A | Tiny strips |
| San Jose | ✅ | Only tracks 2, 3, 8, 9 | ✅ | Sort of | ✅ | Several islands |
| Tamien | ✅ | Yes? | ❌ | ✅ | ? | Island |
All the platforms at San Francisco station are at street level. No elevators or ramps are needed to access the platforms from the street.
None of the platforms have mini-highs. Wheelchair riders must have a Caltrain employee use a manually-operated lift to board and de-board trains.
22nd Street station is not wheelchair-accessible. No ramps, elevators, mini-highs, or manual wheelchair lifts exist here.
The only way to access the platforms is via two sets of stairs from 22nd St, one for each of the northbound and southbound platforms.
Bayshore station has two side platforms.
The northbound platform is at street level, accessible without a ramp or elevator from the street. Accessing the northbound platform requires crossing a single side track used infrequently by freight.
The southbound platform is only accessible via a bridge over the tracks. Each side of the bridge is accessible via a single elevator.
A single island platform is between the two tracks. This platform is accessible via a ramp at the south end of the platform.
At the north end of the platform, a pedestrian grade crossing crosses the southbound track, providing access to a parking lot.
San Bruno station has two side platforms, elevated above ground level.
A ramp is at the north and south end of both of the platforms. An elevator is near the north end of both of the platforms.
Millbrae has two side platforms.
The northbound platform is only accessible from the street (to the west) via a bridge. Each side of the bridge has an elevator and stairs. The northbound platform also has fare gates for BART, allowing you to transfer directly to a northbound BART train.
The southbound platform is accessible from the street with no ramps.
If transferring from Caltrain to BART going northbound, no ramp or elevator is required in the transition from Caltrain to BART. If transferring from BART to Caltrain going southbound, use of the bridge over the Caltrain tracks is required. At least 4 minutes are needed to transfer from BART to Caltrain, to account for the time it takes to get to the first elevator, wait for it, ride the elevator, cross the bridge, wait for the second elevator, ride the second elevator, and get to the mini-high on the southbound Caltrain platform.
Broadway station is not accessible.
Broadway station is a legacy Southern Pacific station that was never upgraded to be wheelchair-accessible. It is at ground level. The northbound platform is a narrow strip of concrete between the tracks, accessed by crossing the southbound track. This necessitates the holdout rule. The southbound platform is on the west side of the southbound track. No manual wheelchair lift is available at this station, and Caltrain conductors won't allow wheelchair users to board or de-board at this station.
Burlingame station has two side platforms at ground level. No ramps are needed to access either platform. To get from one platform to the other, one must use a pedestrian grade crossing either at the south end along Howard Ave or at the north end along North Ln.
San Mateo station has two side platforms at ground level. The southbound platform can be accessed from many points on the west side of the tracks. The northbound platform can be accessed from the street only at the south end of the platform along First Ave.
To get from one platform to the other, a pedestrian grade crossing is along First Ave at the south end of the platforms.
To access underground parking at San Mateo station, one elevator is near the center of each of the platforms. These elevators descend to a tunnel under the tracks that connects to the parking garage. If they're both working, these elevators and tunnel can be used to get from one platform to the other.
Hayward Park station has two side platforms at ground level.
The northbound platform can be accessed from a parking lot on the east side of the tracks.
The southbound platform can be accessed via a path connecting to Leslie St near the south end of the platform, and a path connecting to 17th Ave at the north end of the platform.
To get between the platforms, a pedestrian grade crossing is at both the south and north ends of the platforms.
Hillsdale station has a single island platform elevated above ground level.
A large ramp is at both the north and south ends of the platform. The ramp at the south end leads to an area under the tracks that connects only to a parking lot and streets to the east of the tracks. To access the west side of the tracks from this area, a single, narrow ramp extends south to the sidewalk along 31st Ave, and a path along the parking lot extends north to the sidewalk on 28th Ave. The ramp at the north end of the platform connects to the sidewalk and a bidirectional bike lane along the north side of 28th Ave..
Commentary: The island platform and large ramps at Hillsdale station are nice, but access to the Hillsdale Mall on the west side of the station feels unnecessarily constrained. It should be possible for people to get to El Camino from the area under the tracks near the south end of the station.
Belmont has a single island platform elevated above ground level.
A single elevator near the center of the platform is the only way to access the station without stairs.
Commentary: Belmont's island platform should have been built with at least one ramp connecting it to ground level. It should be upgraded to have a ramp, so riders aren't reliant on the single elevator. Newer island platforms, like South San Francisco and Hillsdale, have ramps.
San Carlos has two side platforms elevated above ground level.
A ramp on each side leads from ground level, around San Carlos Ave, to each platform.
To get between the platforms, a path connects between the bottom end of both ramps.
Commentary: A sunken area below the tracks is accessible only by stairs. It poses an obstacle to wheelchair users wanting to get from one side of the tracks to the other, and forces wheelchair users to use one of two level concrete paths to get under the tracks..
Redwood City station has two side platforms at ground level.
The northbound platform can be accessed from several points along the east side of the tracks.
The southbound platform can be accessed from several points along the west side, including a SamTrans bus station.
To get between the platforms, a pedestrian grade crossing is at the south end of the platforms, and a pedestrian grade crossing is just past the north end of the platforms along Broadway.
Menlo Park station has two side platforms.
The northbound platform is slightly above ground level, and can be accessed via a ramp at the north end of the platform and a ramp at the south end of the platform.
The southbound platform can be access from several points along the west side.
To get between the platforms, a pedestrian grade crossing is at the south end of the platforms, and a pedestrian grade crossing is at the north end of the platforms along the sidewalk of Oak grove Ave.
Palo Alto station has two side platforms elevated somewhat above the surrounding ground.
The northbound platform can be accessed via a ramp at the north end of the platform and a ramp at the south end of the platform.
The southbound platform can be accessed from several points along the west side of the station.
University Ave runs perpendicularly under the station. Each of its sidewalks has two ramps that lead to both the northbound and southbound platforms, for a total of four ramps. These ramps can be used to access the station from University Ave, and can also be used to get between the platforms.
In addition, a ramp at the north end of each platform leads to a pedestrian tunnel under the tracks, providing another way to get between the platforms.
Stanford station is a legacy station used only for Stanford sports events. It has minimal platforms, and no regular station infrastructure like arrival boards, Clipper terminals, ticket vending machines, signage, etc. No trains regularly stop here.
It is not wheelchair-accessible. It has no mini-highs or manual wheelchair lifts. The platforms are narrow strips of asphalt. Caltrain tells wheelchair riders to use Palo Alto station instead.
California Ave station has two side platforms at ground level.
The northbound platform is accessible only from the southbound platform via a tunnel under the tracks, which is connected to each platform by a ramp.
The southbound platform can be accessed near the north end of the platform from the end of California Ave or the parking lot.
San Antonio station has two side platforms at ground level.
The northbound platform is accessible via a short ramp at the south end of the platform, which connects to the intersection of Central Expressway and Mayfield Ave.
The southbound platform is connected to Showers Dr via a short ramp at both the north and south ends of the platform.
To get between the platforms, a ramp at the south end of each of the two platforms leads to a tunnel under the tracks.
Commentary: A path exists at the north end of the northbound platform, but it connects only to a set of stairs that lead to a sidewalk along the north side of San Antonio Rd. Central Expressway has no sidewalk along its east side, so this path isn't useful for any other purpose than accessing the stairs.
Mountain View station has two side platforms at ground level.
The northbound platform can be accessed via a pedestrian grade crossing at each end of the platform, which connects to the southbound platform. It can also be accessed at the north end from the VTA platform by crossing one VTA track.
The southbound platform can be accessed from several points along the west side.
To get between the platforms, a pedestrian grade crossing is at both the north and south ends of the platforms.
Sunnyvale station has two side platforms at ground level.
The northbound platform can be accessed via a short ramp to the intersection of Hendy Ave and Frances St, and via a dirt path at the north end of the platform.
The southbound platform can be accessed from several points along the west side.
To get between the platforms, a pedestrian grade crossing is at each end of the platforms.
Lawrence station has two side platforms at ground level.
The northbound platform can be accessed from a ramp near the north end of the platform or from San Zeno Way near the middle of the platform.
The southbound platform can be accessed near the middle of the platform from French St.
To get between the platforms, a ramp connects from near the middle of each platform to a tunnel under the station.
Santa Clara has an island platform for northbound trains and a side platform for southbound trains. The other side of the island platform is used by other trains (Amtrak, ACE).
The northbound island platform is accessible via a ramp from the southbound platform and bus station to a tunnel under the tracks. A ramp connects this tunnel to the island platform, and another ramp also connects the tunnel to Brokaw Rd to the northeast of the tracks.
The southbound side platform is accessible from several points along the southwest side.
To get between the platforms, ramps from each platform connect to a tunnel under the station.
College Park station is not wheelchair-accessible. No ramps, elevators, mini-highs, or manual wheelchair lifts exist here.
Commentary: College Park station is the most archaic, yet still used, Caltrain station. Only a few trains per day on weekdays stop, and the platform is a short length of asphalt. Only some doors near the north end of the train are opened here. It mainly exists to serve high school students at the nearby Bellarmine College Prep high school. If any students use a wheelchair, they're out of luck, and their public transit options are the nearby VTA 22 and 61 bus lines.
San Jose Diridon has an array of four island platforms between pairs of tracks.
Nine tracks are numbered from east to west. Track 1, the eastmost track, is only accessible via a side platform, and Caltrain doesn'tuse that track. All Caltrain trains are served from the island platforms.
A tunnel runs under the station near the middle of the platforms, perpendicular to the tracks. Four ramps lead from this tunnel north, connecting it to each of the island platforms.
At the east end of the tunnel, a somewhat steep ramp connects to the station building and the street. A small lift is also available as an alternative to this steep ramp.
The west end of the tunnel connects to the VTA light rail platforms. A pedestrian grade crossing across the VTA light rail tracks provides access to streets west of the station.
Unconfirmed: Only the track 2/3 platform and the track 8/9 platform have mini-highs. The track 4/5 platform and track 6/7 platform don't have mini-highs.
The boarding area wheelchair riders are required to use is near the north end of all Caltrain platforms, so wheelchair riders usually have no reason to access the south end of the platforms at San Jose. If wheelchair riders are to try to access the south end of each platform, they'll find that only platform 2/3 and 4/5 have ramps extending from the tunnel to the platform. From the tunnel going south, only stairs connect to platforms 6/7 and 8/9.
Commentary: the ramp at the east end of the tunnel is too steep for many disabled people, and the lift is small and slow. Ideally, the ramp should have a gentler slope. It is nice that the ramp is the primary and only way to get to and from the tunnel. Stairs are not the primary path, so the ramp is nice and wide.
Tamien station has a single island platform elevated above ground level.
A single elevator to ground level is near the middle of the platform. No ramps connect the platform and ground level.
Commentary: Like Belmont station, Tamien should have a ramp connecting the island platform to ground level. The elevator at Tamien has been out of service for months on end in recent years, emphasizing the importance of having a ramp. Newer island platforms, like South San Francisco and Hillsdale, have ramps.