Chico, CA (CIC)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$667,079

Station Ridership

FY 2011

9,843

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The Chico station was originally built for the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1892, replacing an older and inadequate structure dating from 1870, when the California and Oregon Railroad first came through the city. The city of Chico and the Chamber of Commerce saved the current structure from demolition through an agreement with the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1987. In that same year, the Chico Heritage Association applied to list the station as historic and the station was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Amtrak contributed $200,000 toward the restoration of the depot. The Chico Art Center became interested in the building, and relocated into the restored depot in 1988, where they remain today, sharing the building with the Amtrak waiting room. A coffee bar is also on the property, inside a refurbished train car.

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Chico station has received a 500-foot concrete boarding platform and lighting, as well as a new wheelchair lift in 2011. These improvements were part of the Mobility First project for compliance by Amtrak under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Chico is situated at the northeastern edge of the Sacramento Valley, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and just west of the Sacramento River. The city of Chico was founded in 1860 by General John Bidwell, a member of one of the first wagon trains to reach California in 1843; he arrived in the area that would become his home in 1850. The city was incorporated in 1872.

The Bidwell mansion still stands; it and its grounds have been used in movies over the years, including The Thin Man (1939) and Gone with the Wind (1939). Bidwell Park also served as Sherwood Forest in the 1938 classic, The Adventures of Robin Hood. During the past 100 years, the city of Chico has been used as a setting in 19 films. The station itself became famous in the 1947 film, Magic Town, when Jimmy Stewart stepped off the train at the Chico depot.

Chico has been called home by a number of notable residents, including Jackson Pollack, abstract painter; Annie Bidwell, leader in women’s suffrage and the temperance movement; and Carolyn S. Shoemaker, astronomer and co-discoverer of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. In 1996, the Olympic torch arrived in Chico at the Amtrak station, and was carried through the streets with thousands of citizens celebrating along its path.

Amtrak does not provide ticketing or baggage services at this facility.

Chico is served by two daily trains.