Green Line (VTA)

The trackway between Woz Way in Downtown San Jose and Old Ironsides station is part of the Guadalupe line, the first light rail line constructed in Santa Clara county. The Guadalupe line opened for revenue service on December 11, 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]

UTDC-built LRV in 1993 arriving at Old Ironsides station, which was the northern terminus of the system's first section of light rail line, opened in 1987

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]

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

• Champion station added as an infill stop along the existing Guadalupe 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 running 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 is now the transfer station.

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

Mountain View–Winchester contains the entire Vasona extension from San Fernando station to the southern line terminal, Winchester station, 5.3 miles (8.5 km).[8] Vasona extension opened for revenue service on October 1, 2005. It was originally scheduled to open two months earlier on August 1 but was delayed due to a dispute between Federal Railroad Administration and VTA. At issue was whether a waiver was needed from FRA, since the Union Pacific branchline that parallels most of Vasona extension is still actively used on a tri-weekly basis to serve the Permanente Quarry cement plant in the Cupertino Foothills and a lumber yard in Campbell. A waiver was finally obtained on the condition that all light rail vehicles sound their horns at crossings until "Quiet Zone" improvements are implemented. Freight trains are still required to sound their horns. The Vasona extension was also constructed with funds from 1996 Measure B sales tax measure.

In 2014, a new storage track and crossover was constructed between Old Ironsides and Reamwood as part of improvements to support events at Levi's Stadium and the future Silicon Valley BART extension.[9]

To provide better headways and service reliability, a second track was constructed between Whisman and Downtown Mountain View. Work began in summer 2014 and was completed in late 2015. Evelyn Station was permanently closed in mid-March 2015 as part of track construction.[10]

Upon the opening of the Silicon Valley BART extension to Berryessa / North San Jose, Line 902 will be split into the Green Line (Old Ironsides–Winchester) and the Orange Line (Mountain View–Alum Rock). As of early 2019, station signage has begun to reflect the future configuration, displaying line colors rather than terminus icons.[11]

Many stations along this line have park-and-ride lots (labeled as ), as well as bike stations (labeled as ), including:

• Lick Mill (at Great America Station: )
• River Oaks — also the stop for VTA headquarters
• San Fernando
• San Jose Diridon
• Bascom
• Winchester