APU/Citrus College station is the terminus of Phase 1 of the Gold Line’s Foothill Extension and opened on March 5, 2016. The station is announced on trains as "This is the train for APU/Citrus College Station in Azusa." The station consists of a single island platform for the two-track line, located on the north side of a single separated by a fence, freight track. This platform is between the underpasses under the rail lines of Palm Drive to the west and Citrus Avenue to the east. Trains reverse using a diamond crossover before the station and the stop suffers from a lack of signage alerting passengers of which track the next train will be departing from when two are in the station. The tracks continue a good distance from the station, over Citrus Avenue, to bumper blocks far enough away from the station that the new tracks of the Foothill Extension can be cut into existing line without effecting existing service, construction on this extension began on October 4, 2019, and is scheduled to open in 2026.
The station's island platform has a single canopy structure covering about half of the platform. At each end of the canopy are Azusa letterings. The station’s single exit is via a small landing with canopied cover TVMs and Tap readers at the eastern end of the platform. From here, a ramp leads down to a pedestrian crossing over the northern track (LA-bound track, once Phase 2 of the extension opens), and to the Prominade at Citrus. The Prominade at citrus is a new Transit Oriented Development with 112 townhomes and 6 retail establishments. To the right is the station’s 200 space three-story paid parking garage. Passengers enter the garage from the middle/second level in the station area, with cars entering from Citrus Avenue on the ground level.
Access to Citrus College is by taking the stairs or elevator in the garage to the ground-level and walking down Citrus Avenue under the tracks to get to campus, about a half-mile walk to the Campus Center. Azusa Pacific College (the APU in the station name) is a similar distance and is on the south side of the train tracks across Palm Drive west of the station.
Artwork: Azusa Horticultural Paradise by Lynn Goodpasture, celebrating the areas botanical heritage with mosaic flowers on the station benches, and stained glass flowers on the roof of the shelter over the stations TVMs.
Photos 1-11: December 23, 2019
Azusa Downtown