Millbrae station

The old Southern Pacific station near the current intermodal terminal

In 1862, after buying a section of Rancho Buri Buri from José de la Cruz Sánchez, Darius Ogden Mills deeded land to the under-construction San Francisco and San Jose Railroad in exchange for a station to allow guests to visit his estate. The line opened in October 1863; the adobe 17 Mile House station opened in 1864 and was renamed Millbrae the next year.[2][3] The line was soon taken over by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) for its Peninsula Commute service. The station burned in 1890.[2]

The station burned again in 1906 and was replaced with a two-story colonnade-style depot of standard SP design the next year.[11][12] It was located on the west side of the tracks just south of Millbrae Avenue. In 1976, preparing to discontinue the money-losing Peninsula Commute (which instead became publicly funded as Caltrain), the SP proposed to tear down the station.[2][13] However, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Southern Pacific Depot on September 1, 1978 after efforts by the newly formed Millbrae Historical Society.[12] In August 1980, the building was moved 200 feet (61 m) south to make room for a widening of Millbrae Avenue.[2][13]

BART faregates which exit directly onto the northbound Caltrain platform

Civic Center on display in 2018

As part of the BART SFO Extension, a new intermodal terminal for BART, Caltrain, and Samtrans was built in Millbrae just north of Millbrae Avenue. BART service to the $70 million facility began on June 22, 2003.[14][2] The station was initially served by the Pittsburg/Bay Point line, plus a shuttle service to San Francisco International Airport station (SFIA).[15][16] The shuttle service was discontinued on February 9, 2004. The Richmond line began serving Millbrae at weekday peak hours, with the Pittsburg/Bay Point line providing service at other times.[17]

BART service to stations in San Mateo County is funded by SamTrans, rather than county tax revenues. As ridership stayed below expectations, SamTrans had to pay a larger-than-planned operating subsidy to BART. On September 12, 2005, in order to lower these subsidies, BART reduced service so that only the Dublin/Pleasanton line served SFIA and Millbrae stations.[18] SamTrans and BART reached an agreement in February 2007 in which SamTrans would transfer control and financial responsibility of the SFO/Millbrae extension to BART, in return for BART receiving additional fixed funding from SamTrans and other sources.[19]

On January 1, 2008, BART increased service to the San Mateo stations. Service to Millbrae station was provided by the Richmond line on weekdays, and the Dublin/Pleasanton line on weeknights and weekends. Direct service between SFIA and Millbrae was discontinued.[20] On September 14, 2009, the Pittsburg/Bay Point line was extended to Millbrae on nights and weekends (with the Dublin/Pleasanton line cut back to Daly City station), restoring direct service at those times.[21] On February 11, 2019, SFO–Millbrae line service resumed on weekdays and Sundays. The station continues to be served by the Richmond line on weekdays, with the Antioch line (formerly the Pittsburg/Bay Point line) serving both SFIA and Millbrae on weeknights and Saturdays.[22] On February 10, 2020, the SFO–Millbrae line begna running during all operating hours, with the Antioch line operating only to SFIA.[23]

Millbrae station was expected to have some 16,500 daily BART boardings by 2017, but has consistently fallen well short of projections, with under 7,000 daily boardings by then.[24] Millbrae is planned to be a California High-Speed Rail station. Senate Bill 1029, passed in 2012, provided funds to lengthen the Caltrain platforms for future high-speed rail trains.[25]

Caltrain no longer needed the historic station building after operations moved to the modern station. The Millbrae Historical Society negotiated with Caltrain to use the building as a museum in exchange for maintaining it. The Millbrae Train Museum opened in October 2004.[13] In 2006, Pullman car Civic Center, built in 1941 for the City of San Francisco, was moved adjacent to the station and opened as an exhibit.[26][27] The Society plans to acquire a locomotive and construct a section of track to run excursion service.[26][13]