Time to read: about 2 minutes A man disembarks from a train at the Atherton station on Dec. 13, the last day the station was open. Photo by Olivia Treynor. It was the end of the line for rail service in Atherton last weekend. The final train stopped in town on the evening of Sunday, Dec. 13. Caltrain opted earlier this month to discontinue service in town in favor of nearby Menlo Park and Redwood City stations, which have much higher ridership and where denser developments are projected to generate higher levels of future demand for rail service. The Atherton City Council voted to shut down the historic station at the end of October because of low ridership over the years and a desire to safeguard the town from future legislation similar to the recent Senate Bill 50, which would have required cities to allow high-density housing development near public transit.