San_Bernardino_Line

San Bernardino Line

San Bernardino Line

Commuter rail line in Southern California

The San Bernardino Line is a Metrolink line running between Downtown Los Angeles east through the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire to San Bernardino, with limited express service to Redlands. It is one of the three initial lines on the original Metrolink system, along with the Santa Clarita Line (now the Antelope Valley Line) and the Ventura County Line.

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As of September 2023, 18 round trips run between Los Angeles and San Bernardino on weekdays with one trip continuing on to Redlands. It was the first of the seven Metrolink lines to run on both Saturday and Sunday, with 8 trains to San Bernardino on Saturdays and Sundays.[3] Two Saturday and two Sunday trains would continue to Riverside–Downtown station until July 5, 2014, when weekend service on the 91 Line (now the 91/Perris Valley Line) began.

Route

The line is owned by Metrolink.[4] After leaving Union Station and crossing the Los Angeles River, the line follows the San Bernardino Freeway and El Monte Busway until just after the Cal State L.A. station; it then runs in the median of the San Bernardino Freeway to the El Monte Station along the former route of the Pacific Electric Railway's San Bernardino Line. Starting at El Monte, the line parallels the Union Pacific's Sunset Route (ex-Southern Pacific) for a few miles before turning northeast at Bassett[lower-alpha 1] onto a Southern Pacific branch. At the former Southern Pacific/Pacific Electric-Santa Fe crossing,[lower-alpha 2] it switches to the Santa Fe route; from Claremont to just west of San Bernardino it follows what was the Santa Fe's Pasadena Subdivision (and before that the Second District of the LA Division, the Santa Fe passenger main line). From San Bernardino Depot, the line follows the Santa Fe's Redlands branch line towards Downtown Redlands. The San Bernardino Line is mostly single track with seven passing sidings and short sections of double track near Covina, between Pomona and Montclair, west of Fontana, and throughout San Bernardino.[5]

History

Los Angeles County Transportation Commission acquired the Southern Pacific Railroad Burbank Branch in 1992.[6] When the line opened on October 26, 1992, service extended only as far as Pomona.[7] It was incrementally extended to Claremont that December, Montclair the following February, then finally to San Bernardino in May 1993.[8] Saturday service was added in 1997 and Sunday service in 1998 making it the first Metrolink line to offer weekend service.

San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG) completed an environmental impact report (EIR) in 2015[9] to extend Metrolink service southeast from the current eastern terminus in San Bernardino to Redlands.[10] The extension follows the 9-mile (14 km) Redlands Subdivision and comprises two projects.[11]

The Downtown San Bernardino Passenger Rail Project extended Metrolink southeast one mile via double trackage[citation needed] to a new terminus at the San Bernardino Transit Center.[12] The project's groundbreaking was in February 2014;[13] at that time, the extension was expected to be completed by mid-2016.[14] As of September 2015, the completion date had been extended to 2017.[15] Construction work on the extension continued through March and April 2017.[16][17][18] Test trains began running on the tracks in April 2017.[19] This phase of the project opened to the public on December 16, 2017.

Arrow is a rail extension to Redlands. By December 2015, SANBAG decided that this second phase of the project, from the San Bernardino Transit Center to Redlands, would no longer be a Metrolink extension, but rather an independent system.[citation needed] SANBAG planned to use diesel multiple units (DMUs) and have Omnitrans operate the system. However, San Bernardino Line express limited-stop trains would run on part of the extension, to a new station near the Downtown Redlands station.[20][21] Construction was planned to begin in 2017,[22][23][24] however groundbreaking took place in July 2019 with a 2022 opening.[25] The selected route runs between the Downtown San Bernardino station and the University of Redlands with stops at Tippecanoe Avenue, Esri, and Downtown Redlands, adjacent to the Redlands Santa Fe Depot. Omnitrans was removed as the system's operator in 2019 amid mounting deficits, and Metrolink took over construction and procurement.[26] Arrow opened on October 24, 2022.[27] Arrow's DMU sets have been studied for wider deployment on the rest of the San Bernardino Line.[28] The rolling stock is the new EMD F125, and others were MPI MPXpress, EMD F59PH, and some cab cars.

Future development

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) has plans to add the current LA General Medical Center station on the El Monte Busway as an infill station to the line. This would involve building a second track and center platform. The cost of this project is estimated between $51 million and $110 million.[29] Currently, westbound Metrolink passengers must exit at the Cal State LA station and take any of the westbound buses one stop to the Medical Center.

Stations

The San Bernardino Line has 17 stations. Express trains only serve seven of the busiest stations on the line. They are, from west to east:

More information Station, Express service? ...

Notes

  1. 34.0507°N 117.9971°W / 34.0507; -117.9971
  2. 34.0939°N 117.7303°W / 34.0939; -117.7303

References

  1. [1]
    "Quarterly Fact Sheet Q4 2022-2023" (PDF). Metrolink. June 30, 2023. Retrieved November 3, 2023.
  2. [2]
    "Fact Sheet" (PDF). Metrolink. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  3. [3]
    "Metrolink Timetable" (PDF). June 6, 2016. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  4. [4]
    Federal Transit Adminstration; San Bernardino Associated Governments (February 2015). "Redlands Passenger Rail Project: Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision/Environmental Impact Report" (PDF).
  5. [5]
    SMA Rail Consulting (April 2016). "California Passenger Rail Network Schematics" (PDF). California Department of Transportation. p. 19–20.
  6. [6]
    "Metrolink to include S.B. County". Daily Press. April 22, 1992. p. 7. Retrieved September 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon
  7. [7]
    Tony Knight (October 26, 1992). "Trains for L.A. – Metrolink commuter service begins today". Daily News of Los Angeles.
  8. [8]
    "Metrolink trains start from San Bernardino". Daily News of Los Angeles. May 18, 1993.
  9. [9]
    Emerson, Sandra (March 4, 2015). "Redlands Passenger Rail Project environmental report gets SanBAG support". Redlands Daily Facts. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
  10. [10]
    "Redlands Passenger Rail Project". SANBAG. Archived from the original on February 5, 2012. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  11. [11]
    "Redlands First Mile and Passenger Rail Project" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 6, 2010.
  12. [12]
    "Downtown San Bernardino Passenger Rail Project". SANBAG. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  13. [13]
    Macduff, Cassie (February 26, 2014). "SAN BERNARDINO: Agencies pool money for transit center, Metrolink extension". The Press Enterprise.
  14. [14]
    "Destination: San Bernardino" (PDF). SANBAG. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 8, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  15. [15]
    Hagen, Ryan (September 8, 2015). "San Bernardino Transit Center opening makes commuting easier". The San Bernardino Sun. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  16. [16]
    "3rd Street Closure at Railroad Tracks" (PDF). SANBAG. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  17. [17]
    Valenzuela, Beatriz (March 1, 2017). "Construction to interrupt Metrolink service in Inland Empire". The San Bernardino Sun. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  18. [18]
    "Metrolink train service resumes at San Bernardino, Rialto stations". The San Bernardino Sun. April 17, 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  19. [19]
    "Train Testing to Begin as Part of Downtown San Bernardino Passenger Rail Project". SBCTA Newsroom. San Bernardino County Transportation Authority. April 12, 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  20. [20]
    Emerson, Sandra (November 15, 2017). "What new ownership at Redlands Santa Fe Depot could mean to future rail service". Redlands Daily Facts. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  21. [21]
    Emerson, Sandra (August 19, 2016). "Where Redlands rail project is heading". The Press-Enterprise. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  22. [22]
    Emerson, Sandra (November 7, 2015). "SanBAG begins design of Redlands Passenger Rail Project". Redlands Daily Facts. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  23. [23]
    "Redlands Passenger Rail Project Fact Sheet" (PDF). SANBAG. December 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  24. [24]
    Emerson, Sandra (November 7, 2017). "Passenger rail project remains priority for Rail to Redlands Working Group". Redlands Daily Facts. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  25. [25]
    "Construction begins for rail connecting Redlands to San Bernardino". Redlands Daily Facts. July 19, 2019.
  26. [26]
    Scauzillo, Steve (October 21, 2019). "$520 million deficit has Omnitrans eyeing layoffs and bus-line reductions, but is it enough?". The Sun. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
  27. [27]
    Asperin, Alexa Mae (October 24, 2022). "Metrolink's new 'Arrow' train service from Redlands to San Bernardino begins". KTTV. Fox Television Stations. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  28. [28]
    "Hybrid Rail Being Studied for Future Use along the Metrolink Corridor". goSBCTA e-Newsletter. San Bernardino County Transportation Authority. March 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  29. [29]
    @numble (June 20, 2023). "LA Metro study on infill Metrolink station at LA General Medical Center (LA County-USC Medical Center). Would build a second track and center platform. Cost $51m-$110m (depends on if pedestrian bridge is built). Existing bridge is hard to retrofit" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  30. [30]
    "Metrolink to make special stop at the L.A. County Fair" (Press release). Metrolink. August 26, 2013. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  31. [31]
    "Special Metrolink service to Auto Club 400 available" (Press release). Metrolink. March 12, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
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