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Metrolink is a commuter rail system that serves the Southern California region. In 1991, it was established as the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA) and service began the following year. In 2003, it had an operating budget of $103.3 million. Since July 2005, Metrolink has been operated under contract by Connex Railroad, LLC. The contract extends for a period of five years and includes the provision of locomotive engineers and conductors. Prior to July 2005, Metrolink was operated under contract by Amtrak.

Overview

Metrolink's area of service includes lines to Ventura County, Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County, Orange County, and San Diego County. It connects to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Metro Rail lines at Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles, and to the San Diego Coaster at Oceanside. It also connects at various points to Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner, Coast Starlight, and Southwest Chief services. As of early 2006, it served a total of 56 stations throughout the Greater Los Angeles Area.

The average weekday ridership for September 2005 was 40,078 boardings.Metrolink (2005). "Metrolink Performance Summaries, September 2005." Retrieved October 3, 2005. Ridership has grown at 3-4% per year since opening; Orange County ridership grew 30% from 2002 to 2005.

Storage facility

The main Metrolink maintenance and storage facility is located on the east bank of the Los Angeles River in the vicinity of the Glendale Narrows, just south of Union Pacific's Taylor Yard. The system covers 511.6 miles (823.3 km) of track, most of which were purchased by Metrolink from freight railroads, while other sections are still owned by freight railroads. Both the publicly and privately owned routes share track with freight trains, and many sections are single track, limiting Metrolink's ability to expand service. Delays are particularly common on the Riverside Line, which uses UP's main transcontinental line--one of the most congested freight rail corridors in the United States. Construction projects to expand capacity have been gradually undertaken since Metrolink began operation.

Rolling stock

As of December 2003, Metrolink had 38 locomotives and 143 commuter cars. All current trains are Bombardier BiLevel Coaches painted white with blue streaks. Some locomotives and train cars are leased from the Sounder commuter train system in the Puget Sound region of Washington state, since that system uses the same Bombardier equipment. These trains can be recognized by their retention of the Sounder "wave" livery instead of the standard Metrolink colors. In addition, a train set from Altamont Commuter Express is kept as a backup at the Metrolink yard and is occasionally seen in service.

Fares and Service

The fare structure on Metrolink is based on a formula taking into account driving distance between stations, added to a flat fee charged for boarding the train. Fares are calculated in 25 cent increments between stations. Prior to July 2004, Metrolink fares were based on fare zones radiating outward from Union Station, but a controversial fare restructuring converted fares into the current system. * Fare increases are generally done on an annual basis in July to coincide with increased fuel and labor expenses.

Metrolink's fares are high compared to its peers and to competing bus service. For instance, a round trip ticket between Montclair and Downtown Los Angeles is $13.25, compared with $7.20 for competing Foothill Transit express bus service (via carpool lanes and the El Monte Busway) between the two destinations. Similarly, monthly passes are higher than competing bus systems. A monthly pass for the bus between the Palmdale Metrolink station and Los Angeles Union Station costs $210, compared to $277.75 on Metrolink. (The high fares, however, give Metrolink one of the highest farebox recovery rates of any commuter rail service.) Buses are often comparable in travel time to Metrolink because of HOV lanes and delays caused to Metrolink trains from freight traffic and curves in the track.

Metrolink riders can ride most buses in Los Angeles and Orange County, as well as the Metro Rail, for free with their valid ticket or pass, and monthly pass holders in Orange and Ventura Counties can use Amtrak Pacific Surfliner and Thruway Coach services through the Rail 2 Rail program.

Like many US commuter rail systems, Metrolink lacks off-peak service—a characteristic which may also hurt ridership numbers. Between approximately 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. there are few trains on most lines, even those (such as the Antelope Valley line) that have very high peak-hour ridership. However, Metrolink has added more trains on some lines, especially in Orange County, when Orange County decided to subsidize more service into the county.

Some of these attributes can be ascribed to the structure of Metrolink's governance board, a Joint Powers Authority of the five transportation commissions of the counties in its service area: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Orange County Transportation Authority, Riverside County Transportation Commission, Ventura County Transportation Commission and San Bernardino Associated Governments (with representatives of the San Diego Association of Governments, the Southern California Association of Governments and the California Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing Agency as non-voting ex-officio members of the board). Each of the five member agencies fund the portion of service that operates in their county, mostly with local sales tax money, although there are exceptions. Metrolink also occasionally gets some direct funding from the state and federal governments, although this often calls for a delicate act of political balancing as local agencies are concerned that money for Metrolink could instead be used to funds roads and buses in their counties. The inherent conflict of interest of the Board partially explains the high fares.

Future expansion

Future plans call for line expansions extending the service area. The Perris Valley Line will link Riverside and Perris by 2009, with eventual plans for a Phase II extension further east to Hemet and San Jacinto In the coming decade, another short eastward extension is planned to link San Bernardino with Redlands/Mentone [http://thetransitcoalition.us/NewsPDF/TTC20051223a.pdf. New stations serving Buena Park and Yorba Linda are expected to open in 2006.Pak, Ellen. "Buena Park is on track for Metrolink," Orange County Register, July 9, 2005.

In addition, Los Angeles County-area transit advocates have proposed adding Metrolink service along the Harbor Subdivision corridor, so as to provide Metrolink service to Inglewood, Los Angeles International Airport, and the South Bay. Proponents argue that this could provide direct service between the South Bay, LAX, and Union Station, and possibly continue into the San Fernando Valley, though they also envision that a Metro Rail line could run in the corridor as well. Opponents argue that frequently running fast moving trains along busy Slauson Avenue, through a residential area, is potentially dangerous.

Accidents

Anaheim, March 2002

In mid-March of 2002, a southbound train collided at a grade crossing about one half mile west of the cross streets of east Cerritos Avenue and south State College Boulevard in Anaheim with a semi truck carrying lettuce bound for a produce distributor near said crossing. The truck driver was using the rail grade as to navigate his truck into the docks for the produce company when the train collided with the truck's joint at about 35 miles per hour, killing the driver and derailing the locomotive and the frontmost passenger car. No passengers or train crew were injured in this accident.

Placentia, April 2002

On April 23, 2002, a BNSF Railway freight train collided head-on with a Metrolink train in Placentia, near the Atwood Junction, at the intersection of Orangethorpe Avenue and Van Buren Street. Both trains were on the same east-west track moving toward one another. The Metrolink had the right-of-way; it was supposed to switch to a southbound track. The BNSF train was supposed to slow and stop just before the switch while the Metrolink passed, but the crew missed a signal one and a half miles back warning them to slow down. By the time the crew saw the red "stop" signal at the switch and the Metrolink train, they were going too fast to avoid a collision. Although there was speculation that the signals alerting the Burlington to slow and stop had malfunctioned, an investigation later concluded that it was human error by the crew that caused the accident. Two people died in the crash and twenty-two were seriously injured.National Transportation Safety Board (2003). "Railroad Accident Report- Collision of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Freight Train With Metrolink Passenger Train- Placentia, California- April 23, 2002". Retrieved November 22, 2005.

Burbank, January 2003

http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2003/HAR0304.htm "On January 6, 2003, about 9:30 a.m. Pacific standard time, eastbound Metrolink commuter train 210 struck a Ford F-550 crew cab, stake bed truck at the North Buena Vista Street grade crossing in Burbank, California. Upon impact, the truck’s fuel tank was compromised, releasing fuel and resulting in a postcrash fire that consumed the stake bed, which remained at the crossing, while the truck’s cab, which was not on fire, continued eastward with the train. The train derailed and came to a stop about 1,300 feet east of the crossing. The cab and second cars of the train came to rest on their sides; the remaining two cars and the locomotive remained upright. The truckdriver was fatally injured. Of the train’s 59 passengers and 2 crewmembers, 32 sustained injuries; 1 passenger, who was treated and then released from a local hospital, died 15 days later from internal injuries that were probably sustained during the accident."

"The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the design of the traffic signals’ railroad hold interval, which displayed a flashing red arrow for the eastbound North San Fernando Boulevard left turn lane, improperly implying that, after stopping, the truckdriver was permitted to make a left turn onto North Buena Vista Street. Contributing to the accident was the lack of a raised median at the crossing that would have obstructed the path used by the truckdriver to make the left turn." The pictoral warning sign was also hidden by an overgrown tree, as shown in the report.

Glendale, January 2005

On January 26, 2005, two Metrolink passenger trains were derailed in the worst train accident in Metrolink's history. A southbound Metrolink train derailed when it hit a vehicle parked on the tracks near an at-grade crossing at Chevy Chase Drive. The train struck a stationary freight locomotive (overturning it) and jackknifed, colliding with an oncoming northbound Metrolink train which also derailed. Eleven people were killed (including an off-duty sheriff's deputy and a train conductor) and over 100 people were injured, about 40 seriously. The man who parked the vehicle on the tracks, Juan Manuel Alvarez, was apprehended and charged with 11 counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances, including murder by train wrecking. At the time of this writing, he is awaiting trial in the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Burbank, January 2006

Maureen Osborn was killed when a Metrolink train slammed into her car . She died at the scene. None of the 250 passengers on the train were injured in the 8:30 a.m. crash and the train did not derail.

There is no train signal lighting easily visable from San Fernando Road and no pictoral railroad signs on West bound San Fernando Road. This was the 10th time a train has struck a vehicle at this crossing in the past 10 years.

The crash involved a five-car train traveling from Lancaster to downtown Los Angeles. It struck Mrs. Osborn's Toyota sedan as she made a right turn from San Fernando Road onto north-bound Buena Vista Street and pushed the car about 2,500 feet down the track. The train was traveling 78 mph.

Rail lines

Fleet

As of June 2006, Metrolink operates the following equipment in its fleet of trains:

External links

References

Metrolink | Mass transit in California | California railroads | U.S. regional rail systems | Mass transit in California | Transportation in California

Metrolink

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Metrolink (Southern California)".

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