Antelope Valley Line
| Antelope Valley Line | |
|---|---|
 The Palmdale Transportation Center |
|
| Overview | |
| Type | Commuter rail |
| System | Metrolink |
| Status | Operating |
| Locale | Northern Greater Los Angeles Area |
| Termini | Los Angeles Union Station Lancaster |
| Stations | 11 |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1992 |
| Owner | Union Pacific (track) |
| Operator(s) | Metrolink |
| Character | Elevated, underground, and surface-level |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 76.6 miles |
| Track gauge | 1,435mm (4ft 8½ inches) |
The Antelope Valley Line is a commuter rail line that serves the Northern Los Angeles County area as part of the Metrolink system. The line is presently more rural in character because it travels through the sparsely populated Soledad Canyon between Santa Clarita and Palmdale, serving the small community of Acton along the way. The line began service in 1992, and was called the Santa Clarita Line at the time. It was one of three original lines in the Metrolink system along with Ventura County and San Bernardino lines.
The route initially ran from Los Angeles Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles to Santa Clarita station. The railroad had plans to extend the line north to the Antelope Valley in 10 to 15 years after inception; these plans were expedited in 1994 following the Northridge earthquake. The earthquake caused the collapse of the freeway connector of State Route 14 (the Antelope Valley Freeway) onto Interstate 5 (the Golden State Freeway) in the Newhall Pass, forcing all traffic to use the parallel 2 lane truck bypass that was unaffected by the quake. Immediately after the earthquake the Southern California Regional Rail Authority decided to extend the line to help relieve the traffic bottleneck. The line between Santa Clarita and Lancaster was running two days after the earthquake. The Antelope Valley line began running on Saturdays and Sunday in September 2007.
The Antelope Valley line currently has 30 trains on weekdays, 12 trains on Saturdays, and 6 trains on Sundays. The July 2011 timetable shows 9 weekday trains LA to Lancaster, 1 to Palmdale, 2 to Via Princessa and 3 to Santa Clarita. Typical weekdays with 2 reverse-commute (peak) trains are "squeezing" the schedule between peak trains (8 trains) going into or out of downtown. Morning southbound and evening northbound express trains between Palmdale and Los Angeles with stops at the Santa Clarita, and Burbank stations were added to the schedule in May 2011. [1]
The Antelope Valley Line serves 11 stations
- Union Station, Los Angeles
- Glendale, Glendale
- Downtown Burbank, Burbank
- Sun Valley, Sun Valley
- Sylmar/San Fernando, Sylmar/San Fernando
- Newhall, Santa Clarita
- Santa Clarita, Santa Clarita
- Via Princessa, Santa Clarita
- Vincent Grade/Acton, South Palmdale/Acton
- Palmdale Transportation Center, Downtown Palmdale
- Lancaster, Lancaster
[edit] Future Expansion
- Metrolink is considering increasing midday service along Antelope Valley line but the added service is unlikely to be added until Metrolink receives their orders for more cab cars, coaches, and locomotives which are scheduled to be delivered in Late 2008. [2]
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ "Metrolink riders now have faster commutesKABC-TV, May 9, 2011. Accessed October 30, 2011". http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=8120068.
- ^ Daams, Kristopher. "Midday Bus Service to Union Station Planned", The Signal, May 28, 2007. Accessed May 29, 2007.
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