Ventura County Line
| Ventura County Line | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 The Metrolink station at Chatsworth | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Operating | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locale | Greater Los Angeles Area and Ventura County | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Termini | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stations | 12 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Service | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Type | Commuter rail line | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| System | Metrolink | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operator(s) | Metrolink | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Daily ridership | 3,950 (2012)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line length | 70.9 miles (114.1 km) (average length between stations: 6.445 miles) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Character | Elevated and surface-level | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating speed | 39.22 mph (63.12 km/h) (average for trains that travel the full line length on Mon-Fri) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Metrolink Ventura County Line is a commuter rail line serving Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles, in the Southern California system.[2] The line is the successor of the short lived CalTrain commuter rail line.
Schedules
Metrolink trains on the Ventura County Line run weekdays only, mostly during peak commuter hours, and so with limited midday service. From Union Station—Downtown Los Angeles (as of July 2011):
- East Ventura
- six trains total at peak hours, in the peak direction only (3 south-AM; 3 north PM) each weekday, running to East Ventura station (in the community of Montalvo) — northern end of line.
- Moorpark
- four trains each weekday run to Moorpark Station (far western Simi Valley) — also station for Amtrak Pacific Surfliner. Trains of the six East Ventura runs also stop here.
- Chatsworth
- three trains each weekday run to Chatsworth Station (western San Fernando Valley) — major transit hub, with the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, the Metro Orange Line (June 2012) and Metro Local valley bus lines, the LADOT Commuter Express service; and buses from Santa Clarita Transit, and Simi Valley Transit. Trains of the six East Ventura and four Moorpark runs also stop here.
- Airport
- All 17 trains per weekday from Union Station stop at Hollywood Burbank Airport (900 numbered series).
- All 16 trains en route to Union Station per weekday stop at Hollywood Burbank Airport.
- Only three trains per day originate in East Ventura. The remaining 13 trains originate from different points along the Ventura County Line.
Other service
Service is augmented during midday and on weekends by the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner line, serving most of the Metrolink stations on the Ventura County Line.
- Airport
Additional airport shuttle service operates between Union Station and Burbank Airport–South station as the Hollywood Burbank Airport Line—BUR. Metrolink numbers Airport Line trains in the 900 series.[3]
Tracks
The line operates between Moorpark and Los Angeles Union Station on tracks owned by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority – the Ventura Subdivision from Moorpark to Burbank Airport and the Valley Subdivision, the Valley Subdivision from Burbank to Glendale, becoming the River Subdivision into Los Angeles Union Station. It uses the Coast Line of the Union Pacific Railroad between Moorpark and Oxnard and into Ventura where the Santa Paula Branch splits from the rest of the Coast Line. The East Ventura Station and layover facility are on the Santa Paula branch line.[4]
History
Service on this line began in 1992 as one of Metrolink's original three lines, with service from Moorpark to Los Angeles Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles. The line was extended to Camarillo and Oxnard in 1994 after the Northridge earthquake, then to East Ventura in 2002.
A trial service on Saturday was tried in 2020 for this normally weekday only line.[5] The Amtrak service does run on the weekends.
Accidents
2008 Chatsworth train collision
At 4:23 p.m. on September 12, 2008, 25 people were killed in a collision between Metrolink commuter train 111 and a freight train. At least 130 people were injured, with at least one dying later at a hospital. The crash occurred on the Ventura County Line near Heather Lee Lane, south of the Ronald Reagan Freeway(SR-118) and east of Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Both locomotives, the leading car of the commuter train, and seven cars of the freight train were derailed.
2015 Oxnard train derailment
On February 24, 2015, according to Oxnard Police Sergeant Denise Shadinger, a Metrolink commuter train traveling from Ventura County to Los Angeles hit a road vehicle near Oxnard, California; she initially said there was an unspecified number of injuries. The incident was reported at 5:44 A.M. Three cars derailed, at least one vehicle was fully engulfed at some point, and the three derailed cars were on their sides; the locomotive was still upright. Little but scorched, mangled wreckage in an intersection and on the tracks was left of the truck; Oxnard Fire Department battalion chief Sergio Martinez said the driver fled the scene unhurt but was found and taken into custody. News helicopters and footage from CNN affiliate KABC showed footage of triage tarps lying in the 5th Street (SR 34) where on-scene firefighters were treating victims and monitoring the scene. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), in a tweet, acknowledged the incident and stated they were launching an investigation.[6][7][8][9][10][11] The train engineer died a week later and 29 others were injured. A week after the incident, an Amtrak train collided with a vehicle in the same area as the first crash.[12]
Stations
References
- ^ "Metrolink Fact Sheet for June 2012" (PDF). Metrolink. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2015. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
- ^ Hattem, Matt Van (June 30, 2006). "Metrolink, The commuter railroad serving Los Angeles". Trains Magazine. Retrieved October 10, 2006.
- ^ "Train Schedules | Metrolink". Metrolinktrains.com. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
- ^ SMA Rail Consulting (April 2016). "California Passenger Rail Network Schematics" (PDF). California Department of Transportation.
- ^ Harris, Mike (January 17, 2020). "Metrolink to add Saturday service on VC line in April in pilot program". Ventura County Star. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Metrolink train hits a vehicle in Oxnard". vcstar.com. The E.W. Scripps Co. February 24, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
- ^ "Alerts, Service Advisories and Planned Advisories | Metrolink". Metrolinktrains.com. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
- ^ "Abandoned truck's driver arrested after commuter train crash". Msn.com. February 25, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
- ^ Lah, Kyung (February 25, 2015). "Train technology prevented tragedy in California". CNN.com. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
- ^ "Truck driver who caused California derailment arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
- ^ "Truck driver arrested after train crash". Usatoday.com. February 25, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
- ^ Nelson, Laura J. (March 1, 2015). "Amtrak train strikes car in Camarillo; no serious injuries reported". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
External links
- Belmond, Sylvie (March 10, 2006). "Commuters praise trains, grade crossings improved". Simi Valley Acorn. Retrieved October 10, 2006.
- Metrolink Schedules
- Ventura County Line Route Map — on OpenStreetMap
| Lines | |
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| Connecting rail |
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| Governing agencies | |
| Ex officio agencies | |
| Other information | |
- Airport rail links in the United States
- Metrolink (California) lines
- Public transportation in Los Angeles
- Public transportation in Los Angeles County, California
- Public transportation in Ventura County, California
- Railway services introduced in 1992
- Transportation in the San Fernando Valley
- 1992 establishments in California