San Bernardino Line

San Bernardino Line
San Bernardino Line
	Streetside of San Bernardino Santa Fe Depot in 2006
Overview
Locale	Greater Los Angeles Area and Inland Empire
Termini	L.A. Union Station; San Bernardino–Downtown;
Stations	17
Service
Type	Commuter rail
System	Metrolink
Operator(s)	Metrolink
Daily ridership	4,719 (June 2023)
History
Opened	October 26, 1992
Technical
Line length	57.6 miles (92.7 km)
Character	Elevated and surface-level
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Operating speed	79 mph (127 km/h)
Route map
Route map
	Legend
	■ 91/Perris Valley Line
	■ Orange County Line
	■ Riverside Line
	All stations are accessible
	This diagram: view; talk; edit;

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.

As of September 2023^[update], 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^[a] onto a Southern Pacific branch. At the former Southern Pacific/Pacific Electric-Santa Fe crossing,^[b] 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^[update], 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:

Station	Express service?	Connections	Location
L.A. Union Station	Yes	Metrolink: 91/Perris Valley Antelope Valley Orange County Riverside Ventura County Amtrak: Coast Starlight, Pacific Surfliner, Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited, Texas Eagle Metro: A Line B Line D Line J Line FlyAway to LAX Foothill Transit: Silver Streak	Los Angeles	Los Angeles County
Cal State L.A.	Yes	Metro: J Line Foothill Transit: Silver Streak	University Hills
El Monte	No		El Monte
Baldwin Park	No		Baldwin Park
Covina	Yes		Covina
Fairplex (fair days)^[30]	No		La Verne
Pomona–North	No		Pomona
Claremont	No		Claremont
Montclair	Yes	Foothill Transit: Silver Streak	Montclair	San Bernardino County
Upland	No		Upland
Rancho Cucamonga	Yes	Omnitrans: ONT Connect to ONT	Rancho Cucamonga
Auto Club Speedway (race days)^[31]	No		Fontana
Fontana	No		Fontana
Rialto	No		Rialto
San Bernardino–Depot	Yes	Metrolink: Inland Empire–Orange County	San Bernardino
San Bernardino–Downtown	No	Metrolink: Arrow Inland Empire–Orange County Omnitrans: SbX	San Bernardino
Redlands–Downtown (Express)	Yes	Metrolink: Arrow	Redlands