San Bernardino Line

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 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.

Template:As of, the line has 44 weekday trips (22 in each direction) with most trips operating between Los Angeles Union Station in the west and the San Bernardino Transit Center to the east, however 5 trips are short turns that only operate as far east as the Montclair Transcenter and 1 trip is extended past San Bernardino to serve Redlands–Downtown station. It was the first Metrolink line to run on both Saturday and Sunday, with 16 weekend trips (8 in each direction) operating between Los Angeles and San Bernardino.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Route

The line is owned by Metrolink.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 BassettTemplate:Efn onto a Southern Pacific branch. At the former Southern Pacific/Pacific Electric-Santa Fe crossing,Template:Efn 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.<ref name=schematics>Template:CA rail schematics</ref>

History

Los Angeles County Transportation Commission acquired the Southern Pacific Railroad Burbank Branch in 1992.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Free access</ref> When the line opened on October 26, 1992, service extended only as far as Pomona.<ref name="ventura">Template:Cite news</ref> It was incrementally extended to Claremont that December, Montclair the following February, then finally to San Bernardino in May 1993.<ref name="sanbernardino">Template:Cite news</ref> 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<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> to extend Metrolink service southeast from the current eastern terminus in San Bernardino to Redlands.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The extension follows the Template:Convert Redlands Subdivision and comprises two projects.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Downtown San Bernardino Passenger Rail Project extended Metrolink southeast one mile via double trackageTemplate:Citation needed to a new terminus at the San Bernardino Transit Center.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The project's groundbreaking was in February 2014;<ref name="Macduff1">Template:Cite news</ref> at that time, the extension was expected to be completed by mid-2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:As of, the completion date had been extended to 2017.<ref name="Hagen">Template:Cite news</ref> Construction work on the extension continued through March and April 2017.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Test trains began running on the tracks in April 2017.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.Template: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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Construction was planned to begin in 2017,<ref name="Emerson2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> however groundbreaking took place in July 2019 with a 2022 opening.<ref name="RDF">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name=520mil>Template:Cite news</ref> Arrow opened on October 24, 2022.<ref name="Arrow">Template:Cite news</ref> Arrow's DMU sets have been studied for wider deployment on the rest of the San Bernardino Line.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref> 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 15 full-time stations. They are, from west to east:

Station	Connections	Location
		City	County
Template:Scax	Template:Rint Metrolink: Template:Rcb Template:Rcb Template:Rcb Template:Rcb Template:Rcb Template:Rint Amtrak: Coast Starlight, Pacific Surfliner, Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited, Texas Eagle Template:Rint Metro: Template:LACMTA icon Template:LACMTA icon Template:LACMTA icon Template:LACMTA icon Template:Rint FlyAway to LAX Template:Rint	Los Angeles	Los Angeles
Template:Scax	Template:Rint Metro: Template:LACMTA icon	University Hills
Template:Scax		El Monte
Template:Scax		Baldwin Park
Template:Scax		Covina
Template:Scax (fair days)<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>		La Verne
Template:Scax	Template:Rint Metro: Template:LACMTA icon	Pomona
Template:Scax		Claremont
Template:Scax		Montclair	San Bernardino
Template:Scax		Upland
Template:Scax	Template:Bus icon Omnitrans: ONT Connect to ONT Template:Rint	Rancho Cucamonga
Template:Scax		Fontana
Template:Scax		Rialto
Template:Scax	Template:Rint Metrolink: Template:Rcb Template:Rint Amtrak: Southwest Chief	San Bernardino
Template:Scax	Template:Rint Metrolink: Template:Rcb Template:Rcb Template:Rint Omnitrans: SbX
Template:Scax (limited weekday service)	Template:Rint Metrolink: Template:Rcb	Redlands

External links

• San Bernardino Line schedule
• San Bernardino extension page on the San Bernardino Associated Governments website