Metrolink to Expand to Daylong Schedule

Metrolink, begun in October as a morning and evening downtown commuter carrier, will be expanded Feb. 22 into a daylong service for pleasure riders, shoppers, off-hours workers and suburb-to-suburb commuters as well, a regional rail panel decided Friday.

In the first major expansion of the service, 15 trips will be added to the schedule, stretching from before dawn to after sunset and including trains that will reverse the present morning-in, evening-out downtown routes, the Southern California Regional Rail Authority has decided.

The three-line service was configured primarily to carry commuters between downtown jobs and Moorpark, Santa Clarita and Claremont.

The expansion includes first-time service to Montclair in San Bernardino County. And the rail authority said a planned Sylmar stop, construction of which has been delayed because of stalled real estate negotiations, will be open by April.

The announcement of increased service also brought criticism from some officials who wanted more.

Simi Valley Mayor Pro Tem Bill Davis, a Ventura County representative on the authority, complained that the expansion did not add service to the Simi Valley and Moorpark stops.

Metrolink officials said the new trains will go only as far west as Van Nuys because of work being done on the tracks beyond there to improve the computerized dispatching service. The work is expected to be completed by September, at which time the new schedule will be extended to Ventura County, they said.

The explanation did not appear sufficient for Davis, who pointed out that other trains will not be halted at Van Nuys.

“Is the Amtrak train going to stop there? No. Are the freight trains going to stop there? No. Then why do Metrolink trains have to stop?” he asked. “I think that all we really want to do is to let the board be aware that we are really concerned about it.”

Noting other imperfections in the expanded service, San Bernardino County Supervisor Larry Walker, the newly elected chairman of the rail authority, pointed out that Montclair residents who work in Burbank will be able to take Metrolink trains to Union Station and then transfer to a train to Burbank--but will find no return trains from Burbank after 4:56 p.m.

David Solow, Metrolink deputy executive director, said additional lines can be added to solve that problem but not until after March, when Metrolink takes over dispatching responsibilities from the Southern Pacific Transportation Co.

Until then, the Metrolink staff will consider adding buses to get passengers from Burbank to Union Station in the evening, Solow said.

The added service approved Friday will cost $220,000 for the first six months, the money coming from fares and funds raised by Proposition C, a half-cent sales tax approved by voters for transportation purposes in 1990.

The additional service is part of a systemwide expansion to be phased in over two to three years to extend the service to San Diego, Riverside, Orange and San Bernardino counties. The system is planned to eventually operate over 400 miles of track and serve 70 stations, more than three times its present scope.

The added trains will run on the following schedule:

* On the San Bernardino line, four trips will be added, with one train leaving Montclair at 10:16 a.m. and one at 2:10 p.m. Two will leave Union Station for Montclair at 9:05 a.m. and 1 p.m.

* On the Santa Clarita line, four trains will be added, one leaving Santa Clarita at 9:05 a.m. and another at 2:45 p.m. The extra return trips will leave Union Station at 7:50 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

* On the Ventura County line, two trains will be added between downtown Los Angeles and Van Nuys, with a stop in Burbank. One will leave Union Station at 2:35 p.m. and the other will depart Van Nuys at 3:27 p.m.

Metrolink also will add trips to Glendale and Burbank. Trains will leave Union Station for the two cities at 7:15, 8:10 and 9:05 a.m. In the afternoon, they will leave for Union Station from Burbank at 4:21 and 4:56, and from Glendale at 4:29 and 5:04.