SIMI VALLEY : Metrolink to Extend Its Midday Service

Midday Metrolink rail service will be extended to Simi Valley beginning Feb. 22, Metrolink officials announced Tuesday.

Metrolink officials had previously announced that 15 new trains would be added throughout the three-line system to expand Metrolink from a commuter schedule to a daylong service for pleasure riders, shoppers and off-hours workers.

But because of track improvement work on the Ventura County line--which has its terminus in Moorpark--the added service could not be extended west of Van Nuys, they said.

At the behest of Simi Valley Councilman Bill Davis, a Metrolink board member, the work schedule for the track improvement project was reorganized to allow the midday service to extend into Simi Valley, said Bill Currier, Metrolink director of operations. The midday service will also extend to Chatsworth.

However, he added, to complete the work, midday trains serving Simi Valley may be halted temporarily for short periods through the summer. Buses will be used to replace the trains during those periods, he said.

Under the expanded service, a train will leave Union Station in downtown Los Angeles at 1:05 p.m. and arrive in Chatsworth at 1:48 p.m. and Simi Valley at 2 p.m. The train will return to Union Station, departing Simi Valley at 3:03 p.m., arriving in Chatsworth at 3:16 p.m. and downtown at 4 p.m.

The midday service will be extended to Moorpark by the end of May.