Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Metrolink’s Santa Clarita Line Is Rolling in Green

Bright green and white passenger cars and locomotives were put into operation on Metrolink’s Santa Clarita line Friday, supplementing the traditional blue and white trains.

Metrolink has leased 25 passenger cars and five locomotive power units from the government of Ontario, Canada, to help handle the 9,000 daily commuters who now use the line.

“The Santa Clarita line is seeing the highest ridership so that’s where we need the additional equipment,” said Peter Hidalgo, Metrolink spokesman. “The striking difference to the passenger will be that the (new) cars are a bright green and white.”

Santa Clarita ridership is eight to nine times what it was before the Jan. 17 earthquake damaged area highways and clogged commutes into Los Angeles.

Metrolink is paying $300 per passenger car per day and $200 per locomotive per day under the lease agreement, which is expected to end in about 18 months, when previously ordered equipment arrives, Hidalgo said.

The leased trains are older but compatible with existing Metrolink equipment.

“This 15-year-old Canadian equipment . . . was made by the same company that built our modern Metrolink coaches,” said Larry Walker, Metrolink chairman.