Metrolink Expanding Its Rail Service

Metrolink officials Monday will begin more frequent commuter trains from Union Station to Burbank Airport and new morning rush-hour service from Los Angeles to Orange County.

The number of daily trains will increase to 130 from 105 in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.

Metrolink, which imposed a 4% fare hike less than a month ago, is increasing the frequency of service on all of its regional rail routes.

Service from Union Station to Burbank Airport will be expanded from 12 to 34 trains, running continuously every hour from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays. The trains will make it easier for people to fly in and out for same-day business meetings, said Metrolink spokesman Peter Hidalgo.

For the first time, those living in Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley will be able to take a train into Orange County during morning rush hour. These “reverse service” trains will run against traffic along the Santa Ana Freeway.

Another new early-morning train will leave Orange County and arrive at Union Station by 5:30 a.m., targeting financial workers who need to get to the Pacific Stock Exchange in downtown Los Angeles before the market opens at 6 a.m., said Hidalgo.

Metrolink will also be adding more frequent service on its San Bernardino-to-Irvine route, responding to the competition created by the new Orange County-to-Riverside toll roads that opened Oct. 19 and mirror the train routes, Hidalgo said.

Metrolink says the increases reflect the rapidly increasing level of ridership, which has created standing-room-only conditions during rush hour. On average, ridership is increasing 16% every year.

The new services are financed in part by the fare hike, which took effect Oct. 1, and is part of a four-year, 12.5% package of fare increases through 2002.