Metrolink's Riverside Line is a

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

line running from

Los Angeles Union Station Los Angeles Union Station is the main railway station in Los Angeles, California, and the largest railroad passenger terminal in the Western United States. It opened in May 1939 as the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, replacing La Grande S ...

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is ...

Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

along the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

. It runs weekday peak commuter hours only, with very little midday and

reverse commute A reverse commute is a round trip, regularly taken, from an urban area to a suburban one in the morning, and returning in the evening. It is almost universally applied to trips to work in the suburbs from homes in the city. This is in opposition to ...

service. In 2011, the average weekday ridership was 5,161 passengers.

History

The Riverside Line, the fourth line to be introduced, was added to the Metrolink system in June 1993. This line featured Saturday service from June 2000 until January 2002, when it was cancelled due to low ridership. As of November 2021, the line has seven trains daily on weekdays only with reverse commute service eliminated in 2019. The Riverside Line can be used to get to

Ontario International Airport Ontario International Airport is an international airport two miles east of downtown Ontario, California, Ontario, in San Bernardino County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino. It ...

; the

East Ontario station East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

has an airport shuttle served by Omnitrans Bus route 81 as of 2019, including discounted

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fares from the station. As Metrolink trains along the Riverside Line share tracks with Union Pacific

freight train Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) haul ...

s, delays of up to 90 minutes are not uncommon. In April 2005, morning westbound trains arrived on schedule 90% of the time, while those headed east during the evening arrived on schedule only 72% of the time.

Present Decline

Ridership for the Riverside line has gradually declined following the opening of the

91/Perris Valley Line The 91/Perris Valley Line, formerly known as the 91 Line, is a commuter rail route operated by Metrolink that runs from Los Angeles to Perris in Southern California, paralleling State Route 91 between Riverside and Santa Fe Springs. Operating si ...

in 2002. Much of the decline in service has been a direct result of competition with the 91 Line or San Bernardino Line, or track right-of-way disputes with

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

. Planning of the line's route has also come into question later in its lifetime, as the line was not redirected to the north half of the Monte Vista Subdivision to possibly construct a station to directly serve Ontario International Airport, which was heavily renovated in 1998. As a result, many riders believe Metrolink has not made the line as much of a priority for frequent usage, which has shown in the decline of trains per day in recent schedule updates. As of 2022, the Riverside Line operates seven trains on weekdays only.

Stations

Demographics

In 2011, the average weekday ridership was 5,161 passengers, with 46 percent male and 54 percent female. Eighty-nine percent of riders used the line for work commutes. The median household income for riders was . Ridership by ethnicity was evenly split: * 27%

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

* 27%

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

* 21% Asian/Pacific Islander * 19%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

* 5% other

Accidents

Several accidents have occurred on the Riverside Line since its inception. On December 30, 1993, around 6:15 pm, a pedestrian was killed in a collision with a Metrolink train near Bon View Avenue and Mission Boulevard (adjacent to

). In 1997, a 95-year-old, hearing-impaired man was hit and killed by a train as he crossed the Riverside Line. At 5:33 a.m. on January 30, 2003, a clinically depressed 37-year-old man was killed in a Metrolink train collision at a City of Industry

rail crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

. The death was reported to be a suicide. On March 9, 2005, a

train crashed near Fullerton Road and Railroad Street, derailing 21 rail cars and disrupting Metrolink service on the Riverside Line. The crash was caused by a broken track. On December 13, 2006, at 4:40 p.m., a Metrolink train struck a man standing on the tracks near the

Pomona Freeway Pomona may refer to: Places Argentina * Pomona, Río Negro Australia * Pomona, Queensland, Australia, a town in the Shire of Noosa * Pomona, New South Wales, Australia Belize * Pomona, Belize, a List of municipalities in Belize#Stann Creek Dist ...

and 7th Avenue, between Metrolink's Montebello/Commerce and Industry stations. On June 12, 2018, a Woman was killed after her Car was struck by a train at the Archibald Ave Crossing in Ontario, CA.

References

External links

Metrolink Schedules
{{Metrolink (Southern California) Metrolink (California) lines Public transportation in Los Angeles County, California Public transportation in Riverside County, California Railway lines opened in 1993 Transportation in Riverside, California 1993 establishments in California Jurupa Valley, California