The Metrolink Ventura County Line is a commuter rail line serving Ventura County and the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

and the

City of Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, in the Southern California system. The line is the successor of the short lived CalTrain commuter rail line.

Schedules

Metrolink trains on the Ventura County Line ran weekdays only until Saturday service was added on May 29, 2021, mostly during peak commuter hours, and so with limited midday service. From Union Station to

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 ...

(): ;East Ventura *six trains total at peak hours, in the peak direction only (3 south-AM; 3 north PM) each weekday, running to East Ventura station (in the community of Montalvo) — northern end of line. ;Moorpark *four trains each weekday run to

Moorpark Station Moorpark station is a passenger rail station in the city of Moorpark, California. Service commenced in 1983 as an infill station on the short-lived CalTrain line. The station was rebuilt in 1992 to accommodate the new Metrolink Ventura County Lin ...

(far western Simi Valley) — also station for Amtrak Pacific Surfliner. Trains of the six East Ventura runs also stop here. ;Chatsworth *three trains each weekday run to Chatsworth Station (western San Fernando Valley) — major transit hub, with the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, the

Metro G Line The Metro G Line, previously known as the Robert Street Corridor, is a proposed bus rapid transit corridor, from Little Canada to West Saint Paul via downtown Saint Paul on Rice and Robert Streets. Robert Street is named after Captain Louis Robe ...

and Metro Local valley bus lines, the LADOT Commuter Express service; and buses from Santa Clarita Transit, and

Simi Valley Transit Many transit agencies serve Southern California. They range from large organizations serving thousands of people to one-route services provided by local cities. The majority of these agencies mainly serve localized areas of Los Angeles County. In ...

. Trains of the six East Ventura and four Moorpark runs also stop here. ;Airport *All 17 trains per weekday from Union Station stop at Hollywood Burbank Airport (900 numbered series). *All 16 trains en route to Union Station per weekday stop at Hollywood Burbank Airport. **Only three trains per day originate in East Ventura. The remaining 13 trains originate from different points along the Ventura County Line.

Other service

Service is augmented during midday and on weekends by the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner line, serving most of the Metrolink stations on the Ventura County Line. ;Airport Additional airport shuttle service operates between Union Station and Burbank Airport–South station as the Hollywood Burbank Airport Line—BUR. Metrolink numbers Airport Line trains in the 900 series.

Tracks

The line operates between Moorpark and Los Angeles Union Station on tracks owned by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority – the Ventura Subdivision from Moorpark to Burbank Airport and the Valley Subdivision, the Valley Subdivision from Burbank to Glendale, becoming the River Subdivision into Los Angeles Union Station. It uses the Coast Line of the Union Pacific Railroad between Moorpark and Oxnard and into Ventura where the Santa Paula Branch splits from the rest of the Coast Line. The East Ventura station and layover facility are on the Santa Paula branch line.

History

The railway was originally constructed by the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

as their Coast Line, connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco. The Montalvo Cutoff between Burbank and Ventura via the Simi Valley was built in 1904, bypassing the old line further to the north.

Caltrans The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an Executive (government), executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the Government of California#State agencies, cabinet-level California State Tran ...

ran commuter rail service over the line very briefly in 1982 and 1983, but CalTrain was unsustainable due to a number of factors. In 1990 the

Los Angeles County Transportation Commission The Southern California Rapid Transit District (almost always referred to as ''RTD'' or rarely as ''SCRTD'') was a public transportation agency established in 1964 to serve the Greater Los Angeles area. It was the successor to the original Los ...

, predecessor of Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, acquired a portion of the right of way between Los Angeles and Moorpark from Southern Pacific and transferred it to the newly formed Southern California Regional Rail Authority for commuter service. The line began operations in 1992 as one of Metrolink's original three routes, with service from

Moorpark Moorpark is a city in Ventura County in Southern California. Moorpark was founded in 1900. The town grew from just over 4,000 citizens in 1980 to over 25,000 by 1990. As of 2006, Moorpark was one of the fastest-growing cities in Ventura County.. ...

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 ...

. Service was extended to Camarillo and Oxnard in 1994 after the

Northridge earthquake The 1994 Northridge earthquake was a moment 6.7 (), blind thrust earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 4:30:55 a.m. PST in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. The quake had a duration of approximately ...

, then to East Ventura in 2002. Because Amtrak trains operate on the same corridor all day, every day, Metrolink did not operate weekend service on the line. As part of a six-month trial program to determine demand, Metrolink added Saturday service on April 6, 2020. Permanent Saturday service started on May 29, 2021, with one round trip between LA Union Station and Moorpark. Service was extended to Ventura–East on August 9, 2021. Metrolink established a code sharing agreement with Amtrak, allowing all Metrolink passengers to ride select Pacific Surfliner trains with any ticket or pass, starting April 4, 2022. The code sharing agreement adds one more morning and early afternoon trip to Ventura, expanding midday and Saturday service, and establishing defacto Sunday service on the line.

Accidents

2008 Chatsworth train collision

At 4:23 p.m. on September 12, 2008, 25 people were killed in a collision between Metrolink commuter train 111 and a freight train. At least 130 people were injured, with at least one dying later at a hospital. The crash occurred on the Ventura County Line near Heather Lee Lane, south of the Ronald Reagan Freeway(SR-118) and east of Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Both locomotives, the leading car of the commuter train, and seven cars of the freight train were derailed.

2015 Oxnard train derailment

On February 24, 2015, according to Oxnard Police Sergeant Denise Shadinger, a Metrolink commuter train traveling from Ventura County to Los Angeles hit a road vehicle near Oxnard, California; she initially said there was an unspecified number of injuries. The incident was reported at 5:44 A.M. Three cars derailed, at least one vehicle was fully engulfed at some point, and the three derailed cars were on their sides; the locomotive was still upright. Little but scorched, mangled wreckage in an intersection and on the tracks was left of the truck; Oxnard Fire Department battalion chief Sergio Martinez said the driver fled the scene unhurt but was found and taken into custody. News helicopters and footage from

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

affiliate KABC showed footage of triage tarps lying in the 5th Street ( SR 34) where on-scene firefighters were treating victims and monitoring the scene. The

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...

(NTSB), in a tweet, acknowledged the incident and stated they were launching an investigation. The train engineer died a week later and 29 others were injured. A week after the incident, an Amtrak train collided with a vehicle in the same area as the first crash.

Stations

Notes

References

External links

*
Metrolink SchedulesVentura County Line Route Map
— ''on

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'' {{authority control Airport rail links in the United States Metrolink (California) lines Public transportation in Los Angeles Public transportation in Los Angeles County, California Public transportation in Ventura County, California Railway lines opened in 1992 Transportation in the San Fernando Valley 1992 establishments in California