The San Bernardino Line is a Metrolink line running between

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 a ...

east through the

San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley ( es, Valle de San Gabriel) is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, lying immediately to the east of the eastern city limits of the city of Los Angeles, and occupying the vast majority of the eastern part ...

and the

Inland Empire The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the citie ...

to San Bernardino, with express service to Redlands. It is one of the three initial lines (along with the Santa Clarita and Ventura Lines) on the original Metrolink system. As of August 2016, 20 trains run Los Angeles to San Bernardino on weekdays. It is the first of the seven Metrolink lines to run on both Saturday and Sunday, with 10 trains to San Bernardino on Saturdays and 7 on Sundays. Two Saturday and two Sunday trains would continue to the downtown Riverside station until July 5, 2014, when weekend service on the

91 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 s ...

began.

Route

After leaving Union Station and crossing the

Los Angeles River , name_etymology = , image = File:Los Angeles River from Fletcher Drive Bridge 2019.jpg , image_caption = L.A. River from Fletcher Drive Bridge , image_size = 300 , map = LARmap.jpg , map_size ...

, the line follows the

San Bernardino Freeway Interstate 10 (I-10) is a transcontinental Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from Santa Monica, California to Jacksonville, Florida. The segment of I-10 in California runs east from Santa Monica through Los Angeles, San Bernar ...

and El Monte Busway until just after the Cal State L.A. station; it then runs in the median of the San Bernardino Freeway to the El Monte Station along the former route of the

Pacific Electric Railway The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway syst ...

San Bernardino Line The San Bernardino Line is a Metrolink line running between Downtown Los Angeles east through the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire to San Bernardino, with express service to Redlands. It is one of the three initial lines (along with th ...

. Starting at El Monte, the line parallels the

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 Pac ...

's Sunset Route (ex- Southern Pacific) for a few miles before turning northeast at Bassett onto a Southern Pacific branch. At (a former Southern Pacific/

Pacific Electric The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned Public transport, mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electr ...

- Santa Fe crossing), it switches to the Santa Fe; from Claremont to just west of San Bernardino it follows what was the Santa Fe's

Pasadena Subdivision The Pasadena Subdivision is the remnant branch line of the former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) Los Angeles Second District. The line currently branches off of Metrolink’s San Bernardino Line at CP Cambridge in Claremont. The ...

(and before that the Second District of the LA Division, the Santa Fe passenger main line). From San Bernardino Depot, the line follows the Santa Fe's Redlands branch line towards Downtown Redlands. The San Bernardino Line is mostly single track with seven passing sidings and short sections of

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...

near Covina, between Pomona and Montclair, west of Fontana, and throughout San Bernardino.

Expansion

When the line opened on October 26, 1992, service extended only as far as Pomona. It was incrementally extended to Claremont that December, Montclair the following February, then finally to San Bernardino in May 1993. Saturday service was added in 1997 and Sunday service in 1998.

San Bernardino Associated Governments San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG or SanBAG) was an association of the San Bernardino County local governments and the regional transportation planning agency Including also regional planning organization for the county, with policy ...

(SANBAG) completed an environmental impact report (EIR) in 2015 to extend Metrolink service southeast from the current eastern terminus in San Bernardino to Redlands. The extension will follow the Redlands Subdivision and comprises two projects. The Downtown San Bernardino Passenger Rail Project extended Metrolink southeast one mile via

age to a new terminus at the

San Bernardino Transit Center The San Bernardino Transit Center (Metrolink designation San Bernardino–Downtown) is an intermodal transit center in downtown San Bernardino, California, United States. It is owned and operated by Omnitrans, the area's public transportatio ...

. The project's

groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are ...

was in February 2014; at that time, the extension was expected to be completed by mid-2016. , the completion date had been extended to 2017. Construction work on the extension continued through March and April 2017. Test trains began running on the tracks in April 2017. This phase of the project opened to the public on December 16, 2017.

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers ...

is a rail extension to Redlands. By December 2015, SANBAG decided that this second phase of the project, from the San Bernardino Transit Center to Redlands, would no longer be a Metrolink extension, but rather an independent system. SANBAG planned to use

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

s (DMUs) and have

Omnitrans Omnitrans, stylized as "OmniTrans," is a public transportation agency in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The largest transit operator within San Bernardino County, it serves the San Bernardino Valley. The agency was established ...

operate the system. However, San Bernardino Line express limited-stop trains would run on part of the extension, to a new station near the Downtown Redlands station. Construction was planned to begin in 2017, however groundbreaking took place in July 2019 with a 2022 opening. The selected route runs between the Downtown San Bernardino station and the University of Redlands with stops at Tippecanoe Avenue,

Esri Esri (; Environmental Systems Research Institute) is an American multinational geographic information system (GIS) software company. It is best known for its ArcGIS products. With a 43% market share, Esri is the world's leading supplier of GIS ...

, and Downtown Redlands, adjacent to the Redlands Santa Fe Depot. Omnitrans was removed as the system's operator in 2019 amid mounting deficits, and Metrolink took over construction and procurement. Arrow opened on October 24, 2022. Arrow's DMU sets have been studied for wider deployment on the rest of the San Bernardino Line. The rolling stock is the new

EMD F125 The EMD F125 "Spirit" is a four-axle passenger diesel locomotive manufactured by Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) for the North American market since 2015. It is powered by a Caterpillar C175-20 V20 diesel engine rated at . The locomotive is capable ...

, and others were MPI MPXpress, EMD F59PH, and some cab cars.

Stations

The San Bernardino Line has 15 stations, plus two events-only stations. Express trains only serve seven of the busiest stations on the line. They are, from west to east:

References

External links

San Bernardino Line schedule

San Bernardino extension page
on the San Bernardino Associated Governments website {{San Bernardino Metrolink (California) lines Public transportation in Los Angeles County, California Public transportation in San Bernardino County, California Transportation in San Bernardino, California Baldwin Park, California Claremont, California Covina, California Eastside Los Angeles Fontana, California Montclair, California Pomona, California Pomona Valley Rancho Cucamonga, California Rialto, California Upland, California Railway lines opened in 1992 1992 establishments in California Proposed railway lines in California 2017 in rail transport Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Railway lines in highway medians Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway lines