Ventura County Line

The Metrolink Ventura County Line is a commuter rail line serving Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles, in the Southern California system.[2] The line is the successor of the short lived CalTrain commuter rail line.

Ventura County Line
The Metrolink station at Chatsworth
Overview
Type	Commuter rail line
System	Metrolink
Status	Operating
Locale	Greater Los Angeles Area and Ventura County
Termini	Los Angeles Union Station East Ventura
Stations	12
Daily ridership	3,950 (2012)[1]
Operation
Operator(s)	Metrolink
Character	Elevated and surface-level
Technical
Line length	70.9 miles (114.1 km) (average length between stations: 6.445 miles)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in)
Operating speed	39.22 mph (63.12 km/h) (average for trains that travel the full line length on Mon-Fri)
Route map Coast Starlight to Seattle Pacific Surfliner to San Luis Obispo East Ventura Oxnard Camarillo Moorpark Simi Valley Santa Susana Tunnel Chatsworth Northridge Van Nuys Burbank Airport–South Antelope Valley Downtown Burbank Glendale Los Angeles Union Station San Bernardino 91/Perris Valley Orange County Riverside All stations are accessible

Schedules

Metrolink trains on the Ventura County Line run weekdays only, mostly during peak commuter hours, and so with limited midday service. From Union Station—Downtown Los Angeles (as of July 2011):

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 (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 Orange Line (June 2012) and Metro Local valley bus lines, the LADOT Commuter Express service; and buses from Santa Clarita Transit, and Simi Valley Transit. 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.[3]

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.[4]

History

See also: CalTrain

Service on this line began in 1992 as one of Metrolink's original three lines, with service from Moorpark to Los Angeles Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles. The line was extended to Camarillo and Oxnard in 1994 after the Northridge earthquake, then to East Ventura in 2002.

A trial service on Saturday was tried in 2020 for this normally weekday only line.[5] The Amtrak service does run on the weekends.

Accidents

2008 Chatsworth train collision

Main article: 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

Main article: 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 CNN 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 (NTSB), in a tweet, acknowledged the incident and stated they were launching an investigation.[6][7][8][9][10][11] 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.[12]

Stations

Station	Location	Address	Connections
Ventura County Line
Ventura County
Ventura—East	Ventura	6175 Ventura Blvd, Ventura 93003
Oxnard	Oxnard	201 E. 4th Street, Oxnard 93030	Amtrak: Coast Starlight, Pacific Surfliner
Camarillo	Camarillo	30 Lewis Rd, Camarillo 93010	Amtrak: Pacific Surfliner
Moorpark	Moorpark	300 E. High St, Moorpark 93021	Amtrak: Pacific Surfliner
Simi Valley	Simi Valley	5050 E. Los Angeles Ave, Simi Valley 93063	Amtrak: Coast Starlight, Pacific Surfliner
Los Angeles County
Chatsworth	Chatsworth	10040 Old Depot Plaza Rd, Chatsworth 91311	Amtrak: Pacific Surfliner Metro:  G Line
Northridge	Northridge	8775 Wilbur Ave, Northridge 91324
Van Nuys	Van Nuys	7724 Van Nuys Blvd, Van Nuys 91405	Amtrak: Coast Starlight, Pacific Surfliner
Burbank Airport—South	Burbank	3854 W. Empire Ave, Burbank 91505	Amtrak: Coast Starlight, Pacific Surfliner Walkway to Hollywood Burbank Airport
Burbank–Downtown		201 N. Front St, Burbank 91502	Metrolink: Antelope Valley
Glendale	Glendale	400 W. Cerritos Ave, Glendale 91204	Metrolink: Antelope Valley Amtrak: Pacific Surfliner
LA Union Station	Downtown Los Angeles	800 N. Alameda St, Los Angeles 90012	Metrolink: 91/Perris Valley Antelope Valley Orange County Riverside San Bernardino Amtrak: Coast Starlight, Pacific Surfliner, Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited, Texas Eagle Metro:  B Line  D Line  J Line  L Line FlyAway to LAX

References

1. "Metrolink Fact Sheet for June 2012" (PDF). Metrolink. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2015. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
2. Hattem, Matt Van (June 30, 2006). "Metrolink, The commuter railroad serving Los Angeles". Trains Magazine. Retrieved October 10, 2006.
3. "Train Schedules | Metrolink". Metrolinktrains.com. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
4. SMA Rail Consulting (April 2016). "California Passenger Rail Network Schematics" (PDF). California Department of Transportation.
5. Harris, Mike (January 17, 2020). "Metrolink to add Saturday service on VC line in April in pilot program". Ventura County Star. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
6. "Metrolink train hits a vehicle in Oxnard". vcstar.com. The E.W. Scripps Co. February 24, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
7. "Alerts, Service Advisories and Planned Advisories | Metrolink". Metrolinktrains.com. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
8. "Abandoned truck's driver arrested after commuter train crash". Msn.com. February 25, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
9. Lah, Kyung (February 25, 2015). "Train technology prevented tragedy in California". CNN.com. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
10. "Truck driver who caused California derailment arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
11. "Truck driver arrested after train crash". Usatoday.com. February 25, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
12. Nelson, Laura J. (March 1, 2015). "Amtrak train strikes car in Camarillo; no serious injuries reported". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 2, 2015.

External links

Template:Attached KML/Ventura County Line

KML is from Wikidata

• Belmond, Sylvie (March 10, 2006). "Commuters praise trains, grade crossings improved". Simi Valley Acorn. Retrieved October 10, 2006.
• Metrolink Schedules
• Ventura County Line Route Map — on OpenStreetMap