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miles however the 25 mile portion between la and fullerton is also part of bnsf s transcontinental mainline freight railroad probably making it the highest freight volume commuter line in the country if not beyond in addition while southeast la county is densely populated the portion of the corridor between downtown la and orange county largely travels through industrial areas with very low density in the immediate vicinity due to the high demand for industrial space in socal the industrial areas along the line are not underutilized and the prospect for greatly increased density is probably small compare density in la to orange county the densest part of the corridor is orange county from irvine north note that significant development has been occurring in irvine and mapped densities there are probably a good bit too low the densest parts of orange county in santa ana approach the density of the densest parts of the san fernando valley south of irvine there is still some density but the development pattern is more like santa clarita in terms of demographics while southeast la county is generally working class the corridor passes through portions that are more middle class or are actually too sparsely populated to generate reliable data in orange county the corridor generally passes through middle income areas to the north and high income areas to the south the exceptions are significant working class populations in anaheim and santa ana adding it all up the patterns suggest a strong regional express rail type service between la and irvine with stop spacing of 3 5 miles and 15 minute peak frequency some infill stops are warranted but not every mile like in the valley infill stops should focus on connections to other strong transit corridors service to job centers like irvine and denser stop spacing in high density areas like santa ana south of irvine density drops incomes rise and jobs are more dispersed this area will already be getting higher intercity frequency if the surfliner expands as hoped and probably doesn t need much more than traditional us commuter rail 91 line and ie oc line the 91 line splits off from the orange county line at fullerton and continues east to riverside at 61 miles from downtown la from there it continues north to san bernardino 71 miles from la via the 91 line compared to 56 miles via the san bernardino line the 91 line takes almost all the freight volume from the orange county line meaning that any major expansion of service would likely require significant new track there is some density along the line in corona and riverside after a long low density stretch through santa ana canyon north of riverside density drops off until reaching colton and san bernardino density is greater than ventura and the antelope valley but less than orange county or the older suburbs of san bernardino county the line does travel through some lower income portions of riverside county with high income areas flanking it on both sides incomes are probably lower than the san bernardino county portion of the san bernardino line except for the city of san bernardino itself the inland empire orange county line ie oc line shares the whole riverside county portion of the 91 line before branching off to the south in orange county linking up with the orange county line just north of orange station and continuing to irvine starting from san bernardino riverside is 10 miles santa ana is 49 miles and irvine is 59 miles with santa ana and irvine as major job centers in their own right the ie oc line serves major suburb to suburb commutes forming a large wye with the orange county and 91 lines the setup creates an unusual reverse branching scenario where service on the legs of the wye can never be as frequent as it is on the trunks notably anaheim station is located on one of the legs the orange county line is probably stronger than the other two legs of the wye with the 91 line ie oc line to riverside being the weakest of the three trunks all taken together both the 91 line and the ie oc line probably warrant a zone express level of service that would create regional express rail level of service on the riverside trunk which might be too frequent this could be addressed by having 91 line trains terminate at riverside instead of san bernardino since the san bernardino line will be a much faster ride to downtown la than the 91 line for that city however it might be beneficial to maintain frequent service between san bernardino and riverside themselves riverside line what to say about the riverside line i ve clearly left it for last as the odd man out the entire corridor from la to ontario is up s main line transcontinental railroad meaning any plan for frequent service would require costly upgrades the corridor is also heavily industrial west of the 605 it passes through industrial commerce with the commerce montebello station getting very low ridership east of the 605 all the way to pomona it passes through the city of industry which is flanked by relatively high income neighborhoods it passes through the huge industrial area of east ontario and western jurupa valley then through very low density portions of jurupa valley on its way to riverside frustratingly between industry and east ontario there are two decent nodes downtown pomona and downtown ontario and ontario airport however given the low potential for the rest of the line it likely doesn t make sense to do anything other than traditional commuter rail phasing given the existing density and demographics along the system an electrification program could be phased in over time priority should be given to the san bernardino line the san fernando valley portions of the ventura and antelope valley lines and the orange county line to irvine after that the riverside and ie oc lines would follow and perhaps the antelope valley line electrification to the relatively wealthy and low density suburbs in ventura county and southern orange county should be the lowest priority unless there are significant changes proposed to land use in the future the whole lossan corridor south to san diego should be electrified service should be frequent enough to justify the cost i m less sure about ventura county and santa barbara county which have much lower populations as an aside for air quality reasons electrification should ultimately include bnsf and up to points beyond the socal mountains that trap air in the basins that would probably look something like lancaster victorville and palm springs as limits for electrification given the line s poor ridership potential west of pomona the best thing to do might be to just try to work with up to get a few more slots and run a fast express train stopping at ontario airport ontario pomona industry and downtown la this entry was posted in uncategorized and tagged metrolink regional rail on october 28 2018 by letsgola is union station obsolete 7 replies this question has been bothering me for a while the momentum behind current plans is so large that it s probably just a philosophical question but i still think it s worth examining in detail both for la to think about what we re trying to do and as a case study for other cities that might be considering transit investments an historic mistake a fair amount of money has already been invested in improving transit at union station including the red line the gold line the bus plaza the silver line and metrolink an even larger amount of money is planned to be spent soon including run through tracks for metrolink and amtrak high speed rail the union station master plan and other potential investments like the north end of the west santa ana corridor there s just one problem union station is in the wrong place by the time union station opened in 1939 downtown la s center of gravity had already shifted south to the spring st financial district various redevelopment schemes have tried to pull it north notably the development of the civic center roughly bounded by the 101 los angeles st 2 nd st and figueroa st in the 1950s and urban renewal on bunker hill roughly bounded by 1 st st hill st 5 th st and the 110 from the 1960s through the 1980s however these schemes have also moved downtown s center west away from union station it s also worth remembering the reason union station was already in the wrong place when it opened part of the scheme was a racist plan to demolish a low income chinese immigrant neighborhood the station replaced terminals operated by the atsf railroad at 2 nd santa fe and by the sp railroad at 5 th central these were also inconvenient locations relative to la s central business district cbd but no less so than the current location and the sp s location was arguably more convenient to the spring st financial district today downtown s centers of activity continue to move and south and southeast the construction of la live and expansion of the convention center has made figueroa and olympic a busy intersection with many hotels in the area residential development is taking place in many parts of downtown but the most intense development is south of 7 th st to about pico blvd the arts district and fashion district have emerged as growing office districts despite relatively poor transit access for example the city market development will be well east of the blue line and red line part of this problem will need to be addressed with better rapid transit to those districts but with renewed focus on improving metrolink it s worth reviewing the best practices for commuter rail and how metrolink might better serve downtown s transit needs what should commuter rail do commuter rail serves longer trips to the cbd than rapid transit reaching deeper into suburban areas the best systems compliment the city s rapid transit network and do not rely on the rapid transit network to serve last mile trips on the downtown end of the trip this means that the terminal should be in walking distance of large employment centers downtown both in the us and abroad significant investments have been made to improve commuter rail in this regard paris developed the regional express rail rer network with tunnels through the central city to connect lines that formerly stub ended at terminals towards the city s edges seoul subway line 1 operates as a hybrid rer rapid transit type system running through the heart of the city with closely spaced stops but reaching far into the suburbs with larger stop spacing san francisco is preparing to spend a considerable sum of money to extend caltrain service from its fringe location at 4 th king to the centrally located transbay terminal berlin connected its regional rail through the city in a system known as the s bahn philadelphia connected its regional rail network with the center city commuter connection allowing riders to exit in the city s cbd at suburban station and jefferson station rather than the peripherally located 30 th st station boston s south station is located adjacent to the cbd with many riders able to walk to their final destination and many lines serve back bay a subsidiary business district north station is located further from the cbd which is seen as a weakness and the state has intermittently pursued plans to connect north station and south station with a tunnel this would allow north side riders to exit at south station or back bay alleviating the need for a transfer to the subway despite penn station and grand central station both being relatively walkable to midtown manhattan many transit advocates consider it to be a serious planning failure that arc and now gateway do not plan to connect the two stations viewed this way la may be about to embark on a plan to invest a lot of money in upgrading metrolink and union station without resolving a fundamental weakness metrolink relies on the red purple lines and regional connector to make last mile connections downtown this increases crowding on the rapid transit network and is an inefficient use of vehicle capacity with peak loading driven by a large number of passengers who ride the system for only one or two stations los angeles rer a plan to increase metrolink frequency should look at options to resolve this weakness fortunately it does not need to be done at the same time and could be done in the future if desired though as time passes the sunk costs of investments in union station are going to increase the central feature of such a plan would be a tunnel from the ventura antelope valley lines north of union station through the cbd and connecting to the orange county 91 lines somewhere near redondo junction there are many potential route options but the general destinations to be served should include the civic center bunker hill the financial district la live and the fashion district five stations would likely be too many but these destinations can probably be served by three stations from mission junction the tunnel would run generally southwest towards the civic center and then follow one of downtown s north south arterials all of them between figueroa st and spring st should be analyzed to determine the best option excluding flower st and hill st where the cost of going parallel and beneath the regional connector or red line would likely be too high figueroa st or hope st would serve the financial district and la live best but provide poor connections to the civic center and places east of hill st the opposite would be true of broadway and spring st grand ave or olive st may prove to be the best well placed stations could provide good connectivity to all destinations and the rapid transit network a civic center bunker hill station between 1 st and 2 nd could connect to both the red line and regional connector a financial district la live station between 8 th and 9 th could provide underground connections to 7 th metro the tunnel would then turn and run southeast to redondo jct the options here are less numerous and may have less appealing trade offs everything between 9 th st and washington blvd should be studied 9 th st offers the most direct route to redondo jct and provides a good location for a fashion district station around 9 th san pedro however the further north the turn east is made the less convenient the route would be for serving la live 11 th or 12 th st might be a good compromise as it would allow the turn to be further south while still allowing for a good fashion district location the location of the turn might be tricky with all the development going on in the area now washington blvd would make it possible to connect to the blue line and would offer the possibility of grade separating the blue line at the same time but is too far south to adequately serve the fashion district below are some general concepts that show possible locations for the tunnels and stations in a future post i d like to look at the branches of metrolink in more detail and discuss what makes sense for each for...