Burbank officials announced that the California State Transportation Agency has awarded $107 million for a Metrolink Antelope Valley double track project as part of a $500 million grant to 17 recipients in Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program grants for transformative transit and rail projects.
This will be combined with Measure M funding to complete the project although the amount of the Measure M funding was not disclosed by but the total budget is over $220 million. This will result in 30-minute bi-directional service between Los Angeles Union Station and Santa Clarita, with trains stopping every 30 minutes at each station in both directions all day. Downtown Burbank will have trains even more frequently because of the Metrolink Ventura Line trains.
In the release Burbank Mayor Sharon Springer said, ““The $107 million in grant awards made to the Metrolink Antelope Valley double track project will help increase transit service, ease traffic congestion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Burbank Mayor Sharon Springer. “This is a big win for our community, and when you add the Ventura Line and Amtrak, we get close to our goal of a train from Burbank to downtown LA every 15 minutes.”
According to the California State Transportation Agency, this will add targeted capacity-increasing infrastructure, increase service in step with new capacity, and assess the feasibility of rail multiple unit and zero-emission propulsion service through a pilot project on the Metrolink Antelope Valley Line. Together, the components will allow regular 60-minute bi-directional service on the entire line, and 30-minute bi-directional service between Los Angeles Union Station and Santa Clarita.
Simone McFarland, Burbank’s Public Information Officer said by email, “This project increases ridership by helping to get some of the 128,000 people who commute into Burbank each day off the road. It will also be a terrific amenity to the Downtown, First Street Village and the La Terra project. As we add more housing and jobs in Downtown, this will help with traffic problems and parking Downtown and at the Metrolink parking lot.”
The project should be completed by 2027.
