In an effort to add ridership and get cars off the road, Metrolink trains may soon stop at two new stations in Los Angeles County — one at the Los Angeles General Medical Center in Boyle Heights and the other in Pico Rivera.
The stations are under study by LA Metro, the county transit agency that helps fund Metrolink, a heavy-rail passenger service that operates seven lines and 65 stations in Southern California.
LA Metro’s board voted on Thursday, June 22 to add $10 million to Metrolink’s regional rail program, which is exploring adding the stations.
The added stop at the L.A. County hospital campus would come off the San Bernardino Line, which has stops in Montclair, Pomona, Covina, Baldwin Park, El Monte, Cal State Los Angeles and downtown L.A.’s Union Station.
A station in Pico Rivera would be served by two Metrolink train lines, the 91/Perris Valley line and the Orange County line. The station would be located between the Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs Station and the Commerce Station, said Scott Johnson, Metrolink spokesman. The 91/Perris Valley line and the San Bernardino line are the two busiest in the Metrolink system.
A $500,000 feasibility study looking at the L.A. County hospital stop was completed in 2022. The study concluded that adding a station would benefit more than 9,600 essential hospital workers and visitors.
The study also found that having a direct stop at the hospital campus would help decrease traffic on streets in Boyle Heights and provide a carless transit service to support new additions planned for what was once called the LAC+USC Medical Center. Plans include additional housing and a Restorative Care Village that provides residential treatment for mental health care, substance use disorders and other services. A first phase costing $68.5 million was completed in July 2022.
“We are rebranding and reimagining what we are doing there,” said Supervisor and LA Metro board member Hilda Solis, whose motion for a study of a…
Read the full article here