Why Metrolink is shutting down the San Bernardino line for 2 days

A major portion of Metrolink’s 56.5-mile San Bernardino Line — the most popular line in the six-county commuter rail system — will be closed for two days this month.

The tracks will be closed between the Montclair TransCenter station and the San Bernardino Downtown Station on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 11-12, the agency announced.

The track closure, which spans 23 miles, is necessary so workers can upgrade the track as part of a regularly planned maintenance program, said Scott Johnson, Metrolink spokesman.

Metrolink will operate the commuter service only from Los Angeles Union Station to Montclair. Riders who want to continue to Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana or San Bernardino, for example, must find their own transportation. The agency will not be providing an alternative means of transport, Johnson said.

Riders from the eastern portions of San Bernardino County can take an Omnitrans bus to the Montclair TransCenter or drive there and park at the bus/train depot, then board the Metrolink train to Los Angeles, he suggested. Omnitrans buses going east also stop at the Montclair hub.

The line is expected to return to full operation on Dec. 13.

“It’s normal … track-maintenance work,” Johnson explained. “It is happening all the time. But this project is a bit more expansive in terms of the amount of track we are upgrading.”

Workers will be doing maintenance and rehabilitation on 4,500 feet of rail throughout the closed portion.

“We are shutting down the railroad over the weekend to minimize the impact on our weekday service,” Johnson added.

However, the locomotive-driven train line runs 18 trains on Saturdays and 14 on Sundays.

The overall Metrolink system, which includes seven service lines in Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, is taking on more riders on the weekends than the weekdays recently, a somewhat unusual phenomenon for a commuter rail service.

On weekends in November, the San Bernardino Line averaged more than 3,500 boardings, compared to 1,500 boardings on the same line in January.

Metrolink weekday ridership has recovered about 30% of pre-pandemic levels, but weekend ridership has recovered 50%, the agency reported.

The heavier weekend ridership numbers suggest more people are taking Metrolink for weekend and leisure travel as compared to weekday commuting, according to Johnson.