Event held to celebrate Metrolink platform that will serve Bob Hope Airport in Burbank

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The new platform is funded — with $3.7 million from Metro — but the environmental study must be completed before construction can begin. The platform is expected to be in service in 2015 and means that both Metrolink lines that serve the San Fernando Valley — the Ventura County and Antelope Valley lines — will offer stops serving the airport.

Here’s the news release from Metrolink:

Metrolink, Metro and the Bob Hope Airport hold groundbreaking event for the 

Bob Hope Airport-Hollywood Way Metrolink Station 

LOS ANGELES – Today, Metrolink, Metro and the Bob Hope Airport held a groundbreaking event for the Bob Hope Airport-Hollywood Way Metrolink Station. Located at San Fernando Boulevard and Hollywood Way, the station will supplement and expand “plane-to-train” connectivity.

This project will complement the existing Burbank-Bob Hope Airport Metrolink Station on the Ventura County Line and the Regional Intermodal Transportation Center (RITC) being constructed by the airport to accommodate a bus transfer facility and rental car facilities. The new Bob Hope Airport-Hollywood Way Metrolink Station and the Antelope Valley Line Infrastructure Improvement Strategy will also improve rail connectivity with the airport.

“With this new Bob Hope Airport Metrolink station, residents of the Santa Clarita, Antelope and North San Fernando Valleys will have safe, convenient and economical Metrolink rail service to the national air travel and local employment opportunities available at and around this regional airport,” said Metro Chair Michael D. Antonovich. Connecting our airports to our rail system is a top priority for the region and will increase mobility and provide faster, more seamless transit options for residents throughout Southern California.”

Metro has been coordinating with the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority during the development of both the RITC and the new Bob Hope Airport-Hollywood Way Metrolink Station. Metro has allocated $3.7 million of Measure R funds towards development of this station. Antonovich made the motion for the Metro Board to provide the funds.

While the existing Burbank-Bob Hope Airport Metrolink Station services both the agency’s Ventura County Line and Amtrak passengers, the new station will cater to Antelope Valley Line riders.

“We have worked very hard to expand the connectivity of Metrolink and the agency’s partnership with other transportation agencies, certainly including the Bob Hope Airport and Metro,” said Metrolink chairman and San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris. “When you look at Metrolink’s system, our lines essentially run parallel with every major thoroughfare in the region. This dynamic allows people to complete a trip to the airport without leaving their car at the terminal. It’s an outstanding opportunity.” 

The Bob Hope Airport also provides free SuperShuttle service to the Downtown Burbank Metrolink Station and to Metro’s North Hollywood Station, which allows connections to the Metro Red Line and Metro Orange Line.

“Metrolink connectivity with the airport is a key element of our vision for the airport as a partner in regional transportation. It’s great to see plane to train becoming a reality at Bob Hope Airport,” said airport Executive Director Dan Feger.

The new Bob Hope Airport-Hollywood Way Metrolink Station will be located only one mile from the airport terminals. Once this station is operational, in early 2015, the airport authority plans to operate a free shuttle bus service linking the terminal to this station.

ABOUT METROLINK (www.metrolinktrains.com)

Metrolink is Southern California’s regional commuter rail service in its 20th year of operation. The Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA), a joint powers authority made up of an 11-member board representing the transportation commissions of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, governs the service. Metrolink operates over seven routes through a six-county, 512 route-mile network. Metrolink is the third largest commuter rail agency in the United States based on directional route miles and the seventh largest based on annual ridership.

Video of the event after the jump!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FThVTrRf5ak]

Categories: Projects

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14 replies ›

  5. Until the link between the Red Line and the Airport is built, remember that Bob Hope Airport is already offering free SuperShuttle rides between those two points, as well as from the Airport to the Downtown Burbank Metrolink station.

  6. Yet another picture of office holders throw dirt on plastic in a parking lot.

  7. What a waste of money.

    Metrolink is not frequent enough for this. They should be building a light rail system to the airport.

  8. Can the Orange Line extend to the airport using street sections with signal priority/bus lanes? Seems to me that makes more sense. There could be one stop at Hollywood Way and a direct terminal connection. The cost would be minimal outside of increased operations. Having that airport connection on rail/transit maps would be a coup for Metro.

  9. If Metrolink was frequent, I could see myself using it to get to the airport.

    A Burbank Airport stop would be the last stop for the redline and would be a lightly used segment (LAX estimated at ~17K). The Red line going anywhere but west to the 405 would be repeating the same mistake. Too bad Metro rail to airports generates so much buzz… it is not the best idea.

  11. Another stop on the already slow Antelope Valley Line. I remember when there were no stops between Santa Clarita and Burbank way back in the early 90’s when Metrolink started. That was a neat 79mph run along San Fernando Rd, and they used to let us view right from the front of the cab car. No more. Too many stops just slows down the average speed.

    • Hi Mike;

      It is probably a project that’s feasible and it is a project that is in Metro’s long-range plan as a “tier 2” project that is a candidate for further definition down the line. In plain English, that means that it’s a project on Metro’s radar screen but no decision has been made yet to perform an environmental study on it, nor is there funding currently available for it.

      It has also been a project bandied about for years and is intriguing because it would tie the Red Line into the airport and make transferring potentially easier from Metrolink to Metro and vice versa.

      Of course, the big policy question here — as with all airport/transit projects — is this: is there enough demand to justify building it? I’m not sure we know the answer given that the smaller airports get a fraction of the passenger traffic that LAX receives and no one really knows how those numbers are going to change going forward.

      Steve Hymon
      Editor, The Source