The Antelope Valley Line (AVL) Capacity and Service Improvements Program is a proposed project that aims to improve service frequency and reliability along the 76.6-mile long rail corridor between Lancaster, the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys and downtown Los Angeles.
The project aims to add track to allow more frequent service on the line, as well as speedier service. The goal is to enable regular interval scheduling of 30 minute bi-directional commuter rail service from LA Union Station to the City of Santa Clarita and hourly service to the end of AVL corridor in the City of Lancaster. The existing commuter rail service patterns today ranges from 30 minutes during peak service to up to two hours during off-peak service hours.
The AVL Final EIR provides corrections and additions to the Draft EIR as well as responses to comments received during the Draft EIR’s public review period that began on July 28, 2021 and ended on September 10, 2021. Responses to comments received during the Draft EIR circulation are provided in Chapter 3.0 Responses to Comments of the Final EIR.
The Final EIR is available on-line here. A copy of the document will also be on file at the Dorothy Peyton Gray Transportation Library at Metro Headquarters. Please email library@metro.net for access.
The proposed project is exempt from CEQA but Metro has elected to prepare a Draft EIR to provide a clear record of the potential environmental impacts of the project.
The Metro Board of Directors will consider certification of the Final EIR in compliance with CEQA at their next meeting on Dec. 2. The meeting will be streamed online and you will be able to view here or dial in to listen at 888-251-2949.
If you have questions regarding this project, email avl@metro.net.
Categories: Projects
Hopefully this is the start of a vast set of improvements that can actually make Metrolink a useful all day service 7 days a week rather than the mainly peak commuter service it is now. Metrolink needs to show that it’s serious about this and not just paying lip service to it as unfortunately exemplified by providing “Saturday service” via merely a single train in each direction on the VC line and calling it a day. What a joke. Also, Metrolink still has not restored pre pandemic service on the SB line as the latest westbound train from San Bernardino leaves around 430 pm which was not the case before Covid, as there were much later trains than that beforehand. C’mon… Metrolink makes LACMTA look downright robust when it comes to service levels, even when taking into account their primary service patterns (regional vs local/intracity).
Minor correction: the WEEKDAY SB line schedule has the latest westbound train at around 4:30 pm. Weekends still have later westbound trains.
Historically what is under consideration is the restoration of double tracks that existed for over a century until removed by the Southern Pacific. Hopefully none the recent improvements will have to be reconfigured due to lack of planning that the MTA is so famous for. We saw this problem with upgrades to the 405 Freeway in West Los Angeles, the Green Line connection into LAX and the so called upgrades to various bus terminals that resulted in the reduction of space to park buses and provide comfort for waiting passengers.
From FEIR, it looks like three long passing tracks and a station upgrade.
But all day service is impressive. I think it will have more than the San Bernardino Line.
Hi, the link is broken for the FEIR. The website you cite has a link to a Dropbox login for Metro employees, and lower down it links to a public Dropbox folder that only contains the DEIR.
Hi Incognito —
Thanks for bringing that to our attention. I’m working on getting the correct link and will post it as soon as I get it. Thanks,
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source