The Point: The Riverside-Downtown Station Layover Facility is expected to open in April

It’s all about the space. In the past, RCTC and Metrolink have struggled with having enough room to store and maintain trains at the end of each shift. Expanding the Riverside-Downtown Station Layover Facility will solve that problem.

RCTC began construction last April of the expanded layover facility, which is scheduled to open next month. The facility will allow crews to complete minor maintenance on locomotives and rail cars on-site, refuel, and deep-clean the passenger cars to meet Metrolink’s health and safety standards.

All of this will help trains be on their way, bright and early, for commuters bound for Los Angeles and Orange County. The Riverside-Downtown Station is the only station other than Los Angeles Union Station to serve three Metrolink lines, the 91/Perris Valley Line, the Inland Empire/Orange County Line, and the Riverside Line.

Trains leave the station as early as 4:35 a.m. on weekdays, so saving time the night before adds efficiency.

Crews have been working during the past year to extend the existing layover facility tracks, constructing second and third tracks for train storage, and building drainage facilities, electrical systems, lighting fixtures, security fencing, access gates, utility relocations, and water and sewer connections.

As the southern California region continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and service begins to increase, the improved layover facility will be vital to maintaining and expanding passenger rail service to and from Riverside County. The approximately $6 million project was funded with a series of Federal Transit Administration grants.

The Point: Project will allow more night storage of trains to make Metrolink service more efficient

The Riverside County Transportation Commission will begin construction in mid-March to expand the Metrolink train layover facility at the Riverside-Downtown Station. The project will allow more trains to be housed at the station at the end of each night shift, which will allow for more efficient passenger rail service.

Construction activities will include track improvements north of the train platform, new drainage facilities, new electrical systems, lighting fixtures, security fencing, access gates, utility relocations, and water and sewer connections.

The improvements will allow seven trains to be housed overnight at the station; currently five trains are stored there each night. The work also will increase flexibility of the order that trains leave the station each morning and enable light maintenance work and fueling to be performed at the Riverside Station, rather than at other maintenance facilities.

Work will occur on the west side of station near Vine Street and is expected to last through late 2020. The station will remain active during construction and Metrolink service will continue to start on weekdays at 4:35 a.m. The City of Riverside Noise Ordinance allows construction between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, and between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday. No construction activity is scheduled on Sundays or federal holidays.

Some demolition work will be required during construction. This work will generate noise.

For questions or more information, email info@rctc.org or call 951-787-7141.