Sacramento RT Light Rail

The Sacramento RT Light Rail system (reporting mark SCRT) is a 42.9 mi (69.0 km)[1] light rail system, consisting of three rail lines, 54 stations, and 76 vehicles. It is operated by the Sacramento Regional Transit District.

Sacramento RT Light Rail
A Siemens Duewag U2A in downtown Sacramento.
Overview
LocaleSacramento, CA
Transit typeLight rail
Number of lines3
Number of stations54[1]
Daily ridership36,800 average weekday riders
(Q3 2018)[2]
Annual ridership9.7 million (2018)[3]
WebsiteSacramento Regional Transit District
Operation
Began operationMarch 12, 1987[4]
Operator(s)Sacramento Regional Transit District
Number of vehicles36 Siemens-Duewag U2A vehicles
and 40 CAF Class 200 vehicles[4]
Technical
System length42.9 mi (69.0 km)[1]
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in) (standard gauge)
ElectrificationOverhead lines, 750 V DC
System map
Sacramento RT Light Rail
System diagram
Watt/I-80
Watt/I-80 West
Roseville Road
Marconi Arcade
RT Facility
Swanston
Royal Oaks
Arden/Del Paso
Globe
7th & Richards/
Township 9
Alkali Flat/
La Valentina
Sacramento Valley
12th & I
(✱)
7th & I/8th & H (
County
Center
)
Cathedral
Square
(
11th & K
10th & K
)
8th & K (
St. Rose of
Lima Park
)
9th & K (
St. Rose of
Lima Park
)
closed
2016
7th & K
7th & Capitol
8th & Capitol
8th & O
Archives Plaza
13th Street
R Street Yard
16th Street
Broadway
23rd Street
4th Avenue/
Wayne Hultgren
29th Street
City College
39th Street
Fruitridge
48th Street
47th Avenue
59th Street
Florin
University/
65th Street
Meadowview
Power Inn
Morrison Creek
College Greens
Franklin
Watt/Manlove
Center Parkway
Starfire
Cosumnes River
College
Tiber
Butterfield
Mather Field/Mills
Zinfandel
Cordova
Town Center
Sunrise
Hazel
Iron Point
Glenn
Historic Folsom

Key
paid parking
bus connections
free parking
bike lockers available
customer service & sales

All stops are accessible except 12th & I southbound

Light rail stop at K Street Mall, Downtown Sacramento.

Sacramento's light rail system, with an average of 36,800 weekday daily boardings in Q3 2018,[2] is the sixteenth busiest in the United States.

History

Prior to 1980 efforts by community organizers led by the Modern Transit Society to bring light rail to Sacramento were stopped by the Regional Transit District Administration and Board of Directors.

In 1980 a new General Manager, Bob Nelson, was hired.

A management troika of GM Nelson, RT General Counsel John Kettleson, and Public Affairs Director, Ombudsman and Special Assistant GM Bill Green, was successful in completely reorganizing the agency, vastly improving service, reversing its negative public reputation with a focused positive PR and marketing campaign, and obtaining swift approval and funding for a bold new light rail project.

The light rail system opened in 1987. The new line linked the northeastern (Interstate 80) and eastern (Route 50) corridors with Downtown Sacramento. [5] More specifically, the "starter line" started at Watt/I-80 station to Butterfield station. [6] As light rail ridership increased, RT continued to expand the light rail system. In September 1998, the line was extended from Butterfield station to Mather Field/Mills station. In September 2003, Sacramento Regional Transit opened the first phase of the South Line(Now called the Blue Line), which was a 6.3-mile (10.1 km) extension to South Sacramento. In June 2004, light rail was extended from the Mather Field/Mills station to Sunrise Boulevard, and on October 15, 2005, a 7.4-mile (11.9 km) extension from the Sunrise station to the city of Folsom was opened.

In December 2006, the final leg of the Amtrak/Folsom project was extended by 0.7-mile (1.1 km), to the downtown Sacramento Valley Station, connecting light rail with Amtrak inter-city and Capitol Corridor services as well as local and commuter buses. In 2012, SACRT completed the first phase of the Green Line. The second phase of the line is planned to reach to the Sacramento International Airport. [7] (For more information, go to the "Future Projects" section.) In August 2015, RT extended service south to Cosumnes River College.[8] RT currently operates 97 bus routes in a 418-square-mile (1,080 km2) service area.

Sacramento RT Light Rail ridership peaked at 16.8 million rides in 2008, but has declined to 9.7 million rides in 2018, a drop of 42% during that period.[3]

System

Lines

Blue Line: North Sacramento–Downtown–South Sacramento

Gold Line: Downtown–East Sacramento–Rancho Cordova–Folsom

Green Line: Downtown–River District

Headways

All routes operate every 15 minutes on weekdays and every 30 minutes at night and on the weekend.

Stations

The stations along the network are open-air structures featuring passenger canopies for protection from adverse weather. Twenty-six stations offer bus transfer services and 22 have park-and-ride lots with a total of 10,113 available parking spaces.[1] Works of public art included at several stations were developed as part of the RT Public Art Program, and represent an array of media including, mosaics, sculptures, metalwork and murals. Each was commissioned to incorporate an identity and sense of place unique to the neighborhood surrounding the station.[9]

Numbers provided are average weekday boardings and alights:[1]

  • 16th Street: 7,100
  • Meadowview: 5,400
  • St. Rose of Lima Park: 3,900

Rolling stock

The LRV fleet is composed of cars from three different builders: 36 from Siemens-Duewag U2A, some of which have been in use since the RT opened; 40 newer ones delivered in 2003 from Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, and 20 Urban Transportation Development Corporation cars purchased from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and refurbished by Siemens.[4]

The fleet will be further augmented by at least 28 brand new Siemens S700 series low floor light rail vehicles starting in 2022 with plans to eventually acquire 76 units to replace the existing aging fleet as additional funding is secured. [10][11]

Numbers Qty Built Manufacturer Model Notes
35 01 1912 American Car Company "California" car
101–126 26 1985–1986 Siemens-Duewag U2A
127–136 10 1990–1991 Siemens U2A
201
202–240
40 2002
2003
Construcciones y Auxiliar
de Ferrocarriles
SRV-I
301–320[12] 20 1987 Urban Transportation
Development Corporation
28 2022 Siemens S700 on order[14]

Future projects

With the acquisition of low-floor Siemens vehicles, the system's stations are planned to be reconfigured for level boarding.[14]

Sacramento RT has several plans to expand the light rail system, but most have been placed on hold due to a lack of funding.

The most recent Sacramento Regional Transit Master Plan, adopted September 2009 included plans to extend the system to Elk Grove, Roseville, and Citrus Heights. Such extensions are unlikely before 2050.[15][16]

Green Line to Sacramento International Airport

The Green Line extension to Sacramento International Airport will extend service 12 miles (19.3 km) to the airport via the Natomas neighborhood. [17][18] The line would extend northwest from the existing Green Line terminus at the 7th & Richards / Township 9 station. The plan to extend light rail to the airport has been in the works since early 1990s, and is the project most requested by residents of the Sacramento region.[19] The agency is currently completing environmental documents for the project.[20]

The project, estimated at nearly $1 billion, would be the costliest in RT's history and securing funding has been a challenge.[19] Transportation officials most recently proposed funding the project with a half-cent sales tax increase in Sacramento County, but the measure was narrowly defeated in November 2016. This project is planned to start construction by the year 2022.

See also

References

  1. "RT Fact Sheet" (PDF). Sacramento Regional Transit District. June 2015. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  2. "APTA Ridership Report - Q3 2018 Report" (PDF). American Public Transportation Association (APTA) (via: http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Pages/ridershipreport.aspx). November 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2019. External link in |publisher= (help)
  3. "Sacramento Regional Transit District (Sacramento RT) | National Transit Database". www.nationaltransitdatabase.org. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
  4. "Sacramento Regional Transit Light Rail FACT SHEET" (PDF). Sacramento Regional Transit Light Rail. February 2008. Retrieved January 23, 2007.
  5. "SacRT History". www.sacrt.com. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  6. . October 13, 1999 https://web.archive.org/web/19991013063112/http://sacrt.com/Service_Info/Routes_Schedules/Current/maps/R514.gif. Archived from the original on October 13, 1999. Retrieved May 2, 2019. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. "Home". Green Line 2 Airport. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  8. "Press Releases - Sacramento Regional Transit". iportal.sacrt.com. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  9. "Art on Track – Station Art Along Light Rail" (PDF). Sacramento Regional Transit District. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 3, 2010. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  10. "SacRT Purchases New Low-Floor Light Rail Vehicles" (pdf). Sacramento Regional Transit Light Rail. April 2020. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  11. "SacRT trains to get low-profile upgrade: Sacramento-built light rail vehicles part of system-wide modernization". https://spotlight.newsreview.com. Retrieved August 22, 2020. External link in |website= (help)
  12. "Rolling Stock (LRV)". Sacramento Regional Transit. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
  13. "Siemens-refurbished light rail vehicles to begin operating on new Sacramento Regional Transit line | Siemens USA Newsroom". news.usa.siemens.biz. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
  14. Arrington, Debbie (July 6, 2020). "SacRT trains to get low-profile upgrade: Sacramento-built light rail vehicles part of system-wide modernization". Sacramento News & Review. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  15. https://www.sacog.org/2020-metropolitan-transportation-plansustainable-communities-strategy-update. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. "Sacramento TransitAction Regional Transit Master Plan: Executive Summary" (PDF). Sacramento Regional Transit District. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  17. "Home". Green Line 2 Airport. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  18. Sacramento RT website: "Green Line to the Airport" Archived May 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  19. Bizjak, Tony (January 7, 2015). "When will Sacramento get light rail to the airport? Not soon". The Sacramento Bee. ISSN 0890-5738. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
  20. "Green Line to the Airport fact sheet" (PDF). Retrieved July 10, 2018.

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