Monrovia station

Monrovia is an at-grade light rail station on the L Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. It is located at the intersection of Duarte Road and Myrtle Avenue in Monrovia, California, after which the station is named.

Monrovia
L Line 
Monrovia station platform
General information
Location1641 South Primrose Avenue
Monrovia, California
Coordinates 34°07′59″N 118°00′12″W
Owned byLos Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2
Connections
Construction
Structure typeAt-grade
Parking350 spaces[1]
Bicycle facilitiesRacks and lockers[2]
AccessibleYes
History
Opened1926
RebuiltMarch 5, 2016 (2016-03-05)[3]
Services
Preceding station Metro Rail Following station
Arcadia
toward Atlantic
 L Line Duarte/City of Hope
toward APU/Citrus College
Future service
Preceding station Metro Rail Following station
Arcadia
toward Downtown Long Beach
 A Line Duarte/City of Hope
toward APU/Citrus College
Former services
Preceding station Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Following station
Arcadia
toward Los Angeles
 Main Line
Pasadena Subdivision
 Azusa
toward Chicago
Location

This station opened on March 5, 2016, as part of Phase 2A of the Foothill Extension project.[3][4] This station and all the other original Gold Line and Foothill Extension stations will be part of the A Line upon completion of the Regional Connector project in 2023.

History
Rail Mule car with passengers in Monrovia 1884. The mules are loaded on the platform as the car is ready to coast downhill on Myrtle Avenue to the Santa Fe train station

The Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad built the first train tracks and station in Monrovia in 1887. The Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad was founded in 1883, by James F. Crank with the goal of bringing a rail line to San Gabriel Valley from downtown Los Angeles. Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad was sold on May 20, 1887 into the California Central Railway. In 1889 this was consolidated into Southern California Railway Company. On January 17, 1906 Southern California Railway was sold to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and designated the Pasadena Subdivision.

Installed in 1887, a mule-drawn railway with a single passenger car, called the Myrtle Avenue Railroad[5] at that time ran from the Monrovia station up Myrtle Ave to downtown Monrovia. On the way back down to the rail station, the mule was loaded onto a flatcar and downhill gravity took the cars back to the station. By the early 1920s the partially mule-powered streetcar system was removed. In 1906 the first Pacific Electric rail car arrived in Monrovia. The PE Pasadena and Monrovia line ended in 1951. Santa Fe Middle School near the station is named after the Santa Fe Railway.[6]

1926 Monrovia train station, immediately east of the Gold Line stop

The current railway station reuses the former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway depot which was built in 1926. It is designed in a Spanish colonial revival style.[7] The 1926 station replaced a wooden depot built on the site in 1886 by the original Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad. Santa Fe and later Amtrak ran the Southwest Chief and Desert Wind over this line in Monrovia, but rerouted passenger trains to the Fullerton Line in 1986. The Santa Fe line served the San Gabriel Valley until 1994, when the 1994 Northridge earthquake weakened the bridge in Arcadia. With the completion of the Gold Line in Monrovia, the 1926-era Monrovia train station is slated to be restored.[8][9][10][11]

The Santa Fe Depot was used in a number of Hollywood movies through the years. It is used two times in the 1966 movie The Trouble with Angels, both at the start and the ending in which the girls leave St. Francis Academy.[12]

Vehicle maintenance facility

As part of the light rail extension, the Gold Line Authority and Metro built a new Maintenance and Operations (M&O) Facility in Monrovia, east of Monrovia station. The 27-acre (11 ha) facility services, cleans and stores light rail vehicles for Metro's fleet, with a total storage capacity of 104 vehicles. The facility, known as Metro Division 24 Yard, is located just north of the right of way between California Avenue and Shamrock Avenue. It cost $53 million to build.[13]

Service

Station layout
Side platform, doors will open on the right
Northbound ← L Line L Line toward APU/Citrus College (Duarte/City of Hope)
Southbound → L Line L Line toward Atlantic (Arcadia) →
Side platform, doors will open on the right

Hours and frequency

L Line service hours are approximately from 5:00 a.m. until 11:30 p.m. daily. Monday through Friday, trains on the L Line operate every 10 minutes during peak hours, every 12 minutes during the midday hours, and every 20 minutes into the evening. During the weekends, trains operate every 12 minutes most of the day, but every 20 minutes in the early morning and evening hours.[14]

Connections

As of February 20, 2022, the following connections are available:[15]

Neighborhood and destinations

The city of Monrovia is planning to create a transit-oriented district around near its station. The district, known as the Station Square Transit Village Mixed Use District, will be designed to feature mixed retail, residential and office uses, with pedestrian amenities and connections. Construction of phase one of the new district started in 2017.[16] Plans are to restore/renovate the historic 1926 Monrovia Santa Fe train station depot at the location, though the actual use of the station is not yet determined as of 2013.[17][18][19]

References
  1. "Metro Parking Lots by Line". Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Archived from the original on August 10, 2020. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  2. "Secure Bike Parking on Metro" (PDF). Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 6, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  3. Nelson, Laura J. (March 5, 2016). "Metro Gold Line extension tests San Gabriel Valley's support for transit". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 18 February 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  4. Foothill Extension Archived 2010-04-28 at the Wayback Machine.  Metro (LACMTA)
  5. M P Heritage (March 25, 2014). "Myrtle Avenue Railroad, Mules Did What Now?". Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 12, 2014. closed access
  6. Hormann, Matt (November 29, 2010). "A Future Gold Line Station: Once an Elegant Stop on the Santa Fe Line". Monrovia Patch. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  7. Haugaard, Brad. "Santa Fe train at the old Monrovia train station". monrovianow.com. Monrovia Now. Archived from the original on 2014-07-26. Retrieved 2014-06-12. An historic picture of a Santa Fe train at the old Monrovia train station. Posted by Bill Mohr on Facebook.
  8. Mowad, Michelle (May 5, 2014). "San Gabriel Valley Railroad train crossing the Arroyo Seco into Pasadena just north of Garvanza in Highland Park - 1887". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  9. "Alosta: Latest Notes From the New Azusa Town". Los Angeles Times. April 29, 1887. ProQuest 163388146. Archived from the original on March 23, 2023. Retrieved July 25, 2019. closed access
  10. Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad Stock certificate Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
  11. "Monrovias historic Santa-Fe-depot restoration". www.monroviaweekly.com. Archived from the original on 2018-03-05. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  12. Lindsay (October 20, 2014). "Santa Fe Depot from "The Trouble with Angels"". Archived from the original on May 29, 2017. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  13. "SGV Tribune, Monrovia's Gold Line maintenance yard work in full swing, By Brenda Gazzar, Staff Writer, 01/03/13". Archived from the original on 2014-07-30. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  14. "Metro L Line schedule". Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. June 27, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  15. "L Line Timetable – Connections section" (PDF). Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. February 20, 2022. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 20, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  16. "City of Monrovia web page, Gold line". Archived from the original on 2014-05-28. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  17. "monrovianow.com, Planned apartments at Monrovia train station, March 2014". Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  18. "thesource.metro.net, Planning underway for Monrovia's Station Square at new Gold Line stop, November 14, 2013 by Steve Hymo". Archived from the original on August 7, 2014. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  19. "Art of the Journey, The Foothill Gold Line" (PDF). Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 August 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
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