Since 1992, Metrolink’s San Bernardino Line terminated at the former Santa Fe station, which is also a stop on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief. In 2010, plans for an extension to downtown San Bernardino, utilizing the old Santa Fe Redlands Line, we put into motion. As projects of this magnitude often do, the work – including an extensive reworking of the track at the old Santa Fe station and construction of a new pedestrian walkway over the tracks – took longer than first envisioned. This new extension to the San Bernardino Transit Center (called “San Bernardino – Downtown” by Metrolink) opened on April 28, 2014, and while just one-mile-long, it provided improved access to downtown, including the San Bernardino Justice Center (which includes a Superior Court), the stadium where the Inland Empire Route 66ers play minor league baseball, offices, malls and the San Bernardino County Fairgrounds. This new extension provides a few new areas to photograph, too, as seen here as Metrolink train 604 (Los Angeles to San Bernardino – Downtown) departs the old Santa Fe station on the former Santa Fe Redlands Line, which makes a sharp turn to the south and then another sharp turn to the east again. (BNSF’s San Bernardino intermodal yard’s MiJack container cranes are be seen in the background.) In the near future, commuters can transfer at the San Bernardino Transit Center to Arrow Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) trains to head further east to Redlands. (San Bernardino, California – September 28, 2020)
