Orange Line (San Diego Trolley)
The Orange Line is an 18.0-mile (29.0 km) light rail line in the San Diego Trolley system, operated by San Diego Trolley, Inc. an operating division of the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System.[1] It currently operates between Downtown San Diego and El Cajon.[3][4] The Orange Line has the lowest ridership of the San Diego Trolley's three regular lines, transporting 10,896,289 riders during FY 2014 according to the MTS.[2]
The line is one of four lines in the Trolley system, the others include the Blue, Green and Silver lines.[1]
At night, the San Diego and Imperial Valley Railroad uses the Orange Line right of way east of the rail yard near the 12th & Imperial Transit Center for its freight service to El Cajon and Santee.[5]
History
The Orange Line is the second line in the San Diego Trolley system, with service beginning on March 23, 1986 and initially operating between downtown San Diego and Euclid Avenue.[6][7] The East Line, as it was then called, kept this name after successive extensions to Spring Street on May 12, 1989,[6] to the El Cajon Transit Center on June 23, 1989,[6] along the Bayside in downtown San Diego on June 30, 1990,[7] and finally to Santee Town Center on August 26, 1995.[6]
The line was renamed the Orange Line in 1997.[6] Service between Gillespie Field and Santee Town Center was replaced by the Green Line in July 2005 upon that line's introduction.[6][7]
2012 realignment
During a system redesign on September 2, 2012, the Orange Line's eastern terminus was further shortened to the El Cajon Transit Center, while Orange Line service along the Bayside was eliminated and its western terminus was rerouted to the Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego.[8] Once the Mid-Coast trolley extension to University City is completed,[9] the Orange Line's western terminus is likely to be curtailed to a new Courthouse trolley station.[10][11]
Trolley Renewal Project
To accommodate the new Siemens S70 models so that they could be used on the line, Trolley stations needed to undergo renovation, although this was be done over a period of time to prevent the disruption of operation. The new S70 models began operation on the Orange Line in January 2013,[12] once all remaining Orange Line stations had been upgraded to handle them, and all renovation work on the Orange Line was completed in 2013.[12]
Stops along the Orange Line
| Orange Line (Santa Fe Depot–Downtown–El Cajon) | ||||||
| Station Name | Connections | Bus | Train | Parking | Info | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Fe Depot |
 Green Line |
 |
 |
Directly adjacent to America Plaza – so is an "indirect" transfer point for Blue and Silver Lines. Transfer point for the Coaster and the Surfliner. | ||
| America Plaza |  Blue Line Silver Line |
 |
Serves One America Plaza. Directly adjacent to Santa Fe Depot – so is an "indirect" transfer point for the Green Line. This was an infill station – added upon competition of the One America Plaza building in 1991. Terminus for Blue Line. | |||
| Civic Center | Blue Line Silver Line |
|
Serves City Hall, Courthouse, and Horton Plaza. | |||
| Fifth Avenue | Blue Line Silver Line |
|
Serves Downtown San Diego. | |||
| City College | Blue Line Silver Line |
|
Serves San Diego City College, San Diego High School. | |||
| Park & Market | Blue Line Silver Line |
|
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| 12th & Imperial Transit Center | Blue Line Green Line Silver Line |
|
|
Serves Petco Park. Universal transfer station for all lines. Terminus for Green and Silver Lines. | ||
| 25th & Commercial | |
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| 32nd & Commercial | |
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| 47th Street |  |
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| Euclid Avenue | |
|
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| Encanto/62nd Street | |
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| Massachusetts Avenue | |
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| Lemon Grove Depot | |
|
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| Spring Street | |
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| La Mesa Boulevard | |
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| Grossmont Transit Center | Green Line |
|
|
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| Amaya Drive | Green Line |
|
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| El Cajon Transit Center | Green Line |
|
|
Terminus for Orange Line. | ||
Possible Extension to Lindbergh Field
In January 2013, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner and SANDAG conducted talks about a possible trolley extension to the San Diego airport. SANDAG has been conducting feasibility studies on an extension to Lindbergh Field since 2009. There are many different plans and scenarios for such an extension, but one of the possible scenarios is to extend the Orange Line from downtown San Diego up N. Harbor Drive to the passenger terminals on the south side of Lindbergh Field, with possible stops along the way. Currently, there is no projected start or completion date for such a proposed extension of the Orange Line to Lindbergh Field.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 "San Diego Trolley, Inc." (pdf). San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. February 2013. Retrieved 2015-12-11 – via http://www.sdmts.com/about-mts.
- 1 2 "MTS Announces a Record 95 Million Passengers Rode the Bus and Trolley in FY 2014". San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. August 19, 2014. Retrieved 2014-09-19.
- ↑ "SDMTS - Trolley". San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. 2015. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
- ↑ "San Diego's Green Line Will Finally Arrive Downtown In September". KPBS. April 30, 2012. Retrieved 2013-04-17.
- ↑ "San Diego and Imperial Valley Railroad". Genessee & Wyoming. Retrieved 2013-06-21.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "MTS Historical Timeline". San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
- 1 2 3 Jeff Ristine (July 23, 2006). "After 25 years, the trolley keeps on moving". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
- ↑ "SDMTS Service Changes, September 2012". San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. September 2, 2012. Archived from the original on 2015-04-30. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
- ↑ "Mid-Coast Corridor Transit Project". San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). Retrieved 2013-04-16.
- ↑ Alexander Nguyen (June 30, 2015). "SANDAG, MTS Receives State Grant to Bolster Public Transit". Times of San Diego. Retrieved 2016-04-17.
- ↑ Caroline Howe (March 18, 2016). "San Diego MTS Announces $108 Million in Projects". Times of San Diego. Retrieved 2016-04-17.
- 1 2 "Trolley Renewal Breakthrough: New Low-Floor Trolleys Now Operate on the Orange Line!". San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS). January 9, 2013. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
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