Commerce
Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs is officially named the Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs Transportation Station, and is directly on the boarder of these two suburban cities in Southern Los Angeles County. It opened as an early infill station on the Orange County Line on July 12, 1995 ('Fanfare Opens Metrolink Center' Long Beach Press-Telegram, July 14, 1995, Link) with four daily trains. ('Come and Celebrate Newest Rail Commuter Link' Long Beach Press-Telegram, July 12, 1995, Link). The station opened a month before the Green Line at its Norwalk Station three miles west at the end of the Harbor Freeway requiring a connecting Norwalk Transit Bus Ride on route 4. Today all Metrolink trains stop at the station, with ten weekday trains on the Orange County Line, and 5 on the 91 Line. One of the 11 daily Surfliners does stop at the station under the Rail2Rail program, although I don't consider it an Amtrak Sation since it is not listed in their reservation system so a one-way ticket can't be purchased. The ten others and the Southwest Chief, bypass the station. This means weekend service is extremely limited with just two round-trips per Saturday and Sunday.
The station has two side platforms on what is the four tracks of the BNSF Transcontinental Main Line with freight trains using the central tracks. The side platforms are connected by a covered pedestrian overpass that has a security office at one end. Access is via an elevator and staircase at each end of the overpass. Each platform has two green long canopies that cover three benches with green glass windscreens behind them. Each platform of the station is along a similar sized parking lot for a total of 694 paid parking spaces (its one of the only Metrolink Stations with this very East Coast idea), these cost $1 for a day, $10 a month for residents, and $20 per month for non-residents. A portion of this parking is via a small two-story parking garage. The Norwalk, west side of the station, also includes the station's bus loop and the depot of the Norwalk Transit System is just beyond this parking lot. Pedestrian access is only by following the vehicle roads to Imperial Highway which has an underpass just north of the ends of the platforms.
All Photos taken on 24 March, 2011
