SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger has, indirectly, ended a proposal to extend Metrolink commuter rail service from Ventura to Santa Barbara County.
In its place, those two counties are now looking at a proposal from the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency that would serve the same desire to create a commuter rail option from Ventura to Santa Barbara with additional Pacific Surfliner service that would also benefit the LOSSAN corridor as a whole.
The service involving Metrolink at one time had been projected to begin last October, but last summer was pushed back to early this year [see “Start of Metrolink service to Santa Barbara …,” Trains.com, Aug. 30, 2025].
At a meeting on Thursday (Jan. 15), the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments was told that efforts to gain temporary access for Metrolink on Union Pacific’s Coast Line had been delayed and could interfere with broader Surfliner expansion plans. The Metrolink plan was always viewed as temporary until LOSSAN, which faced equipment constraints, could operate the service.
While Union Pacific was receptive to the Metrolink plan, Aaron Bonfilio, SBCAG’s director of multimodal programs, told the board, “they let us know in no uncertain terms that they had other priorities. In particular, their merger with Norfolk Southern was under way and there was quite a bit of scrutiny they had to address, and they would be able to review our proposal and agreement options in the beginning of 2026.”
UP also indicated that the addition of Metrolink service could require a new operating agreement between UP and LOSSAN because Amtrak was no longer the contract operator for Metrolink, LOSSAN Managing Director Jason Jewell told the board. (Alstom now holds the Metrolink contract.)
As a result, the LOSSAN board, at its November meeting, chose to prioritize expanded Surfliner operations for the entire corridor, which would include a sixth daily round trip to Goleta and a third daily round trip to San Luis Obispo. This followed a federal grant to support restoration of LA-San Diego Surfliner service to pre-pandemic levels, Jewell said, along with the redeployment of additional equipment from Northern California to support that service. That additional equipment will allow LOSSAN to provide more service on the northern portion of its routes.
LOSSAN is, therefore, proposing a 12-month pilot for the service sought by Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Those counties would help fund that service, but at lower cost than the earlier proposal. LOSSAN also would carry the insurance liability rather than the counties, and the operation should be easier to achieve administratively because of the existing LOSSAN-UP operating agreement. The schedule, shown at bottom, would be “similar if not identical” to that of the Metrolink plan for Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, Bonfilio said.
A final proposal could be brought to the board in February, with the launch of service as soon as April.
Video of the SBCAG meeting including the rail discussion is available here.
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